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Pawtucket Red Sox moving to Worcester

Fenway

Fenway

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Pawtucket played its final home game for 2018 yesterday and some wonder if they will come back next season as a lame duck. Many believe the Red Sox have a deal in place to buy Batavia of the NY Penn League and move them to Pawtucket in 2021. Then Lowell would have to search for a new partner.

The key is the Red Sox can block any other affiliated team from moving into Rhode Island because Worcester and Providence are considered the same market. The NY Penn League has indicated Batavia will be back next season under league ownership.

PawSox season finale brings poignant sense of loss to fans
 
garnetpalmetto

garnetpalmetto

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Fenway said:
Pawtucket played its final home game for 2018 yesterday and some wonder if they will come back next season as a lame duck. Many believe the Red Sox have a deal in place to buy Batavia of the NY Penn League and move them to Pawtucket in 2021. Then Lowell would have to search for a new partner.

The key is the Red Sox can block any other affiliated team from moving into Rhode Island because Worcester and Providence are considered the same market. The NY Penn League has indicated Batavia will be back next season under league ownership.

PawSox season finale brings poignant sense of loss to fans
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IMO, the Red Sox putting the Muck Dogs in Pawtucket after their current PDC with Lowell expires would be a mistake on multiple levels. First, there's the question of whether the people of Pawtucket would accept going from being a Triple-A market to a Short Season-A market, especially when so many that I've seen on Facebook and the like seem to be operating under the dual delusions that there's nothing wrong with McCoy and that this is all the fault of Lucchino and the Red Sox. Second, there's the issue that the flaws with McCoy detailed by the expert report will still exist, no matter who the primary tenant is. Lastly, there's the issue that I'm sure the Atlantic League would be interested in the market and will need another market to offset the addition of High Point and bring the League back to an even number. Given that they're an independent league, they're under no obligation to abide by area rules or market boundaries. I'm not sure that wouldn't be seen as a more attractive option, especially if the view is that the Red Sox poisoned the well. I don't doubt the situation in Batavia, which has been simmering for a couple years now, will need resolution sooner rather than later, I'm just not sure that Pawtucket's the answer.
 
Fenway

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It is far from a slam dunk that the International League and MILB will sign off on this. Ben Mondoe made a lot of friends and few enemies when he owned the club and the owner of the New Orleans Baby Cakes is leading the opposition as he worked for Mondor for over 30 years.

Providence would become the largest market without affiliated baseball by far and there is no way fans in RI will travel to Worcester.

Even with terrible spring weather and the threat of moving Pawtucket still averaged almost 6,000 per opening.

Here is where the Red Sox are in a jam.....yes they COULD block a team from moving into Rhode Island but what if the YANKEES made a deal to move Scranton to Pawtucket? That would be a PR nightmare.

To me, the biggest issue about Worcester is it is NOT a stand-alone media market. It has no TV stations, and only a couple of radio stations that can be used for promotion.

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BigBadBruins7708

BigBadBruins7708

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Fenway said:
Funny thing is Massachusetts roads look fantastic compared to Rhode Island.
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RI is at least finally biting the bullet and repaving 95...biggest problem south of the border is they were designed by idiots.

"8 lane interstate? lets put 2 consecutive, extremely tight S curves in it"

or "8 lane interstate? this highway needs a sharp 90* down hill curve"

or "whats wrong with having 2 lanes from an interstate merge onto Rt 95 at the same point that 2 lanes exit onto Rt 6, and then 2 more lanes exiting onto another interstate all within 1/4 mile?"

nothing is as brutal on the suspension as 93 from the Ted Williams Tunnel to Rt 3 though
 
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garnetpalmetto

garnetpalmetto

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Fenway said:
Here is where the Red Sox are in a jam.....yes they COULD block a team from moving into Rhode Island but what if the YANKEES made a deal to move Scranton to Pawtucket? That would be a PR nightmare.
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What is the Yankees made a deal to move Scranton? What if Barbie had a hand grenade? They're both ridiculous suppositions that aern't even worth conjecturing about. Mucho dinero was spent not that long ago turning PNC Field from the Vet in miniature to a first class facility for Triple-A ball, essentially doing what needs to be done to McCoy - a complete demolition and rebuild. Moving to Pawtucket, especially with no path forward to a new park, would be a giant step backwards, one I doubt the Yankees take.
 
Fenway

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Pawtucket Muckdogs?

Lucchino and a group of Rhode Island businessmen purchased the Pawtucket Red Sox from the heirs of longtime owner Ben Mondor. The parent Red Sox, through Fenway Sports Management, also a owns 10 percent stake in the Pawtucket club.

Lucchino's plans was to move the team from Pawtucket to neighboring Providence and build a ballpark on Narragansett Bay. But when that plan fell through, Lucchino left the loyal citizens of Pawtucket with the uneasy, queasy feeling he had no intention of keeping the PawSox there. Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien has all but declared he believes negotiations with Lucchino to build a new ballpark in Pawtucket were conducted in bad faith, and his worst fears were realized when Lucchino announced the club would be moving to Worcester.

As one former Red Sox employee told me the other day: "With Lucchino, it's always all about the money."
Contracts are expiring

The Worcester team will not begin playing until 2021, after construction on its 10,000-seat ballpark is finished. The timing is ominous. Both the Spinners and PawSox have affiliation contracts with the Red Sox that expire after the 2020 season. Coincidence? I think not.

It's obvious the Red Sox will not renew their affiliation with a club -- Pawtucket -- that will no longer exist and will instead hook up with Worcester. It is also a certainty that the Red Sox will let their contract with the Spinners lapse in spite of the fact that Lowell, like Pawtucket, has been a very strong partner for the major-league organization for a very long time. How do I know this?

I have it on good authority that Lucchino has already made overtures on behalf of Fenway Sports Management to purchase the bankrupt Batavia, N.Y., franchise. Batavia is presently being operated by the New York-Penn League, which for obvious reasons would like to unload this financial albatross. Batavia is affiliated with the Miami Marlins, also through 2020. When that affiliation expires, Lucchino plans to move the Batavia franchise to Pawtucket in hopes of mollifying fans there and affiliate it with the Red Sox, leaving the Spinners dangling for a new major-league partner.


Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/baseball/ci_32113816/its-up-lowell-leaders-fans-save-spinners#ixzz5QBKXEaay
 
Fenway

Fenway

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garnetpalmetto said:
What is the Yankees made a deal to move Scranton? What if Barbie had a hand grenade? They're both ridiculous suppositions that aern't even worth conjecturing about. Mucho dinero was spent not that long ago turning PNC Field from the Vet in miniature to a first class facility for Triple-A ball, essentially doing what needs to be done to McCoy - a complete demolition and rebuild. Moving to Pawtucket, especially with no path forward to a new park, would be a giant step backwards, one I doubt the Yankees take.
Click to expand...

Attendance in Scranton is not what it should be. The area is still heavily Phillies territory and many will not support the Yankees.

There are a lot of NYY fans in Rhode Island and all Yankees games are on the radio in Providence. NYY would love to make inroads in Southern New England and they have been sniffing at Hartford as the Trenton park is showing its age.
 
Centrum Hockey

Centrum Hockey

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Fenway said:
Pawtucket Muckdogs?

Lucchino and a group of Rhode Island businessmen purchased the Pawtucket Red Sox from the heirs of longtime owner Ben Mondor. The parent Red Sox, through Fenway Sports Management, also a owns 10 percent stake in the Pawtucket club.

Lucchino's plans was to move the team from Pawtucket to neighboring Providence and build a ballpark on Narragansett Bay. But when that plan fell through, Lucchino left the loyal citizens of Pawtucket with the uneasy, queasy feeling he had no intention of keeping the PawSox there. Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien has all but declared he believes negotiations with Lucchino to build a new ballpark in Pawtucket were conducted in bad faith, and his worst fears were realized when Lucchino announced the club would be moving to Worcester.

As one former Red Sox employee told me the other day: "With Lucchino, it's always all about the money."
Contracts are expiring

The Worcester team will not begin playing until 2021, after construction on its 10,000-seat ballpark is finished. The timing is ominous. Both the Spinners and PawSox have affiliation contracts with the Red Sox that expire after the 2020 season. Coincidence? I think not.

It's obvious the Red Sox will not renew their affiliation with a club -- Pawtucket -- that will no longer exist and will instead hook up with Worcester. It is also a certainty that the Red Sox will let their contract with the Spinners lapse in spite of the fact that Lowell, like Pawtucket, has been a very strong partner for the major-league organization for a very long time. How do I know this?

I have it on good authority that Lucchino has already made overtures on behalf of Fenway Sports Management to purchase the bankrupt Batavia, N.Y., franchise. Batavia is presently being operated by the New York-Penn League, which for obvious reasons would like to unload this financial albatross. Batavia is affiliated with the Miami Marlins, also through 2020. When that affiliation expires, Lucchino plans to move the Batavia franchise to Pawtucket in hopes of mollifying fans there and affiliate it with the Red Sox, leaving the Spinners dangling for a new major-league partner.


Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/baseball/ci_32113816/its-up-lowell-leaders-fans-save-spinners#ixzz5QBKXEaay
Click to expand...
https://www.thebatavian.com/howard-...ia-for-a-couple-of-more-years-but-under-a-new
 
Fenway

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Developer Janet Marie Smith envisions strong local color for Worcester's Polar Park

At some point in the next two years, theory will turn into reality and the baseball fans of New England will see the concrete-and-steel bones of Polar Park rise from the glacial granite of this city’s Canal District.

Until then, though, those fans will have to be content with phrases like eminent domain, bond ratings and hazardous waste. It will be a while for foul lines, bullpens and box seats to become the words of the day but when they do, the finished product is expected to be spectacular.

In the meantime, a few tiny first steps of planning the new home for what will be the Worcester Red Sox are in the works, long on vision, short on specifics.

“We haven’t even started that,” said Janet Marie Smith, the game’s pre-eminent ballpark developer who will be working once again with team Chairman Larry Lucchino.

“We’re comfortable that the site could be a good home for a ballpark and some of our illustrations suggest a very traditional approach to architecture but we’re not sure that where things will wind up. Our notion is that it will feel contextual, that it will belong to Worcester, and doing that will have a big impact on what the ballpark will look like.”
 
Centrum Hockey

Centrum Hockey

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JRull86 said:
Didn't read the article, but I'ma ssuming the plan was to put them in Union Point?

I live in Abington right off of 18, I'd have moved. Last thing that area needs is more ****ing traffic.
Click to expand...
the article said it would have been in union point
 
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offkilter

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So what's going on with Lowell that would make the Boston Redsox pull out in favor of buying Batavia and parking them in Pawtucket? Near as I could tell everyone was happy with the arrangement. It makes no sense to me that Boston would ruin a good situation in Lowell just to hand an already angry fanbase in Pawtucket what they would see as an inferior product going from full season AAA to short season low A.

The only way I see this working for Lowell is if they get a full season single A team in return. So what's the affiliation picture look like for the advanced A Salem Red Sox in the Carolina League or the standard A Greenville Drive of the South Atlantic League?

I know distance is an issue, but if just a couple teams shift north in a couple years it suddenly becomes feasible. There are already teams in New Jersey anyway.
 
Centrum Hockey

Centrum Hockey

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offkilter said:
So what's going on with Lowell that would make the Boston Redsox pull out in favor of buying Batavia and parking them in Pawtucket? Near as I could tell everyone was happy with the arrangement. It makes no sense to me that Boston would ruin a good situation in Lowell just to hand an already angry fanbase in Pawtucket what they would see as an inferior product going from full season AAA to short season low A.

The only way I see this working for Lowell is if they get a full season single A team in return. So what's the affiliation picture look like for the advanced A Salem Red Sox in the Carolina League or the standard A Greenville Drive of the South Atlantic League?

I know distance is an issue, but if just a couple teams shift north in a couple years it suddenly becomes feasible. There are already teams in New Jersey anyway.
Click to expand...
I think It was mentioned in a previous post that fsg wanted to own the team in Lowell but the old owner never truly got over his aa team being denied a Redsox affiliation so he sold Lowell to someone else
 
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