Sources "close to talks on financing a new" Fenway Park
said that investors in a new ballpark plan "have not been
given a chance to buy into the team itself," according to
Van Voorhis, Macero & Convey of the BOSTON HERALD. One
source: "(The Red Sox want) to take on investment partners
for the stadium, but not the team. Nobody wants one without
the other" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/10). Also in Boston, Meg
Vaillancourt writes that "some wonder whether the
controversy over city financing" of the facility is part of
the "agenda" of Mayor Thomas Menino in possibly "trying to
force" Red Sox CEO John Harrington to sell the team. One
source who is "closely tracking" the talks: "The story
behind the story here isn't about a new ballpark, it's about
possible new owners. Most of us know there are guys out
there hoping John Harrington will get frustrated and decide
to pack it in and sell the team. So of course some people
wonder: Is the mayor's delay a quiet way of killing the Red
Sox plan?" Menino: "I'm not trying to get John Harrington
to sell the team. I have a lot of respect for him and I
still want a new ballpark." Vaillancourt adds that a "few
would-be Red Sox owners have been quietly working to
undercut Harrington's current ballpark bid -- though no one
will talk on the record." A source "close to" Menino:
"There's great jealousy among some people in Boston because
they don't have any respect for Red Sox management. But
they understand that John Harrington will decide who gets
the team -- and other team owners have to approve the sale."
Vaillancourt notes some of the "corporate titans frequently
mentioned as possible bidders," including Cablevision Chair
Charles Dolan, Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone, EMC Chair Richard
Egan, Staples Chair Thomas Stemberg, FleetBoston Financial
Chair Terry Murray, Boston Concessions Owner Joseph
O'Donnell, real estate developer Steve Karp and Mugar
Enterprises CEO David Mugar (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/10).
