Red Sox Eyeing $37M In State Historic Tax Credits For Fenway

Red Sox Looking For $37M In Tax Credits For Renovations

The Red Sox ownership group is “quietly lining up to claim” $37M in Massachusetts state historic tax credits, which would be “one of the biggest subsidies handed out to a local sports team in some years,” according to Scott Van Voorhis of the BOSTON HERALD. The team, which is “on track to pump $200[M] into renovations” to Fenway Park and the surrounding neighborhood, is “angling for a big share of a $50[M]-a-year pool for renovations of historic buildings and structures, recently waved through by state lawmakers.” The payout likely “would be spread out over several years.” Van Voorhis notes the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and Boston-based PR consultant Pam McDermott’s firm when lobbying for the tax credits “pushed a message that stressed creating jobs across the state. ... What they failed to mention was the Sox had, as early as last year, already lined up for the money with an application before an obscure state historical commission.” Red Sox officials acknowledged the lobbying effort, but “insisted there was no effort to hide the team’s request –- nor any effort to hog scarce resources” (BOSTON HERALD, 8/9).