Red Sox Owner Henry Oversees Growth Of Team's Popularity

Red Sox Brand Has Flourished Since Henry Took Over Team In '02

In the seven seasons since Red Sox Owner John Henry purchased the team for $700M, Henry and his partners have seen the franchise "attain new heights of popularity," according to a front-page piece by Dan Shaughnessy of the BOSTON GLOBE. The Red Sox brand "is gold," and despite "charging the highest prices in baseball," the team has sold out 469 consecutive games at Fenway Park. When asked to assess the state of the franchise, Henry said, "Never been better." Shaughnessy notes Henry is "not comfortable with celebrity," and it was "awkward for him last summer when reporters wrote about his $16[M] purchase of [Dodgers Owner] Frank McCourt's 13,000-square-foot house" in Brookline, Massachusetts. Henry: "Nobody wants to see their personal life in the newspapers, especially when you are building a house. There are security issues and they take photos and say 'Here is where the house is.' That's not pleasant, but I knew when we purchased the team what I was getting into. ... I have nothing to complain about. How could I possibly complain? Everyone in this community loves the Red Sox so much." Even though Henry is paying $83M in luxury tax fees and "an average of $40[M] per year on ballpark renovations," Henry said that the team "will turn a profit this year." Henry is "mindful that the Yankees will be moving into their new, luxury box-laden stadium next year," but he "wonders how much fans can continue to pay." Henry: "We haven't talked about what we're going to do (regarding a ticket price hike for 2009). Tickets are already expensive. There's potentially a recession headed our way. I've heard there's been some softness with the (new) Yankee Stadium so we just have to wait and see how big the gap is and see if there are other ways to generate revenue." Henry also is at "loggerheads with [MLB] over protection of his club's media assets, a complicated tax issue in which the Red Sox have taken an unpopular stance." Henry: "We spend more time protecting ourselves against MLB than we do against the Yankees. We have been told recently, 'You have the distinction of being the most hated team in baseball'" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/1).