The Red Sox’ Triple-A Int’l League affiliate in Pawtucket, R.I., “was sold Friday to a 10-member ownership group at a cost of more than” $20M, according to sources cited in a front-page piece by Alex Speier of the BOSTON GLOBE. The new ownership group in a release said Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino will serve as Chair and attorney James Skeffington will be team President. Team officials said that the PawSox “would stay at least two more years in Pawtucket, allowing time for negotiations with local officials, the acquisition of land, and the construction of a new stadium." If the team leaves the market, it would "shed the familiar 'PawSox' moniker" it has had since '77. Skeffington said that he "hoped to call the team the Rhode Island Red Sox." He "described a plan to leave Pawtucket and the team’s longtime home at McCoy Stadium and move to a new ballpark in Providence within walking distance of downtown." He added that the new owners "plan to use private funds to build the ballpark." Speier noted "each of the 10 members" has a 10% stake in the club. Lucchino and Skeffington "will serve as the franchise’s principal owners." Daily operations "will be led by the same management team" as under the previous owners (BOSTONGLOBE.com, 2/23). The PAWTUCKET TIMES noted Lucchino "will continue in his role" with the parent club. Lucchino, as well as other Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management officials, "will be available to the PawSox to offer guidance, experience, and resources" (PAWTUCKETTIMES.com, 2/23).
DOWN BY THE RIVER: In Providence, Grimaldi & MacPherson in a front-page piece note Skeffington "envisions a 10,000-seat stadium" for the Triple-A club. Skeffington said that the ballpark also would look to host "amateur games and summer concerts." The ownership group "already is six weeks and $200,000 into studies that will determine the feasibility of the I-195 land as a stadium site," and "has spoken with architects and discussed models for a stadium." Skeffington said that recent minor-league ballparks built in Charlotte, Dayton, Durham and El Paso "suggest a price tag north" of $60M (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 2/24). Skeffington: "We have great nostalgia for Pawtucket, but in all honesty, times have changed. Ballparks have changed. Designs have changed. McCoy is the oldest stadium in the Triple-A International League. Most of the stadiums have been built since 1990 or something, many of them in the last five years. Look at Charlotte for example. They just opened theirs last year, and what happened in Charlotte? They went from the middle of attendance to No. 1 in the International League. Pawtucket used to be No. 1 in the International League. The last five years we’ve slid a little bit.” In Boston, Chris Mason notes the new owners "will be looking for aid from the Rhode Island taxpayers" for the ballpark. Skeffington said, "Our interest is on funding that ballpark ourselves with our private capital, and then asking the state and the city to join us in some fashion." He also "stressed the ease with which fans could get to a new ballpark" (BOSTON HERALD, 2/24).
OUT WITH THE OLD: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir wrote the new owners see McCoy Stadium "as a relic and Providence as a better market." Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien said that he "wanted to renovate" the old ballpark in the way the Red Sox "refurbished Fenway Park" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/24). SI.com's Cliff Corcoran noted while the team's current lease on McCoy runs through '21, it "won't hold the team captive in Pawtucket." However, a new stadium in Providence will have to be completed "before the team can move" (SI.com, 2/23).
