Rhode Island House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Triple-A Int’l League Pawtucket Red Sox Chair Larry Lucchino yesterday said that no ballpark "will be built on prime riverfront property in Providence." Mattiello: "The project is not going to happen at that site." Lucchino said, "The formal decision was largely made for us." He added that the team "is still looking in Rhode Island." PawSox spokesperson Patti Doyle in a statement said the team "will now devote its energy to preparing for the 2016 season in Pawtucket at McCoy Stadium, but will continue to listen to ideas and plans regarding the long-term future of the franchise" (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 9/20).
The proposal "faced strenuous public opposition from the start." The planned site along the Providence River "was home to protests in recent months from stadium naysayers who wanted the land to be a public park" (AP, 9/20). Yesterday’s announcement "marks a major setback for the team’s new owners, who took control in February and immediately said they wanted to move to a new stadium in Providence" (WPRI.com, 9/19).
