Part of the Red Sox ownership group “will purchase” the Triple-A Int’l League Pawtucket Red Sox, “which for years was owned by Ben Mondor and his wife Madeleine,” according to a source cited by Nick Cafardo of the BOSTON GLOBE. The sale price “is not yet known, nor are the names of the owners purchasing” the franchise. Ben Mondor died in ‘10, and the PawSox “have been run” by team President Mike Tamburro, who has been with the franchise since ‘77, along with VP & GM Lou Schwechheimer, who has been with the organization since ‘79. The PawSox have been a "model for minor league franchises around the country.” It is “not known whether the current PawSox front office will stay intact or whether the Red Sox ownership will bring in its own people to run the daily operations” (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/28). In Rhode Island, Brendan McGair noted the Red Sox “extended their agreement with the PawSox this past summer.” Terms “were never officially disclosed, but it’s believed to be a multi-year pact.” The Pawtucket City Council earlier this year “approved an agreement” to keep the team at McCoy Stadium through the ‘21 season. The ballpark “last underwent substantial renovations” prior to the ‘99 season, and its seating capacity is "presently listed at 10,031" (PAWTUCKET TIMES, 11/28).
GOING CORPORATE? The GLOBE’s Cafardo wrote it is “bittersweet” that the PawSox are “about to be sold to a few of the Red Sox limited partners.” Ben Mondor “bought the team and hired some terrific people” in Tamburro, Schwechheimer and VP/PR Bill Wanless. They were “the model for how to build and sustain” an MiLB franchise. Cafardo: “Nobody knows where the team goes from here. Will there be a new stadium eventually? Will McCoy be expanded or refurbished even more? Interesting times ahead” (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/30).
