Red Sox President & CEO Sam Kennedy said that things on the team's business side are "healthy but ticket sales are down this year from where they were" in '17, according to Jason Mastrodonato of the BOSTON HERALD. Kennedy said fans are "buying tickets at a pace consistent" with '15 and '16. Kennedy: "We are slightly down from last year." He added there was a "big bump" last year from the acquisition of P Chris Sale. Kennedy said sales are down about 6% from last year, which is "understandable given it's been a very slow moving offseason in terms of baseball news" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/21). Meanwhile, in Boston, Jordan Graham reports the Red Sox are "planning a 'dramatic' expansion of the protective netting" at Fenway Park along the "first and third base lines ahead of next season." The expansion will "extend the safety netting beyond the first and third base dugouts." The Red Sox also "plan to add new seats along the left field line, extending further in to the field of play" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/22).
LEAVING THE PAST BEHIND: In Boston, Peter Abraham noted the Red Sox are "moving ahead with plans to rename Yawkey Way, a gesture that would further address the team's difficult racial history." Kennedy said that the team is in "active negotiations with the city and other property owners on the street to change the name of the street." They "hope to file a petition soon." The Red Sox have "not settled on a name, but have discussed a request to return to Jersey St." Under city rules, the street "cannot be named for a living person" because the Red Sox are "not the only property owner on the street" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/20). The HERALD's Mastrodonato wrote the Red Sox want to rename the street because they are "alarmed" by late former Owner Tom Yawkey's "legacy of racial exclusion" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/21).
