WPRO News and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A Pawtucket Red Sox spokeswoman says the team’s owners are looking differently at the public-private partnership for a proposed stadium in Providence.
Patti Doyle made the comments Wednesday ahead of a closed-door Democratic caucus called by House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello. Mattiello spokesman Larry Berman says the stadium proposal and other topics, like the budget, will be discussed.
The new owners of the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox had originally asked for about $120 million in state subsidies over 30 years if they build a ballpark.
Doyle says they will now look at an “entirely different way” to structure the public-private partnership. She says they’re talking with lawmakers and “working diligently on exploring a different way to keep the PawSox in Rhode Island.”
She did not provide further details.
After the Democrats’ caucus, powerful House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello said that while he is being briefed daily on the ongoing talks with the Pawsox, he could offer no details of the revisions proposed by the team, and he said he does not feel pressured to finalize a deal by the end of the legislative session, usually in late June.
“I’d like it sooner than later, but I don’t feel we’re under the gun. If we don’t come up with a deal, we don’t come up with a deal,” Mattiello said.
“That may be the end of the proposal long term, it may mean that we come back during the summer. There is no artificial time line that we have to make this deal by.”
Mattiello said the caucus was devoted largely to budget issues, and he will reconvene the caucus next week.
Many lawmakers say they need to see a new proposal from the Pawtucket Red Sox before deciding whether to support the stadium proposed in downtown Providence.
Lawmakers have said they didn’t like the PawSox owners’ original proposal asking for about $120 million in state subsidies over 30 years if they build a ballpark.
Rep. Joseph McNamara of Warwick says right now the lawmakers don’t have solid facts since the negotiations are ongoing. He says there’s not a proposal before them for any debate or decision.
Other lawmakers are against the move.
