By WPRO News
The Pawtucket Red Sox are ending a 45-year-old run in Rhode Island as they announced plans to move to a new ballpark in Worcester.
“Why don’t you take your team where it’s wanted?” said Pawsox Chairman Larry Lucchino, invoking the memory of his late mother and what she would think of the franchise move.
“Go where you’re wanted, not where there’s controversy and disagreement and opposition and all of that,” said Lucchino.
The PawSox say the team will play out the next two years at McCoy Stadium before moving to the new stadium, Polar Park, which will open before the 2021 season. Plans to move the team and build the ballpark are contingent upon approval by the Worcester City Council and the owners of the International League.
Lucchino singled out Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien for praise and expressed hopes the team would retain its Rhode Island fan base.
“We thank the fans of the Pawtucket Red Sox for all they have done to host this team so gracefully and so supportively for so many years,” said Lucchino.
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo expressed disappointment she was not contacted by the team before the announcement was made in Worcester.
“We’re a little surprised,” Raimondo told reporters at an unrelated event in Woonsocket.
She said she spoke with a “disappointed” Grebien and said the two planned to meet over the weekend to discuss what happens next. She said for now, the focus will be on supporting Pawtucket and finding a new use for McCoy Stadium.
Though she said money was a huge factor in the “very rich” Worcester deal, Raimondo largely blamed the Rhode Island legislature for dropping the ball on a deal the PawSox would have liked. In another afternoon press availability, she said she believed team would have stayed had the Senate’s original plan passed the whole assembly, but would not specifically blame House Speaker Nick Mattiello for pushing changes to that bill.
“I think the owners were comfortable with that deal and had the legislature acted swiftly to enact that, I think the outcome today would have [gone] differently,” she said.
Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor said he spoke with the team, and they affirmed this was the case.
“They did reaffirm… that we in effect had a deal a year ago. They did reaffirm that had we done the original deal that the state participated in negotiating, that they would have done that deal,” he said.
Lucchino confirmed this to Steve Kass on The Dan Yorke Show.
“We had an agreement with the governor and with the city and it was subject only to approval by the General Assembly, but that’s where things went off the wheels… it was I think an unusual deal in that it was so heavily weighted toward the private sector helping the public sector build a public facility, but it ran afoul of I guess the Speaker’s priorities,” he said.
Mayor Grebien released statements saying that Pawtucket continued to have what were thought to be productive conversations with the team through Wednesday evening.
“Sadly, we had to learn through media reports, like everyone else, that the ownership group had decided to take our team and move it to Worcester in light of substantial subsidies provided by Worcester and the State of Massachusetts,” he said.
However, Grebien noted “The PawSox do not make Pawtucket. Pawtucket made the PawSox.”
Legislative leaders released statements expressing their disappointment with the team’s decision to leave Rhode Island.
“It’s disheartening the Pawsox did not show the same loyalty to the City of Pawtucket and the State of Rhode Island as the taxpayers and fans have shown to them for many decades”, said Speaker Nicholas Mattiello in a statement. Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said he believes the Pawsox would have stayed in Rhode Island if the General Assembly approved a bill passed by the State Senate to build a new ballpark.
Stadium critic Pat Ford made no apologies for his opposition to plans to build a stadium partially backed by taxpayer funds.
“What we should have been celebrating today was an announcement by the Pawtucket Red Sox ownership that they were going to build their own stadium and they would be making a lasting contribution to the state. They chose not to,” said Ford.
