Worcester Business Journal

John Solow Economist, University of Iowa "ere's a great deal of consensus among sports economists of all political stripes that this is not a good thing for local governments to be doing." Allen Sanderson Economist, University of Chicago "Overwhelmingly, the fannies in the stands are local…ey're choosing to spend a day or an evening at the ballpark instead of at the ball or other entertain- ment options." Nola Agha Professor, University of San Francisco "It virtually never works." Andrew Zimbalist Professor at Smith College and paid consultant to Worcester "If you can do something like this that was culturally and socially positive and at least break even, it made sense to go forward." Joel Maxcy Economist, Drexel University "If it were a private person, you would never take such a nonsensical bargain." Robert Baade Economist, Lake Forest College "e idea that this is go- ing to serve as a catalyst for economic develop- ment, which is the hope – and I empha- size the word hope – is misguided." Michael Leeds Economist, Temple University "You're counting on something that's not very likely to happen, and you better have a Plan B in place." Daniel Etna Lawyer, New York law firm Herrick Feinstein "ere always seems to be contrary public thought on the merits for these projects, but I do think Worcester has in its favor that it's part of a larger project." Victor Matheson Professor, College of the Holy Cross "is is an extraordinarily expensive stadium … I'm extremely surprised that [the city's cost] is as large as it is." Neil DeMause Author, "Field of Schemes" "Worcester's city leaders haven't just outbid Pawtucket, they've ladled on goodies like they're trying to buy Larry Lucchino's love." Economists: WooSox deal not good for Worcester After the city's announcement of a deal with the Pawtucket Red Sox to build a $90-million stadium in a $240-million development in the Canal District, WBJ sent copies of the plans to cover the city's $101-million debt to 10 economists and stadium experts around the nation to gauge whether Worcester's claims over the stadium development paying for itself – without the need for current tax dollars – would come true. Of those experts, the only one who spoke positively about the deal was the Smith College professor who was hired by the city to judge the economic viability of the offer to the PawSox. Meet the PawSox owners In 2015, a 10-member ownership group led by Larry Lucchino bought the Pawtucket Red Sox for more than $20 million, although the exact purchase price was never disclosed. Today, as the team prepares to move to a new stadium in Worcester, 12 people have an ownership stake in the team. Larry Lucchino Chairman Pawtucket Red Sox Lucchino served as president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox during a 14-year period during which the club won three World Series, improved Fenway Park and sold out a record number of games. Ben Cammarata Founder Framingham-based retailer TJX Cos. Cammarata retired from his role as TJX chairman in 2015 but has remained as an executive advisor since. William P. Egan Founder & general partner Private equity firms Alta Communications & Marion Equity Partners, both in Boston Habib Y. Gorgi Managing director Providence private equity firm Nautic Partners LLC Sam Kennedy President & CEO Boston-based Fenway Sports Group Kennedy, previously executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Boston Red Sox, took over Lucchino's role as Boston Red Sox president when he resigned in 2015. In 2017, the team gave him the additional title of CEO. J. Terrence Murray Former chairman, president & CEO Fleet National Bank in Boston (now part of Bank of America) Thomas M. Ryan Former chairman, president & CEO CVS Caremark The Woonsocket, RI company has been a significant corporate supporter of the Pawtucket Red Sox. Frank M. Resnek Partner Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group Paul Salem Senior managing director emeritus Investment firm Providence Equity Jim Skeffington, Jr. The son of former owner by the same name and a CVS executive. The elder Skeffington died of a heart attack in 2015. Mike Tamburro Vice chairman Pawtucket Red Sox Tamburro served as PawSox president until 2015, when Lucchino and the group purchased the team from Tamburro and the Mondor family. Jeff White Financial advisor to the president & CEO Boston Red Sox He formerly held executive finance positions for CBS News and Broadcast Music, Inc. of New York City. Sources: Pawtucket Red Sox, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, Bloomberg, The International League floor shortly before the team began discussions to move to Providence. At the time, Palmieri cited the blight- ed Wyman-Gordon site in the Canal District, which eventually will become the team's new home. Behind the scenes, Palmieri was talking to the Jim Skeffing- ton, then president of the PawSox. From that relationship, Palmieri was introduced to a ballpark con- sultant for the team who came to Worcester to check out the vacant Wyman-Gordon land. With the team still in active talks with Rhode Island, those conversations remained with just those two men until Skeff- ington died of a heart attack in 2015. Still, Palmieri realized that Worcester actually had a shot. "I really needed to start talking with some critical players," Palmieri said. e first man Palmieri reach out to: Timothy Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce Dinner meetings In December 2016, Murray and Au- gustus had dinner with Lucchino and his wife in Boston. e discussion was about a possible ballpark in Worcester, but the team was committed to trying to make it work in Pawtucket aer fail- ing to relocate to Providence. Lucchino said exactly that. If that should fall through, Lucchino said Worcester would get a shot. Aside from sending out feelers every now and then, Worcester stayed on the sidelines until July 2016, when a postcard campaign spearheaded by the Canal District Alliance kept Worcester in the back of the team's head. e City Council in August 2017 then authorized Augustus to do ev- erything in his power to lure the team to Worcester. ose efforts began the same month with a lunch meeting at Canal District eatery Lock 50. at was the city's first real sales pitch, Augustus said. It included doz- ens of decision makers on the city's and team's sides. "en we started having conversa- tions that just grew with frequency and intensity over a period of time," Augustus said. Lucchino and team officials began coming to Worcester without telling City Hall to get an unbiased view of Worcester. "We'd just hear about them going out to dinner some- where or to a different venue," Augustus said. "It was them wanting to see for themselves if everything we were saying was in fact true." Winning over the PawSox Eventually, the team and city began meeting weekly. at grew to two or three times a week. Meetings would typically last at least three hours. Some would last the entire day. Some would take multiple days in a row. "We even did one set of meetings at the Cape," Augustus said. "We stayed overnight." Day aer day, Worcester was rubbing off on the team, said Dan Rea, the Paw- Sox senior vice president and general manager. However, the team didn't immediate- ly commit one way or the other, and it was still leaning toward staying in their longtime home. "We wanted to give Rhode Island and Pawtucket every shot," Rea said. "It's been our home for decades." It wasn't until the winter and spring months that moving to Worcester be- came a real viable option for the team, Timothy Murray, CEO, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce Continued on next page wbjournal.com | September 3, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 7

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