Worcester Business Journal

Worcester's four sports franchises have two years to prepare for the arrival of the Pawtucket Red Sox F O C U S T H E B U S I N E S S O F S P O R T S What do we do now? BY ZACHARY COMEAU Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer T he Worcester Bravehearts baseball team is the oldest operating sports franchise in the city, at just four years old. Joined by the Worcester Railers men's hockey team in 2017, the Massachusetts Pirates arena football team in 2018 and the Worcester Blades wom- en's hockey team in 2019, the four franchises are trying to carve out a niche in a Central Massachusetts market previ- ously unable to support the Worcester Sharks or Worcester IceCats hockey teams for even a dozen years each. And in two years, it will be a whole new ballgame. e Triple A minor league Pawtucket Red Sox, moving to Worces- ter for the 2021 season into a new $101-million ballpark to anchor an overall $240-million mixed-use develop- ment, will be by far the biggest name. "We're reaching a point of saturation," said Railers President Mike Myers, who noted the market isn't saturated yet. "When you're all fighting for the same entertainment dollar, you want to make sure there's enough families going to games that you're not stretching every- body thin." e Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox are already a household name with WooSox merchandise flying off the shelves at places like Guertin Graphics in the Canal District. e WooSox appear to be gob- bling up corporate sponsor- ships. e team, that doesn't even have an official name for its Worcester franchise, has 19 corporate sponsors including long-time Worcester compa- nies names like Polar Beverages, Fallon Health, Hanover Insurance Group, Uni- Bank, Table Talk Pies and the Mercantile Center. e city's new baseball team is commanding $3.1 million in corpo- rate dollars each year for the first five years of Triple-A baseball in Worcester, according to the team's deal with the city signed in August. If that figure isn't reached, a private sector entity not pub- licly named will purchase tickets equal in value to that deficit. "at's a big chunk," said Victor Matheson, a sports economist and pro- fessor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. "ere's only so much money that local businesses can come up with." e more obvious battleground will be the fight for ticket sales, he said. Bravehearts reposition brand e Worcester Bravehearts, a collegiate summer league team, appear to be bracing for the impact of the Red Sox threatening to take away their fans and sponsorship dollars. As the only other baseball franchise in town, the Bravehearts' business is the most directly impacted by the powerful Red Sox brand. Bravehearts General Manager Dave Peterson told WBJ the organization is repositioning itself as a thought leader when it comes to the sports industry. "Not just baseball," Peterson said. "We want to help people that come through our organization find jobs and intern- ships wherever that might be." He pointed to success stories of Bravehearts interns finding jobs work- ing for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball, the NFL' Washington Redskins and Major League Soccer's New England Revo- lution. e Bravehearts boast a 2018 attendance ranking sixth out of 175 summer collegiate league teams, according to Ballpark Digest. at average attendance of 2,356 represents a 6-percent bump from 2017. Attendance also increased 6-percent in 2017 and about the same in 2016. Attendance increased for the 2015 season at a sharp 22 percent aer the inaugural year in 2014. By comparison, the Pawtucket Red Sox averaged just under 6,000 per game last year, but attendance is expected to pick up to about 7,000 in the new Worcester ballpark. Peterson and the Bravehearts have been active of late, beginning new pro- 12 Worcester Business Journal | December 10, 2018 | wbjournal.com Mike Myers, president, Worcester Railers Victor Matheson, sports economist, College of the Holy Cross Dave Peterson, general manager of the Bravehearts, says the baseball team must now position itself as a thought leader in the Worcester sports community. PHOTO/EDD COTE

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