Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | Janaury 25, 2021 | wbjournal.com WooSox stadium costs rise to $157M, becomes most expensive minor league stadium BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor Most expensive minor league ballparks Worcester's Polar Park is the costliest minor league ballpark ever built. The cost was originally pegged at $101 million, but the project suffered tens of millions of dollars in extra costs, particularly for acquiring sites that stood in the way, moving existing businesses, demolishing buildings, and completing the project on time after a seven- week shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Note: Inflation-adjusted numbers are rounded to nearest million. Sources: Minor League Baseball, respective teams, news reports; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (inflation adjustment) Worcester Red Sox Polar Park 9,508 $157 million Las Vegas Aviators Las Vegas Ballpark 10,000 $153 million Buffalo Bisons Sahlen Field 16,600 $125 million Memphis Redbirds AutoZone Park 10,000 $122 million Columbus Clippers Huntington Park 10,100 $86 million Team Stadium Capacity Cost, in 2021 dollars T he cost of building Polar Park, the new home of the minor league Worcester Red Sox baseball team, has risen to $157 million, reflecting cost increases from the coronavirus pan- demic and an array of rising prices. With the increase, the public facility will become the most expensive minor league baseball stadium ever built, sur- passing the inflation adjusted $153-mil- lion home of the Las Vegas Aviators. e WooSox have committed to cov- ering the latest overruns, which the city says total $17.3 million, according to a memo to the Worcester City Council made public Jan. 8. Larry Lucchino, a principal owner of the WooSox, said in a statement the team won't compromise on elements of Polar Park because of the cost overruns. "e partners in the WooSox owner- ship group remain committed – in our hearts and in our wallets – to creating a civic jewel of which the City of Worces- ter – and the Boston Red Sox – can be very proud," he said. "We knew this project would face unforeseeable circumstances; that is par for the course in our 30-year history of building ballparks," Lucchino said. "What we did not know, of course, was that the toughest curveball would be the consequences of a worldwide pandemic. Aer our seven-week halt in construc- tion last spring, we said, upon resump- tion, that, 'We will save an assessment of the delay and the adverse impacts for another day.' at day has come." With potentially less than three months until the stadium's opening, the city has also reached a tentative lease agreement with the baseball team, which was approved Jan. 15 by the Worcester Redevelopment Authority. e proposed contract between the team and the city now comes with some changes from what was first described. e WooSox are slated to pay more than $1 million in annual rent for a 35- year term. at's an extension from what had been a 30-year term. Among other proposed changes, the team now must wait 25 years if it wants to break the lease instead of an initial 15 years. An initial city guarantee for corporate sponsorship revenue has been removed through 2025. e city's potential penalty for not finishing the ballpark on time has been reduced. e City Council will need to approve $14 million, including fees and interest, in new borrowing to cover most of the project's latest overruns, which will then be repaid by the team. e team will pay $7.3 million of the overruns up front. is month's financial update is the first for the project in nearly a year. In January 2020, city officials announced the project's costs rose by about one- third, or more than $30 million. In that case, roughly two-thirds of the increase came from unexpected costs borne by the city for obtaining adjacent parcels, moving businesses and knock- ing down buildings to make way for the ballpark. City officials didn't know a business would need to move expensive communications equipment, driving much of those costs. e remainder came from construction costs for Polar Park itself. Polar Park has now gained the title of the most expensive minor league ball- park ever built, according to Worcester Business Journal research. e most expensive is a $153-million stadium opened in Las Vegas in 2019 with a larger capacity and more fixed seating than what is planned for Polar Park. In that case, the direct costs of building the Las Vegas ballpark was $90 million, and the remaining $60 million was split evenly between acquisition and infrastructure costs. TD Ameritrade Park, a college sta- dium in Omaha, Neb., and the largest ballpark by capacity outside Major League Baseball with space for 24,000 people, opened in 2011 at a cost of about $155 million in 2021 dollars. e 9,508-person-capacity Polar Park's initial estimated cost from 2018 was $101 million, including construc- tion costs of the stadium itself and relat- ed costs, such as obtaining and knocking down buildings standing in the way. e team, the top affiliate of the Bos- ton Red Sox, said it remains optimistic the 2021 season can be held despite the pandemic. e 2020 season was canceled. e WooSox will partially make up for their increased costs by raising fees per game ticket to $2 from $1. e update on Polar Park's costs comes nine months aer city councilors filed formal requests to City Manager Edward Augustus inquiring about how the project was affected by the pandemic and whether the city would face any penalties for not having the work done on time. Augustus said in May the pan- demic would affect the project but for months the public hadn't been updated on how the project was doing finan- cially. e city administration said last fall councilors' inquiries were answered privately. City officials maintain that public investment will pay for itself, and then some, through new development. "While 2020 has presented unbeliev- able challenges for this project and for our community at-large, we are looking ahead to 2021 with hope and optimism," Augustus said in a memo to the City Council released Jan. 8. "While we bid this project in a robust economy and then were hit by a global pandemic, including a significant work stoppage, the project is on track." PHOTO/GRANT WELKER W Polar Park in Worcester is said to be ready to host games as soon as April, depending on whether play begins on time in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

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