Worcester Business Journal

Polar Park's impact has been positive F L AS H P O L L What has been Polar Park's overall impact on Greater Worcester businesses? As the first Worcester Red Sox season finished with the final home game on Sept. 26, businesses and residents in the Canal District neighborhood have had to adjust to a new rhythm, as the opening of the $160-million Polar Park baseball stadium brought with it baseball games, community events, and visitors. From the onset, the park's construction was cast by the team and the City of Worcester as an asset to help bolster the local economy. When polled online, 84% of WBJ readers said the stadium's impact on area businesses has been positive. An overwhelmingly negative impact. wbjournal.com | October 25, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 39 W O R C E S T E R R E D S O X F A C T B O O K An overwhelmingly positive impact. 45% It's mixed, but the impact has been net positive. 39% 8% 2% 6% It's mixed, but the impact has been net negative. Any impact has been minimal. 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 5/11 6/1 7/1 8/1 9/1 9/26 2,377 9,508 Worcester Red Sox home attendance, by game Top Minor League Baseball teams, by average 2021 attendance Top Minor League Baseball teams, by total 2021 attendance Average Team home attendance Average Team home attendance 1) Nashville (0) 6,721 2) Las Vegas (0) 6,590 3) Columbus (4) 6,457 4) El Paso (2) 6,407 5) Dayton (5) 6,258 6) Worcester (6) 6,145 7) St. Paul (0) 6,052 8) Lehigh Valley (4) 5,842 9) Indianapolis (4) 5,799 10) Charlotte (3) 5,569 Notes: The number of home rainouts per team are listed in parenthesis. There are 120 teams in Minor League Baseball. Source: Worcester Red Sox 1) Nashville 436,868 2) Las Vegas 428,369 3) El Paso 403,657 4) Columbus 393,879 5) St. Paul 393,394 6) Worcester 362,559 7) Lehigh Valley 356,355 8) Indianapolis 353,729 9) Charlotte 345,305 10) Dayton 344,167 Notes: All are Triple A teams with the exception of Dayton, which is Single A. There are 120 teams in Minor League Baseball. Source: Worcester Red Sox 2021 the debt service, this was anticipated for the first few years of the bond repayment plan, said Timothy McGourthy, CFO for the City of Worcester. e city has created a cash reserve to make up for any shortfalls in revenue from the taxing district around the ballpark. at reserve has $300,000, McGourthy said, all from the anticipated sale of a portion of the ballpark property near Green Street to Worcester developer Churchill James, which is planning a 13-story apartment tower. Once the sale is finalized, the reserve will grow to $3.2 million. For fiscal 2021, which ended June 30 and included the first two months of the WooSox season, the city needed the stadium taxing district to generate about $640,000 to cover the remainder of the $2.1-million stadium bond payment not already paid for by the capitalized interest. e revenue from the ballpark district fell short, generating about $391,000. e shortfall was covered by the reserve, McGourthy said. For the next two fiscal years, the city's payments on the bonds rises to $3.9 million and $4.8 million, with the ballpark district needing to generate about $4.9 million combined to break even on the bond payments. "e reserve is there for those initial years," he said. W Source: Worcester Red Sox box scores

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