Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | December 11, 2017 | wbjournal.com With Worcester eyeing a deal others have valued at $38M, economists warn $7M is a better option P H O T O / E D D C O T E BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor I f Worcester is successful in land- ing the Boston Red Sox' top minor-league team out of Rhode Island, it'll undoubtedly bring a new level of confidence and excitement to a city always on the search for something to tout. It'll also surely cost Worcester – and perhaps the state – a lot of money, if stadium deals across the country are any guide. If a Worcester Red Sox stadi- um were to produce the type of devel- opment city officials hope to see, it may be more of an exception than the norm. "They're almost always sold on the best-case scenario," said Victor Matheson, a sports economist at the College of the Holy Cross. "If the worst- case scenario was still profitable, the owners would do this on their own." Worcester and Pawtucket Red Sox officials have been tight-lipped about their discussions to bring minor league baseball to the city since discussions in Rhode Island have cooled, but the team's proposed stadium in Pawtucket serves as a guide to what Worcester might have to offer to lure the team to a smaller market: For a $83-million Pawtucket facility, the Red Sox officials are asking the city to put up $15 million and the state to put up $23 million. Matheson and other sports econo- mists say the public benefit is often over-inflated when it comes to stadium deals, and it would be prudent on Worcester's part to commit to a far smaller amount – $5 to $10 million – to avoid the stadium financing pitfalls plaguing other local governments. Worcester stadium economic impact Public officials tout new stadiums as economic catalysts, projects that can kick-start development, change public perception of a city and boost civic pride. Yet, sports economists have long been doubtful of any significant posi- tive economic benefit. "I'm not really sure where this myth came from that neighborhoods shoot up around a stadium," said Brooklyn- based author Neil DeMause, who has published a book and writes a blog on stadium economics. "It's not something that anyone's really seen anywhere." In Worcester, luring the Pawtucket Red Sox to the Wyman Gordon site in the Canal District is seen as a way for the city to spread its name, give a new entertainment option and get new con- struction started in a neighborhood lacking the growth of downtown or along nearby Water or Green streets. "The move would help us to develop a parcel of land that is perfect for that type of use," said Ed Russo, the owner of the Canal District restaurant Lock 50. "It also would allow us to look forward and revamp some streets, intersections and sidewalks so we could continue connect- ing the neighborhood, encouraging walking throughout the district. "And the influx of fans to the games would further support the local busi- nesses for the spring and summer months," Russo said. The PawSox's longtime home, McCoy Stadium, was built in 1942 and doesn't have many of the fan or player ameni- ties expected of stadiums today. The team hasn't received an especially warm embrace in its attempt to build in their longtime home state, where the Rhode Island government has been reluctant to devote any public funds. Worcester's city council voted this summer to have City Manager Edward Augustus do "all that is reasonably in his power" to try landing the team, and nearly 100 Worcester-area businesses signed a letter supporting the effort. If the PawSox were to move, they would leave a metropolitan market in Greater Providence with 1.6 million people (which includes portions of Southeastern Massachusetts) for a Greater Worcester market with 935,781 people (which includes Windham County, Conn.). Massachusetts, though, hasn't offered stadium subsidies like other states have. Gillette Stadium and TD Garden were both built using private funds, and the state didn't commit to public funding even as it looked in the 1990s that the Patriots may leave for Connecticut. Stadium subsidy cautionary tales The most notorious public-spending cases on stadiums are in the top level of Holy Cross professor and sports economist Victor Matheson at the Wyman Gordon site in Worcester's Canal District, a proposed location for a minor league baseball stadium. The PawSox true value

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