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Providence’s ‘Field of Dreams’

Christopher Curran
Posted 3/4/15

After the announcement of the sale of the Pawtucket Red Sox last week, the Ocean State has been abuzz with the talk of possibilities. Like the game of baseball itself, some enjoy the promise of hope …

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Providence’s ‘Field of Dreams’

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After the announcement of the sale of the Pawtucket Red Sox last week, the Ocean State has been abuzz with the talk of possibilities. Like the game of baseball itself, some enjoy the promise of hope and triumph, while others contend with dreams dashed and defeated. Our capital city of Providence pensively ponders what will be needed to bring a new stadium to the downtown, while Pawtucket laments over the imminent loss of one of their few shining attractions.

America’s pastime is in many ways an allegory for life’s trials and tribulations. With the first pitch of each game, one realizes a new start that is full of possibilities. With the last strike on the losing side, one endures a loss and the resulting crushing of hope. In this particular game, the outcome is preordained – Pawtucket will lose, and Providence will win. Well, maybe?

Whether the fans, we Rhode Islanders, will gain anything in this grand transition will be a score tabulated well in the future. McCoy Stadium may indeed be antiquated by today’s standards. However, McCoy holds a charming old-time baseball atmosphere that a modern state of the art park may not. Also, PawSox ticket prices are reasonable. One can assume that a new facility will have to charge higher prices due to their higher overhead. The primary reason why in 2005 the PawSox sold 689,000 tickets – an outstanding feat for an International League team – is because McCoy provided an enjoyable family outing at an economical cost.

Admittedly, ticket sales have lessened in the recent recession and post-recession years. There is no concrete proof, however, that a downtown facility will yield substantially more ticket sales and related revenue. Depending on what participation is expected by the new owners with the state and the city, this game of “Moneyball” may not be in our best interests. The apparition of “38 Studios” remains forebodingly in our collective conscience. One might feel safer on our prospective investment, due to the fact that no moral obligation bonds are potentially being floated. However, the expectation by the owners would be the state and the city would lease the park and then the state and the city would sub-lease the park back to the investment group. This method allows collateral for borrowing against the surety of the lease that the state and the city are responsible for. In other words, it is a lease that we are responsible for. The investment group’s ability to finance the building of the park would most likely be contingent upon that agreement. With a $60 to $70 million price tag, the insurance ultimately provided by the taxpayer will be crucial.

Also, the cost of upgrading infrastructure around the park could be enormous depending upon the ultimate design of the facility and the required egress. Anyone who drives on Providence’s roads knows how shabby their condition is. No matter how splendorous a stadium is built, if the roadways used in getting there are substandard, the patrons will not likely return. If one has driven from Westerly to see our Triple-A team and then ruined the front end of their car in one of our capital city’s canyon-like potholes, their tendency might be to identify the outing with their bottoming-out and the resulting expense. Of course, parking is yet another complicated issue. To build a parking structure will obviously require substantial parking fees to recoup the cost of building the garage. How easily are tried and true fans of the PawSox, who have always enjoyed free parking, going to acclimate to paying for the privilege to park?

Just like the game itself, in this prospective deal all player statistics need to be analyzed before we send our team into the field. For in baseball, determining a team’s scoring potential is everything. In this game, we the taxpayers and the new team owners must assess our real chances of coming up with a win.

In Rhode Island, our field of dreams has resided in Pawtucket since 1973. Since the mid ’70s, Ben Mondor owned a team that he truly loved. That sentiment was evident in not only his appearances and interactions with fans, but with the family-friendly environment he consistently preserved.

According to ESPN’s Joe McDonald, a spokesman for the new owners said, “all current members of the PawSox’s staff will remain on the team.” If the reporter’s information is accurate, then perhaps working under the new owners will not see a shift from Ben Mondor’s paradigms.

Since his passing, his widow has attempted to sell the Triple-A baseball team, and now she has succeeded. The question of course is, do the new owners hold the same attitude and appreciation of the fans as Ben did? The new owners are a cartel of Rhode Island notables and Boston Red Sox executives. The group of 10 entities include local businessman James J. Skeffington, Red Sox President Larry Lucchino’s Fenway Sports Management, local banker J. Terrence Murray, and Thomas M. Ryan, among others. One can assume that the colloquial paradigm of family-centered baseball will be hard to sustain in such a complicated ownership scheme.

Understandably, the new owners are professionally driven to maximize profitability and minimize risk by securing assurances from the state and the city.

These progressive business experts obviously know that the more liability they can get the public sector to bear, the better chance at a favorable bottom line they will have. In other words, in business as much as possible, one should use other people’s money. In private-public partnerships, the other people are unfortunately the taxpayers.

Thus, the spokesman for the group, James Skeffington, has stated how crucial a private-public partnership of some sort will be in keeping the PawSox in Rhode Island. Speaking for the group, Skeffington stated: “Our interests is on funding that ballpark ourselves with our private capital, and then asking the state and the city to join us in some fashion to bring about this dream, this vision for a ballpark in downtown Providence.”

That statement begs the question, what does “some fashion” mean? And if the enterprise fails, will the taxpayer be left liable for the expense of this “vision”? Traditionally in these ventures, the reverse leasing as a method of collateral for funding is the norm. Most Triple-A ballparks around the country are financed this way. Some have been successful, while others have not.

For example, the Charlotte Knights of Charlotte, N.C., are playing in a new stadium that has been a great success. Their first full year in the new facility has seen the team realize the highest attendance in the International League. According to the Charlotte Observer newspaper, peripheral businesses have seen a boon in trade and revenue due to the new facility’s triumph. The inescapable question is, can we duplicate the success of Charlotte’s home park – BB&T Ballpark – here in Little Rhody? There are similarities between Providence and Charlotte, to the extent that there are many institutions of higher learning in the area. There is also an abundance of dining establishments in both cities, which very likely feed off baseball fan families.

Perhaps most importantly, there is a long history of patronage of minor league baseball in both North Carolina and Rhode Island. Maybe we can capitalize on those factors. If so, Providence would see a “W” on the scoreboard.

Contrarily, if Providence and the State of Rhode Island win this game, then Pawtucket will most certainly be the loser. The city of Pawtucket is for the most part a decaying mill city. One of the few attractions that most people positively identify with “The Bucket” is being the longtime and current home of the PawSox, McCoy Stadium. Robert Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council has stated, “any state help should focus on keeping the team in Pawtucket.” He also added: “We’re not fighting against anyone, it’s for Pawtucket. Let’s figure out how to do it here.” Furthermore, one could easily sense the despair in the words of Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebian, who described his city’s impending loss by noting that there would be “both an economic and psychological impact to the departure of the team.”

In life as in our national pastime, there are winners and there are losers. If all these grandiose plans succeed, Providence and the citizens of the state can chalk up a win. Sadly, the losing team will be the city of Pawtucket. At this point, we do not know what the final score will be.

In the classic movie “Field of Dreams,” a whispering voice says, “If you build it, they will come.” Unfortunately, neither the owners nor the taxpayers know whether that ghostly voice is telling the truth in Providence!

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