PawSox Owners Drop Public Relations Team Following Failed Providence Bid

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

GoLocal News Team

PawSox owners are handling their own PR now as next steps for the club are uncertain.

The public relations team for the new Pawtucket Red Sox ownership group, who worked to usher through the failed stadium proposal on the 195 land in Providence, is out.

Patti Doyle of Patti Doyle Communications is no longer representing the teams's owners as they regroup after the demise of its first effort to move the AAA team from Pawtucket to Providence, following strong public opposition to the proposal.

When contacted on Monday about Pawtucket Mayor Donal Grebien’s request to obtain the purported feasibility study from the new ownership group, Doyle said, “Please send all media requests to [Dan Rea].”

Rea, who is the assistant to PawSox owner Larry Lucchino, said Monday, “We have been in discussions with Mayor Grebien, but we have no new developments on that front to report.”

Baseball RI Defunct?

With the full rejection of the Providence 195 stadium proposal in September announced by Rhode Island House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, the campaign behind the effort has been winding down over the past month.

The latest update on the Baseball RI Facebook page was on September 11, regarding recognizing the anniversary of the terror attacks.

The group never got beyond 800 supporters on Facebook; just one of the opposition groups — Keep PawSox in Pawtucket — had over 3000 supporters on its one page. The ill-fated "listening tour" scheduled by the ownership group, was maligned in both traditional and social media for being top-down and not truly responsive to attendees.

The 195 proposal was never able to surmount the initial launch back in April at the Chamber of Commerce, which by the time it got to the RI Commerce Corporation, Governor Gina Raimondo declared the same day that the ask by the owners was too much.

Related Slideshow: The Paw Sox Contenders - October 2015

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Pawtucket

The PawSox aren’t going anywhere - for the time being. Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien is calling for both for a feasibility study as required by the lease agreement with the state, as well as the one conducted by the new owners, as reports of outside interests in the AAA continue to mount.

GoLocal Mindsetter Kenneth Berwick argued in August that the city should align its interests with the new national park status of neighboring Blackstone River Valley; whereas GoLocal’s Russ Moore argued recently that “RI is too poor to bid for the PawSox.”

Right now there’s only speculation surrounding the team's next move, but people like David Norton are continuing to keep pressure on leadership to keep Pawtucket in the game -- if it makes sense for taxpayers.

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Providence

As GoLocal was first to report, another potential Paw Sox location in Providence emerged following the 195 proposal — the old Victory Place footprint just off Allens Avenue. The previous owners touted the option would remove the need for state involvement and the proposed "lease and sublease" provisions that would have cost Rhode Island tens of millions over the next thirty years.

Fast forward several months, and the 195 proposal is no more, and the Victory property is now owned by Lifespan. Holy Cross Professor of Economics Vic Matheson says that if a stadium gets put there “the city would most likely take control of that spot, it would easier to deal with abatements."

"The 195 spot they say died for environmental reasons, but if people were really excited about it, they would have made it happen," said Matheson. "It's hard to see taxpayers in Providence wanting to give millions to the owners.”

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Worcester

Back in February, Regional Chamber of Commerce President Tim Murray said, “The doors are always open...I think people here would be willing to listen, but everyone recognizes this requires significant municipal assistance. Massachusetts, traditionally, has been reluctant to use tax dollars to those kind of things, and I think in most cases, appropriately so."

City Councilor Gary Rosen was bullish on the proposal after the 195 location fell through. “The 'WorSox' could purchase, clean up and build a fine stadium on the spacious Wyman Gordon property near Kelly Square," said Rosen in September. "That location also has excellent highway access."

Vic Matheson at Holy Cross said he could see it happening — contingent on the ownership fronting the cost to build a new stadium. “I can't imagine [Worcester] pouring $4 million a year for 20 years. I see no reason why they wouldn't make it easy, but they wouldn't foot the bill."

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Springfield

Springfield’s Communications Director Jim Leydon told 22News earlier this month that Mayor Domenic Sarno spoke with Pawtucket Red Sox owner Larry Lucchino and that Leydon says the Mayor would like to have a more formal conversation, but no meetings are scheduled. Leydon turned down request for comment from GoLocal on Monday.

The interest by New England’s fourth largest city comes on the heels of the groundbreaking of a $800 million MGM casino which is slated to open in 2018. Holy Cross Professor of Economics Vic Matheson said his “guess is Springfield” to be the frontrunner as an option to Pawtucket.

“That’s just because of the money surrounding the new casino, but there's still issues with that,” said Matheson.

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Fall River

Could Fall River be the new location for the Pawtucket Red Sox? That’s the headline that was posed by the Fall River Herald News’ Kevin P. O’Connor on October 15.

According to O’Connor: “We have started poking around, to see if there is an interest in bringing the Pawtucket Red Sox to Fall River,” said Robert Mellion, president and CEO of the Fall River Area chamber. “This is a job for the Chamber, to see if there is an interest and to talk to people to see where the interest might lead.”

The consideration comes at a time when Fall River is set to welcome a new Amazon distribution center which will employ 1,000 and is set to be completed next year, according to the Herald News Jo C. Goode.