The Rhode Island state senate is set to hold a hearing today (delayed from last week by a snowstorm) on whether to spend $38 million in state and city money on a new Pawtucket Red Sox stadium, and here’s a really dumb headline from the Boston Globe about it:
Will Rhode Island subsidize a new PawSox stadium or let the team leave for Worcester?
All together now: There is zero indication that Worcester is offering a more lucrative stadium deal than Pawtucket, or even any deal at all. Even if they did hire Andy ZImbalist to help plan an offer, he just lives down the road in Northampton, so his $225 an hour fee won’t have to cover much driving time. “Or risk letting the team leave for Worcester” would have been somewhat more accurate, and Twitter allows 280 characters now, so I don’t honestly know what the thinking was here, other than “move threats, even idle ones, get clicks.”
Anyway, the state senate has been more on board with the stadium subsidy plan from the beginning, with House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello more the holdout, so today’s hearing may not tell us much. About the bill’s likelihood of passage, anyway; it’s proving a great litmus test on which news outlets are excited about carrying ownership’s water for them.
When Worcester is the only competition for a capital project, there is no competition at all. Small city, no money, no usable infrastructure, poor ticket-selling environment. Same is true of basically every AAA-sized city in Massachusetts and broader New England–the Sox probably really don’t want to move the team outside the region.
The only possible reason for this story is Larry Lucchino’s many friends in the Boston press, who are probably more than eager to “report” on absurd rumors manufactured simply to put “pressure” on political leaders where none exists.