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Throughout the past 100 years, Boston Sports Teams have done a fine job of
messing up their chances at winning world championships. Sure, Boston teams
have had more success and more championship rings than most of their
professional counterparts, but pro sports are a
what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type of business. And Boston teams haven't
done much worth talking about with exception of the inventive ways they've
blown championship runs. The Red Sox owned the first two decades of
baseball in the 20th century. They've been fun to watch since we sold the
Babe, but it's been 80 years since they brought home the bacon. The
Patriots teased us in 1986 and in 1997, but salary cap issues, constant
coaching changes and a tough division don't give us a lot of hope. The
Bruins were picked to finish the 1999-2000 season with the 4th best record
in the NHL by Sports Illustrated. We all know that didn't happen as their
bad fortune and even worse team chemistry killed the season. The Celtics
should find someone to get Rick Pitino to quit. I'll admit, I was on the
Pitino bandwagon and screamed as loud as anyone, but he's turned into a
flop. I still think he's a great coach. But he assembles a type team that
would spank the heck out of college teams with its ability to run athletic
6'7" players at you relentlessly and wear you out. However, that game plan
doesn't suit the NBA as well as it did his championship teams at Kentucky.
And I'm too tired to talk about the Revolution or the short-lived Blizzard.
All of Boston's futility in sports since I was born in the mid-70's (if this
keeps up, I'm gonna take all the losing personally and as a bad sign from
the gods of sport) has been due to inept management, poor decision making on
and off the field, rivalries where we were rarely the better team, and just
down right bad luck. Are we cursed? Probably, but I hate to blame all this
on something we have no control over. But what's worse than all this, is
the City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts are beginning to make
matters worse. We used to be able to blame it all on some poor scapegoat
(who didn't always deserve it) but now we have to start pointing the fingers
at ourselves.
Apparently, our beloved Beantown, so steeped in tradition and pride, is
willing to let its pride and joy sports franchises walk. The Patriots would
be playing in CT in 2002 if it weren't for site issues at the last minute.
The only reason the Fleet Center was built was because the Garden was old
and decrepit and served the city as the primary indoor event venue as well
as home to the Celtics and Bruins. Now we come to the Red Sox and the new
Fenway. What's the city thinking? We nearly lost the patriots over an
ego battle with one man, House Speaker Thomas Finneran. I understand
Finneran's position that the Patriots were not a worthy investment. And I
would agree if Owner Bob Kraft was asking him to pay for the stadium, but
Kraft wasn't. Kraft said he would finance the stadium and asked for help in
paying for the infrastructure...infrastructure that was needed and requested
year after year by residents near Foxborough. All finally worked out after
Kraft stroked Finneran's ego into a fine mane and Finenran realized he would
get voted out of office if it happened again when Kraft pulled the Patriots
out of Hartford and went back to Massachusetts for help. If Finneran had
agreed to the original deal, he would have been fine and the State would
have happily collected large amounts in taxes from seats, luxury boxes and
other sales that would more than cover the cost of the infrastructure in the
short term.
Now the Red sox are facing similar problems with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.
The sox wanted to leave the Fen and go down to the waterfront where there
was a convention center and the beginnings of a revitalization program
underway. It was perfect. New England, long known for some of the most
beautiful coastline in the world, would have made a great home for ballpark
on the water, just like Pac Bell in San Fran. I admit I would love to see
the Sox stay in the Fen but it's not a smart option. The residents wish the
stadium and all the traffic congestion would go away. The neighborhood is
slowly deteriorating into low level rental properties that don't make for a
great place to walk your kids from the car or metro to the park. And lets
face it, the cost to buy land in the fen and they pay demolition and
reconstruction costs on what used to be, and still is 10 feet below ground,
a smelly swamp. The Fen used to be a perfect home for the Sox, but it isn't
any more. Boston is slowly stretching its limits and sucking up local towns
in an attempt to expand it's tight city lines. The only place left is the
waterfront, and a lot of folks haven't been sold on building there
considering the new convention center is the only of interest in the area
and Boston can't fill it on a regular basis. A new ballpark is a great
idea for the area. Even better, a new ball park that like the Patriots, the
team offered to build with state assistance only for infrastructure and
parking facilities. Not a bad deal. In the case of football stadiums,
where there are normally eight home games and up to 2 additional playoff
games, the investment rarely pays off in the form of bringing dollars to the
local community by ballpark patrons. Ten days a year of customers does not
allow a business to survive, let alone flourish. Baseball parks on the
other hand, bring folks to the neighborhood at least 81 times a year
excluding playoffs. That also means there's a lot more people to put in the
seats and more taxes to be made off ticket sales and concessions. With an
expected 10,000 additional seats, that provides a lot of dough for the team
and the state. Let's just say the average ticket at the New Fenway will be
$20 a pop. I know this is a bit low, but my math is weak and it really
won't hurt the argument. Take an additional 10,000 people at $20 a pop.
That's $200,000 a game. Multiply by 81 home games (at least) and the new
Fenway brings in an extra $16.2 million a year. Luxury boxes, concessions
and new liscencing deals will bring in many millions more. Not only does
this make for a team that has the money to stay competitive, it also makes
for a hell of a tax base. First, on all sales, then on income taxes for
players once we take the new money after taxes and pay their high salaries.
Not a bad deal for the state of Massachusetts. Plus, a beautiful new
ballpark will help in attracting more redevelopment activities to the
harbor, a Boston wasteland for years.
However, Menino, in one fall swoop, said the Sox can only build in the Fen
and no where else. That makes it much more expensive to buy land, ready it
for construction (expensive to do to any swamp land) and the length of the
process will cause interest rates and construction costs to increase while
all the details are hammered out.
It's a shame it has come to this. I fear this nonsensical limitation of
where and how the team can build is going to cost us one of the greatest
franchises in all of sports. I love Fenway as much as anyone but when a
ballpark can no longer serve it's team they way it should, it's time to
retire it. Fenway's time has come and it's glory years are long past as
it's uncomfortable seats, leaky structures, cramped bathrooms that make you
miss 3 innings while standing in line, and rare concession stands can
attest. I will cry when Fenway comes down.
But I will cheer for any improvement that will brings Boston closer to a
championship ring. Fenway, in all it's magic and history, is a detriment to
the Red Sox. We have overcome it for years, but within the next decade, the
lack of revenue and poor shape of the stadium will gnaw away at the team's
competitiveness and stability.
A Boston without a new Fenway may soon be a Boston without the Red Sox. I
urge you all to call and write the mayor's office and urge him to allow the
new park to be built in the waterfront, where it is best for the city, and
with help from the city and state. The Red Sox define Boston more than
baked beans, Paul Revere, the Irish green ever could. It'd be a damn shame
to let them walk away, or even worse, become perennial losers at the hands
of the city the team has called home for over a century.
Mayor's Office
Thomas M. Menino
Mayor of Boston
Address:
Mayor's Office
1 City Hall Plaza
Boston, MA 02201
Telephone: 617.635.4500
Facsimile: 617.635.3496
Email: mayor@ci.boston.ma.us
patdaddy@prodigy.net
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