Give it up

The Red Sox should abandon their imperious plans for a new park

The Red Sox should quit while they're ahead. Their ill-advised plans to build a new ballpark in the densely populated Fenway neighborhood (at Boston mayor Tom Menino's urging), instead of the South Boston Waterfront near the convention center as originally planned, are simply not working out. The Fenway is already congested with traffic -- and will become even more difficult to navigate with the opening of the Landmark Center. Nine months after the franchise first announced plans for a new park, we're still waiting to hear specifics on how the team plans to acquire the property needed to build a new stadium. (It should be noted that the Phoenix offices would be displaced if the team's plans were carried out.) And we're still waiting to hear how much money the team would seek from the public to help finance the project.

Original estimates of public financing were around $200 million. Last month, the Boston Herald reported that the Sox might seek a jaw-dropping $300 million from the city and state to build their park. Three hundred million dollars is what Harvard Pilgrim Health Care owes area hospitals -- a debt that may force the nonprofit HMO to become a for-profit one or, some have suggested, to go out of business entirely. It is one-fifth of the Big Dig overrun. It would fund years of education reform and a lot of affordable housing.

Three hundred million dollars, as the Herald reported, is also more total financing than any of the following teams needed for parks that were built within the past decade or are currently under construction: the Chicago White Sox, the Baltimore Orioles, the Texas Rangers, the Cleveland Indians, the Colorado Rockies, the Detroit Tigers, and the San Francisco Giants. In no case did the public financing of these parks exceed $200 million.

The projected total cost of the Sox project, on the other hand, is a staggering $600 million -- and rising. The original estimate was approximately $545 million, but, according to recent news reports, the cost has increased by as much as $50 million because of higher site-preparation costs. In addition, interest-rate hikes since the plan was unveiled last May could add another $10 million to $40 million, according to a source familiar with commercial development. Red Sox spokeswoman Kathryn St. John says the team itself has not calculated the impact of higher interest rates, but adds, "If your question is, would that affect the project -- of course." Given these rising costs, and the fact that some experts predict the estimated $65 million for land taking could at least double, there is strong reason to believe the project could approach or exceed $700 million.

Governor Paul Cellucci, House Speaker Tom Finneran, Senate president Tom Birmingham, and Mayor Menino would have to think long and hard before committing $300 million in public funds -- or even the originally estimated $200 million -- to a private, profit-making sports franchise when there are so many other pressing problems in the city and state: the breakdown of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, the Big Dig overrun, and the worsening housing crisis. It would be even more foolish to do so when, as Eileen McNamara of the Boston Globe recently pointed out, 69 percent of Massachusetts voters oppose the use of public monies for a new park, according to a poll by SpoonWorks, Inc.

One proposal recently floated to solve the financing problem is to form a public stadium authority that would build the park, lease it back to the team, and share profits from the venture with the Red Sox. This way the city and state would receive a return on their investment. Public authorities also have an advantage when it comes to borrowing money at favorable bond rates. But such authorities often have little public oversight: look no further than the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to see the dangers in forming these cesspools of patronage and incompetence.

Some reports, too, have suggested that the Red Sox would never agree to such an arrangement. The Globe's Joan Vennochi recently noted that team owners would rather stay in the old Fenway Park than yield control of any aspect of the team. (On the other hand, the Sox are owned by a trust that will someday have to sell. Some speculate that John Harrington will sell once the new ballpark is in place, because he will then have maximized the value of the team.)

The most dangerous aspect of forming a public stadium authority, however, is that it would make it easier for the city to take land on the Red Sox' behalf. When a private enterprise such as the Red Sox (or the convention center being built in South Boston) wants to take land by eminent domain, the standards are much lower if it's done under the rubric of a public authority.

It's easy to see how this would benefit the Red Sox: if unable to come to agreement with private property owners in the Fenway neighborhood, which they have not even attempted to do as of press time, the Sox would get their much-needed land. Long-time neighborhood businesses such as the Phoenix Media/Communications Group, of which the Boston Phoenix is a part -- and which employs hundreds of people at its Fenway location -- have yet to be contacted by Sox officials about their property. A number of other businesses would also be adversely affected, including Il Giardino Café, Fenway Mobil, and Howard Johnson's.

Nine months into their ill-conceived proposal to build a new park, it's become clear that the only way the Sox can pull off their plans is by becoming one of the biggest welfare recipients in the state, and by resorting to unconscionable tactics to grab land. They may need and deserve a new facility, but this place and this plan are not the way to go. It's not good for the state. It's not good for the city of Boston. It's not good for the Fenway neighborhood. It's not good for the fans -- who will pay dearly for tickets and hot dogs in the new venue (FleetCenter, anyone?). And though Sox owners may not yet recognize it, it's not good for our hometown team.

What do you think? Send an e-mail to letters[a]phx.com.