PawSox stadium plan to get fall hearings by House, Senate finance panels

Rhode Island's Senate and House finance committees agreed Tuesday to hold fall hearings on legislation that would form the foundation of a proposed $83-million stadium deal for the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien worries that fall may be too late to keep the PawSox in Pawtucket.

Grebien on Tuesday again expressed concerns he raised last month when Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio said it was too late to give the proposal adequate consideration before the General Assembly adjourns, which may be as soon as this week.

Also on Tuesday, Senate spokesman Greg Pare released projections showing the city and state would generate considerably more in taxes over the 30-year life of the deal than they’d need to make the bond payments. Bond payments would be $900,000 a year for the city and $1.4 million for the state. Yet the projected revenues are $1.7 million a year for the city and $4.7 million for the state.

The proposal for a ballpark to replace the 75-year-old McCoy Stadium has undergone several iterations before emerging as proposed legislation in mid-May. What hasn't changed: the way the state, city and team propose financing the new stadium. The Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency would issue three series of bonds to raise cash to build the stadium, and the team would also pay $12 million upfront.

Each entity would then pay off its portion of the bonds with revenue generated by the stadium and additional real-estate development around the Apex department store site where the team seeks to build. The team's bonds would equal $33 million, the state's $23 million and the city's up to $15 million.

PawSox Chairman Larry Lucchino this year has said repeatedly that the team is committed to staying in Pawtucket, but he was pursuing a deal to be done this session. On Tuesday, Lucchino would not say whether the team has a deadline for negotiating exclusively with Pawtucket — and would not answer whether he'll begin exploring other sites.

Last month, Grebien held a press conference at the State House and raised the specter that the PawSox would leave Pawtucket — and said their commitment to “monogamy" only runs through July 1.

On Tuesday, Grebien said perhaps he shouldn't have put a date on that commitment, but he has generally said June 30 or July 1 to reflect the nature of the understanding he and the team had: that they'd negotiate exclusively with each other until the end of the legislative session, which typically occurs in late June. 

Senate Finance Chairman William J. Conley Jr. insisted Tuesday the PawSox proposal will not emerge for consideration in the waning days of this session.

“Absolutely, positively not," Conley said. "The Senate president has spoken.”

Even in the fall, Conley said he’s not sure whether the full Senate might reconvene for a special fall session. 

That’s up to the full Senate leadership, Conley told reporters during a news conference about the legislation that he and Pawtucket Senate colleagues introduced Tuesday. As Conley fielded questions about the legislation, his answers revealed that many details remain to be negotiated.

Among the unknowns: the total bonded debt the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency would issue, the sum to be set aside as a cushion to cover debt payments if anticipated stadium revenue falls short, the terms of a lease still under negotiation and details about additional real-estate development the team owners want to see built near a new stadium.

Legislation identical to the Senate proposal is expected to be introduced in the House, spokesman Larry Berman said Tuesday. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello issued a statement early Tuesday saying the House Finance Committee would consider the PawSox proposal this fall. 

— kbramson@providencejournal.com

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