PROVIDENCE – State leaders disagree about how to move forward with a proposal to use taxpayer dollars to help fund a new $83 million stadium for the Pawtucket Red Sox.
R.I. House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello last week said the state should renegotiate the currently proposed deal. Gov. Gina M. Raimondo on Tuesday disagreed, saying lawmakers could make changes to pending legislation without renegotiating the entire deal.
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“This deal that’s before the legislature I think protects taxpayers,” Raimondo told reporters during a media briefing. “The legislature can amend the legislation, like they [can] with any legislation. If the speaker has amendments that he’d like to see, I’d be open to considering them.”
The Triple-A minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox is seeking about $71 million in taxpayer-backed bonds to help build the new stadium in Pawtucket. The ownership group has indicated that it will likely leave Pawtucket and the state without the help of public subsidies.
The bonds, which require legislative approval, would be repaid by the team, the state and Pawtucket by expected revenue from the operation of the stadium and planned ancillary development around the stadium in downtown Pawtucket.
Mattiello, however, told the Providence Journal last week he was uncomfortable with the deal, saying it should be renegotiated to shift risk from city and state taxpayers to team owners.
“If it’s such a great deal, perhaps a lot of the backstop should come from the PawSox,” Mattiello said.
On Tuesday, he released a statement reiterating his concerns.
“In listening to many Rhode Islanders, my assessment is that most people may want the PawSox to stay here, but they are not comfortable with the present deal,” Mattiello said.
The deal was originally struck after months of negotiations between PawSox owners, Pawtucket city officials and the R.I. Commerce Corp.
Whether it will move forward, however, largely depends on the General Assembly. The process is ongoing, but state lawmakers have asked team owners to provide additional financial information, including income statements showing profitability.
“The committee will not move forward without this necessary information,” said Sen. William J. Conley Jr., D-East Providence, in a statement.
Conley is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and has held several public hearings to vet the proposed legislation.
The team, a privately held company, has balked at providing certain financial information and could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday.
Commerce RI, the state’s economic development arm, said it also requested income statements during negotiations, but never received them. Nonetheless, Commerce agreed to the terms of the deal, saying it met a list of requirements meant to protect taxpayers.
Raimondo said she was comfortable with that decision and would like to see the deal move forward.
“It would be sad and bad if the PawSox weren’t in Pawtucket. There’s a deal on the table that’s good and protects the taxpayers,” she said. “[Mattiello] has concerns – that’s legitimate – so he ought to let the team know what would be acceptable.”
Providence Business News this month published a two-part series examining the PawSox deal and the overall economic implications for the city and state.
Part 1: “Keeping PawSox: Where’s the risk?”
Part 2: “If not PawSox, then what?”
Eli Sherman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Sherman@PBN.com, or follow him on Twitter @Eli_Sherman.
