Pawtucket, RI’s McCoy Stadium has hosted minor league baseball for nearly 70 years, most prominently in the form of Boston’s International League affiliate. Site of a 33 inning Pawtucket/Rochester game that took more than two months to complete in 1981, McCoy is now in jeopardy of losing the Red Sox to neighboring Providence, a switch Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien claims was a fait accompli, thanks in part to one of the PawSox’s new owners, Larry Lucchino. From the Providence Journal’s John Hill (link swiped from Baseball Think Factory) :
“I can’t tell you half of what they said, because when they said, ‘It’s not going to be Pawtucket,’ that just took the air out of the room,” Grebien said.
They mayor declined to discuss any of the specifics of the new ownership’s plans, or even who they were, saying that was up to them to reveal.
The PawSox signed a new lease just about a year ago that was supposed to keep the team in McCoy through 2021, with a five-year extension after that. But that lease is with the state, not the city, Grebien said, so Pawtucket appears to have few legal options if it wanted to fight to keep the team in the city.
Greiben said the new owners talked about wanting a location with transportation access, to be in an urban setting and be a place were they could create destination type facility.