Worcester Ballpark & Redev

This parking lot at 45 Green street converted into an entryway to the new neighborhood from downtown:

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I like the smileys on the foul poles, but I kind of wish they'd gone whole hog and done a giant one on the scoreboard or something...

Nice catch on all those renders! Gotta be honest - the branding is growing on me since yesterday. Here's more detail:

www.milb.com

Put on a happy face: It's the WooSox

The Woo is coming through. On Monday evening, Boston's Triple-A affiliate announced that, beginning in 2021, it will be known as the Worcester Red Sox. But while that's the International League team's official moniker, its "WooSox" nickname promises to be more prominent. The first half of this...
www.milb.com www.milb.com

The smiley is kind of a throwback to the way baseball logos were in the 50s and 60s, with the Twins shaking hands, and the Red Sox own terrifying SoxMan:

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I had thought Polar Park was going to have identical field dimensions to Fenway, but apparently not, based on that image of the right field foul pole (320 feet vs. Pesky's pole at 302). Looks like a great place to catch a game, though. I'm especially intrigued bu the fan dugout, I wonder how much those tickets will cost.
 
I love the look of this stadium so far. My main concern is why the capacity is only 10k?? Same capacity as McCoy stadium. I was thinking they could have maybe had 12-15k for seating as I am sure tickets are going to be popular for at least the first 10 years of Polar Park. Just seems very short sighted for a brand new AAA stadium.
 
Perhaps the design allows for expansion at a later date, looks like there could be seating capacity added under the Jumbotron. I’m not a sports fan here but gather the atmosphere of a game might be better in a pretty packed 10k arena than a 12-15k stadium with lots of empty seats. How many people on average show up to a PawSox game?
 
Seanflynn78 said:
I love the look of this stadium so far. My main concern is why the capacity is only 10k?? Same capacity as McCoy stadium. I was thinking they could have maybe had 12-15k for seating as I am sure tickets are going to be popular for at least the first 10 years of Polar Park. Just seems very short sighted for a brand new AAA stadium.
Click to expand...
Looks like they're upping the suites and premium seating by a significant amount over McCoy, and that's where the money is.
 
10k is very much the median for stadiums at this level of minor league baseball. The only outliers in the International League (link here) were built 20+ years ago, and you could expect those to be downsized whenever they get their next bite at the tax-subsidy apple.

Not sure whether this is still true but for years, the PawSox were the #2 pro team for annual attendance in New England, behind only the Red Sox. Bruins and the Celtics play fewer games in a building not much bigger, and the Patriots will only play 12 home games at most, counting preseason and their annual march through the rest of their conference in the postseason.
 
It's also wroth noting that the largest of those International League stadiums, Sahlen Field, was built with the goal of ultimately being expanded for a major league team. Though it is a high quality of baseball, generally speaking AAA isn't going to draw much more than 10,000 fans, especially for locations that are fairly close to a major league park.
 
I would be surprised if the "Woo Sox" don't sell out most of their home games when they move to Worcester. I am curious if this stadium can have soccer matches or football games too during the off season. Maybe Worcester can now lure the Revolution too.
 
ErnieAdams said:
10k is very much the median for stadiums at this level of minor league baseball. The only outliers in the International League (link here) were built 20+ years ago, and you could expect those to be downsized whenever they get their next bite at the tax-subsidy apple.

Not sure whether this is still true but for years, the PawSox were the #2 pro team for annual attendance in New England, behind only the Red Sox. Bruins and the Celtics play fewer games in a building not much bigger, and the Patriots will only play 12 home games at most, counting preseason and their annual march through the rest of their conference in the postseason.
Click to expand...

Yes, but New England is a different/unique when it comes to minor league sports, both Portland, Lowell, and Pawtucket rank at the top/near the top of their leagues in attendance. I am guessing they will be able to get an extra 1-2k with the lawn seats/standing room.
 
^Not that I necessarily agree, but it's not gonna happen with this crew. If you look at how the Worcester Red Sox front office is constructed, it's basically a PR shop with a baseball club attached to it. They don't have any interest in maximizing the number of people who can attend, if doing so were to mean they wouldn't be able to report sellouts to their doting local press. These are *exactly* the same people who were pumping up the "sellout streak" at Fenway for years after that notion passed the smell test. Now they get to enjoy semi-retirement in a smaller sandbox, one of their own creation and born out of destruction of a local institution in Pawtucket. (I won't go on further because I don't want to drag people off the development discussion. Suffice to say I'm not the cynical one, they're the cynical ones. Harumph.)
 
Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing should be playing in the background. At least the animation shows the overall layout.
 
I really don't get the hate for the new logo. Kind of love it, very retro (as someone noted a throwback to the 50-60's).
 
I like the logo, it reminds me a lot of the Mister Men book series that my kids enjoyed when they were young. This one would fit right in as "Mr. Baseball."

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www.wbjournal.com

What to expect in 2020: WooSox project kicks in high gear

Worcester’s highest-profile development will need to hit some major milestones in 2020 in order to stay its course.
www.wbjournal.com www.wbjournal.com

Kind of a fluff article but what's interesting is there is still an active commercial building sitting in the approximate area of right field (adjacent to Table Top Pies HQ) that has yet to be demolished. Employees are there every day. This must be holding up site work progress.
 
citydweller said:
www.wbjournal.com

What to expect in 2020: WooSox project kicks in high gear

Worcester’s highest-profile development will need to hit some major milestones in 2020 in order to stay its course.
www.wbjournal.com www.wbjournal.com

Kind of a fluff article but what's interesting is there is still an active commercial building sitting in the approximate area of right field (adjacent to Table Top Pies HQ) that has yet to be demolished. Employees are there every day. This must be holding up site work progress.
Click to expand...

Table Talk has some offices in that building that they're working on moving. As a whole Table Talk is considering moving out of the area, which would free up a considerable amount of space for redevelopment.
 
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