Sox get deal

By Cosmo Macero Jr. and David R. Guarino

July 26, 2000 Web posted at: 9:52 AM EDT (1352 GMT)

BOSTON, Massachusetts (The Boston Herald) -- In a bittersweet breakthrough for the Red Sox, state and city leaders last night struck a late-game deal to hit baseball fans directly for payback of public subsidies to help finance a $665 million new Fenway Park.

The deal starts a race through the weekend to get legislation approved.

But Sox CEO John Harrington said the team's exposure to cost overruns and the plan's reliance on ticket surcharges could make it ``impossible'' for the project to ever become reality.

``The condition that is bearing on us and the private financing is going to be a very difficult hurdle to cross,'' Harrington said last night - following nearly two and a half hours of talks that led to the agreement. ``It will be a burden on the fans.''

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Under the deal outlined last night by Gov. Paul Cellucci, the state will provide $100 million for infrastructure work in the Fenway area.

The city will finance a $72.5 million parking garage, and provide $140 million for land acquisition and site preparation.

The Red Sox will finance $352 million in ballpark construction costs.

Additionally, the team will be liable for an estimated $28 million in ``contingencies'' such as cost overruns for environmental work and land acquisition.

The city would recover its $140 million investment through $12 million in annual revenues from the following:

*1/4 percent of the city's unused hotel tax generating $1 million in annual revenue.

*A $5 parking surcharge on 9,000 spaces around Fenway Park for $3.6 million.

*A 5 percent ticket surcharge or betterment fee generating $4.5 million.

*A surcharge on luxury suites producing $1.5 million.

*Increased sales and meals taxes from inside the ballpark totaling $1.5 million.

``There are some hurdles with private financing,'' Cellucci said. ``But we are hopeful and optimistic.''

Other government leaders, including Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham and Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said they were thrilled a deal had been reached.

But Harrington's somber tone and glum expression spoke volumes about the team's outlook.

In addition to getting legislative approval, the deal is subject to the Red Sox getting approved for financing - a hurdle that Harrington said ``may be impossible to overcome.''

After spending weeks in a logjam before a flurry of proposals emerged in recent days, the process took a major turn yesterday morning when the Red Sox made a counter-proposal to government leaders on terms for public financing.

The Sox expressed a willingness to accept a surcharge on luxury suites, as well as the $5 per space game-day parking surcharge in the Fenway area.

Both concessions were significant, since the Sox as recently as yesterday had been lamenting pressure from city and state leaders to finance the ballpark on the backs of fans.

In an interview yesterday with Herald reporters and editors, Menino had said he would support both the $5 parking fee and the luxury suite tax.

The mayor had joined the Red Sox in rejecting a $1 ticket surcharge for everyday fans - a measure that Finneran and Birmingham both called for, and ultimately won the day on.

``We may have to bite the bullet on some type of (ticket) surcharge to get to where we want to,'' Menino said.

``The Red Sox have never come up with a fee or tax on the luxury boxes. There's a possibility that's a way you can get some additional revenue into the deal,'' the mayor said.

In a further sign that a deal was imminent, Menino said early yesterday that would also support the use of the city's unused hotel tax - a financing instrument that provides $1 million a year under the agreement.

``I do not want to give that at all, but I'm willing to negotiate,'' Menino said. ``As long as my financial people are with me and they say you can give it, I'm with them.''

With time running short, Menino said he and others had to be ready to make concessions and hammer out a deal immediately.

``We're running out of tomorrows,'' Menino said.

The single largest hurdle for the Sox may still be the unaccounted for $28 million.

The team's counter-proposal provides for repayment of that funding over time if the state approved it, but Finneran was adamantly against it.

``Everybody . . . has made an extraordinary effort,'' Finneran said yesterday morning after the summit talks. ``But sometimes they all need reminding, they are here for the taxpayers not for the Red Sox and that's what it's about.''

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