Does Fenway have a future?

By Joan Vennochi, 10/21/2003

GRADY LITTLE'S future is not the only big decision looming for the owners of the Boston Red Sox. What will they do about Fenway Park? After the soul-crushing loss to the New York Yankees, the game of baseball -- and the second-guessing of Little -- take priority in Red Sox Nation. But the business of baseball can never be far behind. Long after fans learn whether Little will be judged for a season of decisions or one decision to leave Pedro Martinez on the mound in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, the owners will be grappling with a decision about Fenway's future.

Since acquiring the team, John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino may have proven their love of baseball to Boston. But first they are businessmen. To that end they are maximizing revenue, filling nearly every inch of Fenway with another seat for another paying customer, covering the park with signage to bring in more advertising revenue. They are expanding the business of baseball in every conceivable way -- onto Yawkey Way during baseball games and into the concert business when the team is playing elsewhere.

Ultimately they must ask and answer the question, Is all that enough to meet their debt obligations and keep pace with the Evil Empire?

The results of an ongoing study into Fenway's future indicate that "modest renovation is plausible," says Charles Steinberg, Sox executive vice president for public affairs. But that assessment does not address the larger financial assessment: Will "modest renovation" produce enough revenue, as Steinberg puts it, "to allow us to compete with the empire to the south? That is clearly -- and there is no time more clear than when open wounds bind -- what our fans charge us with doing. We must beat the Yankees. "

Now, that's public relations wizardry -- linking victory over the Yankees to the ability of the new owners to squeeze more money out of old Fenway.

Indeed, watching the new owners navigate Boston is a lesson in how much marketing and personality influence business. Somewhere, John Harrington, the previous steward of the team under ownership by the Yawkey Trust, is taking note, or should be. For a host of reasons, Harrington had trouble dealing with city politics and Fenway neighbors. When he finally tired of the tussle and put the ball club up for sale, he was vilified for selling to out-of-towners.

But all of us who are quick to point out the negative aspects of out-of-town ownership have to acknowledge that these out-of-towners were quick to figure out Boston. The new owners are remarkably successful in getting what they want from the city and, so far, from the Fenway neighborhood.

On game days they essentially take Yawkey Way by eminent domain. They went from booking Bruce Springsteen for one weekend to talking about booking one or two concerts a year at Fenway -- with enthusiastic support from Mayor Menino. Some Fenway residents expressed unhappiness, but the highly organized neighborhood opposition of the past is not evident, at least at this moment. Steinberg says one word sums up the ownership philosophy: "plunge," as in, plunge into the community.

"Loyalty is a two-way street," he says. "Demonstrate outreach while the team is popular, while the team is winning, because it is the right thing to do. Don't go hat in hand to people when things get rough and they can ask, `Where were you in the good times?' "

A record 2.7 million fans came to Fenway this season, paying the highest average ticket price in the land to cheer on the Sox. Such success is good news and bad news. It means the ball club is maxing out its market. To grow it, the Sox must grow their revenue, leading to the same old questions: How and where?

The answers to "where" come down to the usual options -- renovate Fenway, rebuild nearby, or build on the waterfront. As to "how," given the state's fiscal problems, it would be the height of callousness and misplaced prioritizing to vie now or in the foreseeable future for any public funding for a ballpark. The $100 million pledged more than three years ago from the state for infrastructure improvements for a new Fenway was the product of very different political and fiscal times.

Have the Sox maximized revenues at Fenway? Says Steinberg, "That is exactly the question now: What else can we do so we don't have to rely solely on the ticket to enhance revenue?" After the Sox loss to the Yankees, there is crying in baseball. But there is no room for tears in the baseball business -- for Grady Little or for Fenway Park. Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.