Concerts, public access, bike share: What has and hasn't happened at Polar Park?
WORCESTER — The Worcester Red Sox last month finished their third successful home season at Polar Park, with the seventh-highest average attendance among all minor-league teams.
But beyond baseball, many events and public amenities that were outlined in the ballpark's lease have not yet become reality. These include “concerts aimed at attracting more than 6,000 people,” up to eight “revenue-generating” city events, a Worcester Redevelopment Authority-approved bike share program on the Polar Park parcel and a designated area of Polar Park being used a public polling place, for starters.
According to the “Ballpark Lease Agreement Between the Worcester Redevelopment Authority and Pawtucket Red Sox Baseball Club, LLC d/b/a Worcester Red Sox,” dated Feb. 5, 2021, and signed by Vincent A. Pedone, chairman of the Worcester Redevelopment Authority, and Larry Lucchino, chairman of the Worcester Red Sox, there would be “not fewer than 125 events” at Polar Park or on the Polar Park parcel per lease year, including “concerts aimed at attracting more than 6,000 attendees.”
While the WooSox have easily delivered on the number of events, Polar Park has yet to host a concert.
“We’re so eager to have that first concert at Polar Park,” WooSox President Charles Steinberg said Thursday. “And people in the industry say once you have the first one, it will be like breaking a dam. Everybody’s gonna want to play here.”
“We’re trying to find an agent to bring to the city a show that we can promote,” Lucchino said on Friday. “We’re well aware of our need to have a concert.”
Last year, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported that the rolled-up doorway at center field in Polar Park is only 12 feet high, and large trucks that carry concert production are always 13 feet high or so.
Back in June, Don Law, president of Live Nation New England — which is part of Live Nation, the world’s leading producer and presenter of live entertainment — told the T&G that he told Lucchino when Polar Park was still in the planning stages that bringing concerts to the Worcester ballpark would be difficult.
“I’m a huge fan of Larry Lucchino," Law said. "I know him personally. We talked about this and I explained from the very beginning, ‘Larry, this is a challenge because you’re dealing with venues that are set up to do this that are bigger and less expensive.’ When you go into a ballpark like we go into Fenway Park, it costs us a couple of million bucks. It’s very expensive because we have to bring in cranes. We got to get up a stage. That’s hundreds of thousands of dollars. Your bill is essentially building a second venue inside the venue. So that makes the economics a lot less attractive for the act.”
While he acknowledged having had a conversation with Law about potential concerts at Polar Park, Lucchino said he did not recall the conversation being that negative.
“It’s one thing for Don Law to say it’s difficult. It’s another thing for us not do it,” Lucchino said. “We are going to do it.”
On Thursday, Steinberg said he hopes Polar Park has a concert next year, in the summer or the fall, while Lucchino insisted that there will eventually be a concert at Polar Park in 2024 or 2025.
If a musical act has a chance to play either the Xfinity Center in Mansfield or Fenway Park, Law said, they’re going to choose those venues over Polar Park. In addition, if they’re playing Boston, and go on to play another venue in the area, it is doubtful they would choose Worcester, Law said.
“If (the musical act) can play the amphitheater in Mansfield with a 20,000 capacity and the expenses are a bit low, or they can play Fenway Park where they have a built-in audience on a subway in a major city, it makes it hard to do this (at Polar Park),” Law said. “You’re not going to play Boston and Worcester. So if you play some other venue in the marketplace, you’re not likely to play Polar Park.”
Steinberg said the WooSox brass always knew Polar Park couldn’t compete for the biggest acts.
“We always knew this was not where you’re going to have Paul McCartney or Pink or Taylor Swift. We knew that this wasn’t going to be for the artist who can sell out Fenway or sell out Gillette. We even knew that the Xfinity Center, a Live Nation venue, is going to be Live Nation’s preference and is larger,” Steinberg said. “The niche that we all believe in is for a 6,000- to 8,000-person outdoor concert. And there’s a market for that. And that’s where we’re looking. We’re committed to establishing the summer concerts but we completely agree that this is not where you’re likely to see Bono (of U2).”
Steinberg said the WooSox are talking to promoters who are interested in getting acts booked here.
Thomas Matthews, media and public relations administrator for the office of City Manager Eric D. Batista, said success of securing any event, including a concert, at Polar Park is based on market dynamics and conditions.
“We know that the New England market for live music with 6,000-plus attendees is extremely competitive,” Matthews said. “We also know that the WooSox are upholding their commitment in terms of pursuing this type of event, and we continue to desire this activity at Polar Park.”
Law said his team also made some suggestions to the Worcester Red Sox, regarding how to potentially deal with capacity and entrance restraints that could make the situation easier, but, for whatever reason, Law added, they weren’t used at Polar Park
“Obviously, Larry got overwhelmed, which makes it harder than it should have been,” Law said. “We’re hoping that something can work. I just think it’s not going to be simple because of the capacity, the way it’s set up and the fact that you got big acts playing other venues where their walkout, their financial returns, are much greater.”
Lucchino said he doesn’t remember Law making these suggestions.
Despite the lease agreement promising “not fewer than 125 events” at Polar Park or on the Polar Park parcel per lease year, “including, but not limited to” ... “concerts aimed at attracting more than 6,000 attendees,” Lucchino said the WooSox are not required to deliver a concert.
“There is no requirement in the lease that there would be a concert. It’s just a requirement that we utilize the facility year-round,” Lucchino said. “It could be a comedy concert. It could be a music concert. It could be classical music. It could be anything. But the perception was we would use the ballpark primarily for baseball, but secondarily and thirdly for other events.”
Early last week, Pedone, the other person who signed the lease, said he envisioned Polar Park being a place where a local band would play, or a battle of the bands concert would happen, not unlike at the Worcester Palladium, and not be a massive venue for huge concerts.
“If the idea was, we were going to get Bruce Springsteen to put a stop on his tour in Worcester, I think that is not what we envisioned, especially when the venue itself holds less than 10,000 people. What we would envisioned are local artists, local shows,” Pedone said.
When asked if there is anything the WooSox can do to make Polar Park more attractive for musical acts to play there or easily accessible for concerts, Law said, “No.”
“As a baseball park, Larry built a terrific venue that the public is embracing but it’s a stretch for concerts coming there,” Law said. “It’s not going to be simple. It can happen. But it’s not going to be the biggest acts and it’s probably not going to be a big schedule.”
Commitment to public access: What does it mean?
The lease also states that the Worcester Red Sox and the Worcester Redevelopment Authority shall create a mutually acceptable “public access plan” to provide for “public access” to certain areas of Polar Park on a “regular basis.”
Steinberg said allowing such public access is something the WooSox has only done “anecdotally from time to time,” but something they would love to do more often.
“The whole idea behind that was you should be able to walk the loop when you walk from Plymouth Street through the concourse, out on top of the Worcester wall, down Summit Street, and continue back to Plymouth Street. You can circumnavigate the park,” Steinberg said. “We’d love that. It can happen. It’s anecdotal. There hasn’t been a ‘Hey, let’s go do this.’ We’ve done it on some days but that’s still a vision that we would love to see flourish every day.”
Steinberg said Polar Park has the landing open for lunch and the public can be outside the park while looking inside.
“You can walk up Gold Street and come to where Gold meets Summit,” Steinberg said. “We have a drink rail table and you look into the ballpark. That’s total public access … It’s accessible. You don’t have to open the gate for that to happen.”
“The design of the ballpark is conducive to this concept,” Matthews said. “There are a number of security and liability implications that are being studied and addressed. In the meantime, the WooSox have provided public access on a regular basis through their Polar Park tours.”
The tours are $10 for adults, $5 for children 15 and younger, and free for children 2 and younger.
A “Ballpark Project Fast Facts” document posted by the City of Worcester prior to construction states: “Subject to design, public access to the ballpark will include the opportunity to jog or walk around the concourse, run the ballpark stairs … or use exercise stations in designated fitness areas as well as public park amenities adjacent to the ballpark."
“We talked about it extensively but it was never in the lease,” Lucchino said. “We talked about increasing public access to the ballpark but were never specifically obligated to do so.”
On Friday, Nicole E. Valentine, senior vice president for government relations for the Worcester Red Sox, said the design of the ballpark is conducive to the concept of running and jogging. However, there are a number of security and liability implications that the WooSox are addressing before they announce it for the public.
The day before, Steinberg expressed it differently when asked about the “opportunity to jog or walk around the concourse.”
“You can come in, see the ambassador and you can do the loop,” Steinberg said. “But, people aren’t doing that yet. We haven’t orchestrated that.”
As for public access to run up and down the ballpark stairs, Steinberg said it was possible, but the park hasn’t promoted it yet.
“It is a way that people do exercise. Some players do it before the game,” Steinberg said about running up and down Polar Park’s stairs. “Come in and an ambassador can escort you into the ballpark. And, I say to those who do, please be careful, please use caution.”
“As Charles explained (Thursday), people could come in and do it,” Valentine later clarified. “We just don’t announce it to the public at this time because we’re not ready for the program to begin.”
As for public use of exercise stations in designated fitness areas, Steinberg said that was “a vision” that never came to fruition.
“There was a vision that in the left-field building, which doesn’t exist yet, that there would be the potential for an exercise area where you’re riding your exercise bike, looking out on the field,” Steinberg said. “But the developer of the left-field building has not developed a left-field building yet.”
Revenue-generating events: Lack of capacity at issue
The lease states that the City of Worcester can have up to eight “revenue-generating” city events at Polar Park each lease year, but the city has yet to take advantage of any in the first three years of the park.
During last month’s joint meeting with the city Ballpark Commission, the three-member Standing Committee on Public Works unanimously moved to request the city manager provide the City Council with a report concerning short- and long-term plans to use city revenue events at Polar Park.
“In ballpark commission meetings, we have said we stand ready to help with any revenue-generating events that the city wants to have,” Steinberg said. “There’s been discussions of what kinds of events you might be able to have. We are happy, eager, ready to work with the city when they do that. And we have been assertive that we’re ready.”
Matthews said the city has yet to use revenue-generating events because the municipality does not have in-house expertise or capacity to program, plan and coordinate large-scale event at the ballpark.
“We are exploring other approaches to more realistically utilize this aspect of the lease agreement with the WooSox,” Matthews said.
Bike-share program not in existence
The lease states the Worcester Red Sox shall provide space for a Worcester Redevelopment Authority-approved bike-share program on the Polar Park parcel.
This has not happened, either.
“Happy to do that,” Steinberg said. “If the WRA comes to us and say, ‘Here we go,’ happy to do that.”
“This was a forward-looking provision in the lease if/when a citywide bike-share program is implemented in Worcester,” Matthews said. “There is no active citywide bike-share program at this time.”
Polling location: 'Happy to do that'
Furthermore, the lease states the Worcester Red Sox shall permit the city to use a designated area of Polar Park on up to five occasions per lease year as a public polling location, with the ball club waiving its standard rental fee for these accommodations.
This also has not happened.
“Happy to do that,” Steinberg said. “We will permit that.”
“Having a venue that is right down in the heart of the city as a location that something that we wanted to do. They agreed to it. It’s just the city hadn’t either needed it or thought it was worth pursuing,” Pedone said. “With the changing capital available to the city for public election, we thought that was an important component but the city hasn’t activated it yet.”
The Worcester Redevelopment Authority is no longer involved in the agreement with the Worcester Red Sox, Matthews said. Polar Park is back under the jurisdiction of the City of Worcester and the lease has been assigned back to the city, he said.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Concerts, events on lease for Polar Park in Worcester yet to appear
