The plan to build a new stadium for the Pawtucket Red Sox in Rhode Island is "dead," according to House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello.
In an interview with Fox Providence's Dan Yorke on Monday, Mattiello said the financing plan approved by the Senate last week will not make it through the House in its current form.
"The Senate bill is dead in the state of the Rhode Island. Two-thirds of Rhode Islanders do not support it and therefore, the House will not support it," Mattiello said.
If the bill does not pass a vote of the General Assembly, as Mattiello indicated, it could open the door for the PawSox to move to Worcester.
According to Worcester City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr., the city and the team's owners continue to have conversations on an ongoing basis.
The PawSox are reportedly eyeing a triangular parcel of land between Madison Street and Green Street in Worcester as the best place for a possible ballpark, but no plans have been made public.
Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, PawSox supporters are going into the heart of Mattiello's home district in Cranston on Tuesday to pitch their stadium-financing deal.
"You're invited!'' said the mailer that arrived over the weekend at homes across skeptic Mattiello's House District 15. "Learn more about the Ballpark at Slater Mill ... and enjoy some Tommy's Pizza."
The event from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Oaklawn Grange seems aimed at Mattiello's oft-repeated statement that the majority of people with whom he has spoken in his home district love the PawSox, but do not want to give the owners a single public dollar to build their proposed new stadium.
As it stands now, the plan is to finance a new stadium for the PawSox in downtown Pawtucket with $85 million worth of borrowing — with $41 million of it to be paid off by the PawSox, $26 million by the state and $18 million by Pawtucket. The team would also put up $12 million toward building the new ballpark on the site of the old Apex department store off Interstate 95 in downtown Pawtucket.
On Monday, Mattiello went a step further and said the financing plan needs to be rewritten.
“There’s got to be a lot of risk-shifting," he said. "The only side of the equation that bears any risk in this proposal is the taxpayers.”
Mattiello floated the idea of a statewide referendum on providing the city and state subsidies the privately-owned team is seeking, but after a closed-door caucus said the fate of the proposed PawSox stadium project will be decided by the General Assembly.
“People feel it’s our responsibility to make the decision,” Mattiello reported.