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Post by Wormtown Railers Fan on Jan 12, 2020 11:18:21 GMT -5
In addition to the nightmare Kelly Square driving situation, where are all these patrons going to park? Will it be nearly all free parking like it was in Pawtucket? Would already imagine that ticket prices were going to be much higher as seems to always be the case with a new or improved stadium. The cost overruns have already resulted in the new added per ticket debt service fee being doubled before any real progress on construction yet. Would think it will be much more expensive total day out for a family to attend a AAA Sox game in Worcester than it traditionally had been in Pawtucket for many years. Will be interesting to see how the much higher total event cost affects attendance and the demographics of patrons.Will games in Worcester be less family oriented? There are 6,000 parking spaces right now within a quarter mile of the soon to be Polar Park. More are being built. The Pawsox are leaving Pawtucket. Get over it.
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Post by rf1 on Jan 12, 2020 11:26:46 GMT -5
In addition to the nightmare Kelly Square driving situation, where are all these patrons going to park? Will it be nearly all free parking like it was in Pawtucket? Would already imagine that ticket prices were going to be much higher as seems to always be the case with a new or improved stadium. The cost overruns have already resulted in the new added per ticket debt service fee being doubled before any real progress on construction yet. Would think it will be much more expensive total day out for a family to attend a AAA Sox game in Worcester than it traditionally had been in Pawtucket for many years. Will be interesting to see how the much higher total event cost affects attendance and the demographics of patrons.Will games in Worcester be less family oriented? There are 6,000 parking spaces right now within a quarter mile of the soon to be Polar Park. More are being built. The Pawsox are leaving Pawtucket. Get over it. Are they free like they had been for decades?
This stadium and move is already giving me a lot of material before any real construction has even taken place. You can be sure that I will coming back over and over again. My prediction for the next shoe to drop is that the new stadium will not be ready for opening day which is projected to be somewhere in early to mid April 2021. Would seem to be a decent bet given there is still no visible construction just 15 months out. Not exactly a good sign when an above poster (Crucis#1) indicated that they apparently recently drove right by the future stadium location and could not even easily identify the site.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 12, 2020 11:55:16 GMT -5
Thanks for the warning of your intended future harangues.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 12, 2020 12:11:23 GMT -5
In addition to the nightmare Kelly Square driving situation, where are all these patrons going to park? Will it be nearly all free parking like it was in Pawtucket? Would already imagine that ticket prices were going to be much higher as seems to always be the case with a new or improved stadium. The cost overruns have already resulted in the new added per ticket debt service fee being doubled before any real progress on construction yet. Would think it will be much more expensive total day out for a family to attend a AAA Sox game in Worcester than it traditionally had been in Pawtucket for many years. Will be interesting to see how the much higher total event cost affects attendance and the demographics of patrons.Will games in Worcester be less family oriented? There are 6,000 parking spaces right now within a quarter mile of the soon to be Polar Park. More are being built. The Pawsox are leaving Pawtucket. Get over it. The stadium is in the dense core of New England's second largest city undergoing an urban revitalization. Those 6000 parking spaces get consumed for everyday city activities as well as ballgames.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 12, 2020 12:21:47 GMT -5
Thanks for the warning of your intended future harangues. Keep those harangues coming. I posted a while ago that the winner between Worcester and Pawtucket would be the city that doesn't get the new stadium. It's only an hour's drive either way on Rte. 146 (the Sader '70 Expressway☺️). Just drive to a few games a year and root, root for the home team, the junior Red Sox, and keep the municipal funding in the pocket. Compare Polar Park with the Suffolk Downs racetrack site straddling Boston and Revere. The developer of that site is giving both communities the moon and the stars to develop it. Worcester is paying to have this stadium built.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 12, 2020 13:04:28 GMT -5
I am flattered! In my 20 years as a RI resident, I would guess that I have made 500-600 round trips to Worcester and back along this route for football games, men's & women's basketball games, baseball games, the occasional soccer game, Class reunions, "beam signing" events, senior-alumni receptions/dinners, PC events, HC Insurance Professional Events, IVC meetings and probably other things I can't even think of now. And you wonder why I get so upset about the loss of the traditional symbol representing our beloved alma mater and the athletes who played for her since the 1920s.
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Post by Wormtown Railers Fan on Jan 12, 2020 13:45:36 GMT -5
There are 6,000 parking spaces right now within a quarter mile of the soon to be Polar Park. More are being built. The Pawsox are leaving Pawtucket. Get over it. The stadium is in the dense core of New England's second largest city undergoing an urban revitalization. Those 6000 parking spaces get consumed for everyday city activities as well as ballgames. Another 1,000 parking spots are being built. Oh, and the commuter rail is down the street. And there are parking garages across from the DCU, courthouse and Hanover Theater. Parking is not an issue.
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Post by rf1 on Jan 12, 2020 14:27:45 GMT -5
The stadium is in the dense core of New England's second largest city undergoing an urban revitalization. Those 6000 parking spaces get consumed for everyday city activities as well as ballgames. Another 1,000 parking spots are being built. Oh, and the commuter rail is down the street. And there are parking garages across from the DCU, courthouse and Hanover Theater. Parking is not an issue.
Most of the parking you reference is near a 1/2 mile or more away and will not be free. As for the commuter rail, few WooSox fans will ever use this option and its very limited schedule.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 12, 2020 16:34:33 GMT -5
Commuter rail service between Worcester and Boston is embarrassingly sporadic considering we're talking about the two biggest cities in New England. A lot of times if you missa train your best bet is to drive to Framingham and catch the next one an hour later since a lot of the trains start and end there and don't go all the way out to Worcester.
But you'd think most of the fan base would come from Worcester County, Fitchburg, Southbridge, Leicester, Leominster, Tolland area CT and northern Rhode Island. Parking will definitely be the major issue. But the good news is that more spots should be open on weekends ans weeknights when people are leaving garages to go home from work.
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jan 12, 2020 17:42:07 GMT -5
Actually, it was my mistake. I was on the wrong street. The stadium site is on Washington Street, I was on Water Street looking for the location. Giving locations by a named square such as Kelly, can be confusing. Guess it is a Massachusetts thing about giving locations and directions.
I was thinking the site was closer to the Downtown, and within a stones throw to City Hall. From looking at Google Map, the distance is much further. Too bad the site selected is not closed to the DCU Center, as is Dunkin Donuts Park and the XL Center in Hartford. Or the Sports Complex In Philadelphia where all the sports venues are linked together in a contiguous footprint.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jan 12, 2020 17:53:21 GMT -5
Kelley
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jan 12, 2020 18:04:44 GMT -5
You are correct, I left out the second “e”. I believe it is a common mistake that most non Worcester residents will make. If one is verbally told Kelley, more than likely the second “e” would be omitted if asked for it in writing. Wonder if after all these years, Kelly Green should have been Kelley Green. 🤔😆.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 12, 2020 20:43:19 GMT -5
Actually, it was my mistake. I was on the wrong street. The stadium site is on Washington Street, I was on Water Street looking for the location. Giving locations by a named square such as Kelly, can be confusing. Guess it is a Massachusetts thing about giving locations and directions. I was thinking the site was closer to the Downtown, and within a stones throw to City Hall. From looking at Google Map, the distance is much further. Too bad the site selected is not closed to the DCU Center, as is Dunkin Donuts Park and the XL Center in Hartford. Or the Sports Complex In Philadelphia where all the sports venues are linked together in a contiguous footprint. They went where the brownfields took them. The site was a heavy industry facility for Wyman Gordon I believe, and it was available for a long time because it needed to be remediated if I followed the saga correctly. It was probably the closest open space to City Hall.
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Post by Tom on Jan 13, 2020 9:12:48 GMT -5
All kinds of stuff here
- Technically the park will be across Madison St from the old Wyman-Gordon manufacturing facility. W-G dated back to the 19th century, so maybe at some point they had manufacturing there, but not during my life time. I think the other stuff (hotel, shops, some parking, etc) is going on the manufacturing location
- Yup, this is not going to be the bargain that Pawtucket was. I've always thought that was part of the reason for the move. Prices had to go up with a new park and the locals in Pawtucket wouldn't like a big hike. The Worcester people have nothing to compare it to. We all knew this from day one.
- The PawSox were a bigger bargain than I thought. A co-worker just went to the Providence Bruins. $40 for a level 200 seat. There were some tickets available as cheap as $20. I was surprised at $40 for 200 level. Maybe the value of the PawSox was an aberration in the world of minor league sports.
- A big aspect of the parking will be fans' tolerance for a walk. If I can grab a meter 1/2 mile away for a few dollars, I will happily deal take the walk rather than pay $25 across the street. Especially in the summer. Of course I'm cheaper than a lot of people
- Traditionally, Worcester people don't like to pay to park. That was always a big gripe with the Galleria. Who wants to pay a dollar to park when Auburn Mall was free?
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jan 13, 2020 11:59:31 GMT -5
I had thought the Wyman Gordon hydraulic press plant was possibly located at the site of Polar Park, but it wasn't. The 50,000 ton hydraulic press (forging aluminium and other metals) was / is located in North Grafton. (The North Grafton plant formerly was Air Force Plant 63, in that it was a government-owned facility with government-furnished equipment; i.e., the hydraulic presses. Hydraulic presses of yesteryear often used polychlorinated biphenyls, and that former use, if the press was in Worcester, could potentially mean the Polar Park site was heavily contaminated with PCBs. Several months ago, the T&G published a then and now portrait of the Madison Ave. site in Worcester. www.telegram.com/news/20190819/then-amp-now-wyman-gordon-headquarters-madison-street-worcesterThe Polar Park site most recently was the Wyman Gordon headquarters building and some manufacturing. ^^^ The 50,000 ton forging press in North Grafton. For a history of how the 50,000 ton hydraulic press came to be. www.asme.org/wwwasmeorg/media/resourcefiles/aboutasme/who%20we%20are/engineering%20history/landmarks/89-wyman-gordon-50000-ton-hydraulic-forging-press.pdf
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Post by Tom on Jan 13, 2020 12:44:24 GMT -5
I had thought the Wyman Gordon hydraulic press plant was possibly located at the site of Polar Park, but it wasn't. The 50,000 ton hydraulic press (forging aluminium and other metals) was / is located in North Grafton. (The North Grafton plant formerly was Air Force Plant 63, in that it was a government-owned facility with government-furnished equipment; i.e., the hydraulic presses. Hydraulic presses of yesteryear often used polychlorinated biphenyls, and that former use, if the press was in Worcester, could potentially mean the Polar Park site was heavily contaminated with PCBs. Several months ago, the T&G published a then and now portrait of the Madison Ave. site in Worcester. www.telegram.com/news/20190819/then-amp-now-wyman-gordon-headquarters-madison-street-worcesterThe Polar Park site most recently was the Wyman Gordon headquarters building and some manufacturing. You're still on the wrong side of Madison St. Driving from Kelley Sq, the brick front office building was on the left side of the road (property between Madison and Lamartine St's) the new park will be on the right side (property between Madison and Green St's) If you have a paywall on the linked article. . . --------------------------------- Even though the hydraulic presses are all in Grafton, the Worcester plant was a major manufacturing facility 100 years ago. Giving Wyman-Gordon the benefit of the doubt that they met every environmental rule on the books, things were a lot less strict in 1920 than in 2020. Even without PCB's from hydraulic presses, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some nasty stuff in the ground around the Worcester plant
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Post by CHC8485 on Jan 13, 2020 12:50:07 GMT -5
Here you go guys. Shows you everything you want to know about the location of the park. www.polarpark.com/Well ... maybe not everything like environmental contaminants, etc, but at least the land the park is going to be built on, how it will be laid out, etc.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 13, 2020 15:03:52 GMT -5
I am thinking 1990s, but I remember a marketing push for the PawSox in Massachusetts that I thought was effective. This involved multiple retail businesses so it couldn't be a coincidence. If you stopped in to a store you could buy 2-for-1 tickets or if you took a test drive you would get a free family four pack, or if you switched your prescription to another pharmacy you would get free tickets, if you were the fifth caller to a radio station you would get free tickets, etc.
Then after awhile it faded away. I assumed that it worked and ticket sales could stand on their own, but maybe it was a decision to keep prices low to encourage loyal fans who did not need a promotion to attend. Worcester will fill Polar Park for awhile like they sold out the Hart Center when it was "brand spanking new" as Duddie used to say in his commercials.
Second, third, fourth years? Look for a gradual drop off in attendance with Spags mentality folks only going to show it off to visiting out of town relatives and sneaking off to Fitton Field for an affordable Bravehearts game the rest of the time.
Another interesting question is if the Boston Red Sox underperform, could Polar Park hurt their attendance?
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Post by Wormtown Railers Fan on Jan 13, 2020 16:13:36 GMT -5
I am thinking 1990s, but I remember a marketing push for the PawSox in Massachusetts that I thought was effective. This involved multiple retail businesses so it couldn't be a coincidence. If you stopped in to a store you could buy 2-for-1 tickets or if you took a test drive you would get a free family four pack, or if you switched your prescription to another pharmacy you would get free tickets, if you were the fifth caller to a radio station you would get free tickets, etc. Then after awhile it faded away. I assumed that it worked and ticket sales could stand on their own, but maybe it was a decision to keep prices low to encourage loyal fans who did not need a promotion to attend. Worcester will fill Polar Park for awhile like they sold out the Hart Center when it was "brand spanking new" as Duddie used to say in his commercials. Second, third, fourth years? Look for a gradual drop off in attendance with Spags mentality folks only going to show it off to visiting out of town relatives and sneaking off to Fitton Field for an affordable Bravehearts game the rest of the time. Another interesting question is if the Boston Red Sox underperform, could Polar Park hurt their attendance? The Hart Center used to sell out because there was a quality team playing quality opponents.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 13, 2020 17:32:08 GMT -5
True, but I was invited to attend a game at the Hart in it's first season by someone who had traveled to NYC to watch HC in either the NCAA or NIT (can't remember which and the gravestone doesn't answer questions) but hadn't been to the Worcester Auditorium in years. He wanted to see the new building. It was probably a combination of winning and newness that fueled the consecutive sell out streak.
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Post by timholycross on Jan 13, 2020 21:00:58 GMT -5
It wasn't that hard to get in the Hart for most games the first two years....then when Perry was signed up they sold every ticket the next two.
The sellouts became more selective his final two years and the year after he left. Then, they disappeared.
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Post by Tom on Jan 14, 2020 10:28:29 GMT -5
Prior to the 76-77 season there was a waiting list if you wanted season tickets. Not a big one, maybe 50 or 60 people.
I don't know if they only allotted so many season tickets and had single tickets available even when people were denied season tickets
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 14, 2020 13:10:58 GMT -5
It wasn't that hard to get in the Hart for most games the first two years....then when Perry was signed up they sold every ticket the next two. The sellouts became more selective his final two years and the year after he left. Then, they disappeared. Boston Globe basketball writer Bob Ryan "The Commissioner," famously wrote after seeing R.P.jr play at Catholic Memorial HS: "He can do things that some NBA players can't do." That was probably an exaggeration, but thanks for reminding us Tim of the positive energy felt when Ronnie chose Holy Cross.
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Post by timholycross on Jan 15, 2020 19:43:35 GMT -5
...and given that Ronnie's athletic career was not going to be a long one due to one (or two) bone-on-bone knees, let's not forget that choosing Holy Cross was good for him, too. He's been very successful in his chosen field.
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Post by timholycross on Mar 18, 2020 16:06:45 GMT -5
BUMP- the park may not be ready for Opening Day 2021 if the pandemic shuts down construction.
Figured that would spark some discussion. Oh, and the Railers are done for the year, hopefully not for good. Would hate to lose another hockey team because of something like this.
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