With the days winding down toward spring training, the fate of one of Major League Baseball’s charter teams was decided on Jan. 17, when a group headed by John Henry and Tom Werner bought the Boston Red Sox.
After Tom and Jean Yawkey’s deaths, the team was endowed to the Yawkey Trust Foundation. The Foundation uses portions of its money for the team and donates some to charities.
The new owners, Henry and Werner have already begun to lay the groundwork for changes in the organization.
Last week, the team announced a raise in ticket prices in all sections of Fenway Park except in the three cheapest areas. This price increase is the lowest in several years; Fenway prices have steadily increased in an effort to keep up with Red Sox rivals.
“Our only possibility to be competitive with the Yankees is to increase revenues and stabilize ticket prices,” Werner said in a statement.
The new owners have not, however, mentioned any plans for a new Fenway Park to be built in Boston. They have said they would prefer to renovate the existing park instead of building a new one.
There are, however, significant changes within the trust. The Yawkey Trust was endowed by Jean Yawkey to not only give money to the Red Sox, but also to various different charitable organizations.
“Yawkey Trust heads up the Yawkey Foundation, which will become one of New England’s largest charitable foundations,” said Yawkey Trust spokeswoman Jodi Matthews.
According to Matthews, after the sale is complete, the endowment will rise from around $35 million to more than $400 million. The money from the Yawkey Trust will be bequeathed to different charities in Boston, not just sports charities.
The benefit to Yawkey Trust charities caused a recent controversy surrounding the sale after the winning bidders were announced. Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly, who oversees public charities in the state, was concerned about how the money would be distributed.
“The Yawkey Foundation is clearly headed for a new day with more than $480 million in charitable assets,” Reilly said in a statement. “Based on our review, we felt it was necessary that as the Yawkey Foundation quickly develops into one of the largest charitable institutions in Massachusetts, it is vital that it do so under a changed structure and professional management. This agreement and oversight by my Public Charities Division will help ensure that they are prepared to meet these obligations.”
Red Sox CEO John Harrington officially announced the Red Sox were up for sale in December 2000. When the sale was first announced on Dec. 20, Harrington led the public to believe the highest bidder was Henry, at $410 million. Other bids had been received, including one from a group headed by Cablevision executive Charles Dolan. Disputes surfaced as to whether Henry’s bid was legitimately the highest.
Harrington said the team would be sold to the group of buyers led by Henry and Werner. The group would be paying $410 million for the general partnership amd $250 million for the limited partner share, plus the accumulation of debts, bringing the total to approximately $700 million.
The Red Sox soon became embroiled in a battle over which bid would benefit the team the most, and whether Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig played a role in which bid would be accepted.
With knowledge about the other bids coming into play, Reilly tried to block the sale on the basis of the league’s interference.
Reilly announced that he believed the league interfered by not allowing the sale to Dolan. Henry, also the owner of the Florida Marlins, is a close friend of Selig.
As the investigation heated up, the two different factions raised the bids and were eventually joined by a group led by lawyer Miles Prentice.
Prentice’s bid went as high as $750 million during the final days of the bidding war.
Reilly said he was pursuing the investigation because he felt Major League Baseball was playing a larger role than it should.
“Major League Baseball was calling the shots here,” Reilly said after a four-hour meeting with Harrington and lawyers about the sale.
Despite Reilly’s attempt to block the sale, his office had no official rule over the league; he admitted the baseball owners should choose the buyers.
Eventually, in January, Reilly reversed his decision and announced that a settlement allocating $480 to charities had been reached with the Henry-Werner Group.
“This is a good day for the charities of the state,” Reilly said in a statement after the bidding was complete.
“My goal from the beginning has been to get more money for the charities that stood to benefit from this sale. Today, I am proud that we got that done,” Reilly added. “The limited partners and John
Henry have stepped up
to make charities in this state $30 million richer than they would have under the original deal.”
Yet even after the sale of the team to new owners, and the donation of the Yawkey Trust to different charities, the thoughts on the mind of most Sox fans will still remain the higher price for most seats.
“Hopefully those increased revenues will help the team,” said Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior Jason Perlack, who is a Red Sox fan. “I definitely think it will be really good for the team.”
Perlack said he thought some changes by the new owners would be necessary.
“I”d say whatever it takes to win the World Series,” he said.
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