I have to believe the owners of the Red Sox are not too happy about this decision on Fenway:
The 100-year-old ballpark has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places, according to Secretary of State William Galvin.
The Massachusetts Historical Commission, which Galvin oversees, nominated Fenway to the register at its December meeting and the recommendation was confirmed today.
The listing provides additional protections for the Yawkey Way structure. Any changes to the home of the Boston Red Sox [team stats] are subject to review by the state historical commission.
This basically means it will be impossible to ever tear this ballpark down and build a new one. It also puts an unfair cost on the owners of the property to make renovations. It’s a good thing most of the remodeling is done already.
Update: This turned out to be pretty good for the ownership.
Wow that sounds like bad news for Boston. Although, I’m sure some smart Red Sox front office guy is already thinking of how to exploit this for money… like say, tours & stuff. Now that it’s officially historical, that can be a great marketing term. Even if they built a new stadium, they could hang onto Fenway and get tourist money from it.
I disagree with the entire thrust of this post. Many if not most old stadiums have historic or even architectural value beyond their use as profit-generating sports facilities, and too many of the older stadiums were torn down. I’m thinking of Yankee Stadium in particular. If the owners wanted a new facility with luxury boxes, they could build one elsewhere, the local government would get the old stadium and use it for public recreation, ie ballfields and other athletic facilities.
Ed » If the government wants to preserve something, they should buy it. On the other hand, the government has other things on which to spend money.
This often comes down to a small group of people who want to preserve something. Let them raise the money and buy and maintain the structure. Don’t put that burden on private companies or citizens.
The hits just keep on coming, don’t they.
Especially as Henry now has to build Liverpool a new stadium as the city put up roadblocks for his plans to renovate the old stadium as he did in Fenway.
While JWH may not have had plans to build a new stadium to replace Fenway, the historical designation may hurt the Red Sox resale value.
And then this story which seems to have been buried.
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2012/03/05/red_sox_clubhouse_abuse_scandal_grows/?page=full
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In general, I’d agree with everything you say for most property owners. I’m less exercised, though, about the guys who bought Fenway Freakin Park. AND have been charging people money to walk into it. After all, they’ve already extracted some value from its historic nature, Official or not.
But your point is surely valid, and your stance makes sense.