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City should get more from Sox, watchdog says

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

February 24, 2012|By Andrew Ryan

Yawkey Way, a city street, is turned over to Red Sox fans, beer sellers, and… (JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF )

The City of Boston should demand significantly more money from the Red Sox on game days, when the team closes a public street, Yawkey Way, and turns it over to beer vendors and sausage sellers, according to a stern warning from the state inspector general.

In a letter sent last week, Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan also said the city should seek a better deal with the ball club for the lucrative seats atop the Green Monster, the familiar left field wall. The city gave up air rights over Lansdowne Street to create those seats in the century-old ballpark and should claim more income when a new financial agreement is drawn up after the 2013 season, he said.

Sullivan urged city officials to determine how much money the Red Sox have made using public property since 2003, when the team signed a relatively low-cost lease for the streets. The city should negotiate a better deal, he wrote.

“Yawkey Way and Lansdowne Street are public property,’’ Sullivan said yesterday in an e-mail to the Globe. “The public should receive fair market value for the use of its property.’’

In his letter to the city, Sullivan also pushed Boston officials to seek compensation from the ball club for the game-day takeover of Van Ness Street, used as private parking for players, team staff, and others connected to the team.

The inspector general sent the letter after the Globe published a story in November disclosing details of the lease arrangement, which had never before been made public. The article estimated the Red Sox had made $45 million from the use of Yawkey Way and Lansdowne Street as part of a lease that cost the team an average of $186,000 a year.

The November Globe report was the work of the Initiative for Investigative Reporting in the School of Journalism at Northeastern University. The letter sent last week by the inspector general’s office was first reported on the website of Commonwealth Magazine.

The inspector general does not have the authority to force the city to charge the Red Sox more for the use of public property, but the office can add public pressure as the two sides forge a new deal.

The Red Sox declined to discuss the inspector general’s letter or any element of the team’s agreement to use Yawkey Way and Lansdowne Street. The streets are leased to the team by the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

“Because we will be discussing the renewal of our licensing agreement with the BRA and the city, it would be inappropriate for us to make any comments at this time,’’ said team spokeswoman Zineb Curran.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino has defended the arrangement, noting that improvements at Fenway Park over the last decade have paid dividends for the city in the form of real estate taxes, jobs, and increased business near Fenway.