WORCESTER The City Council Tuesday approved the creation of a Ballpark Commission to oversee the general operation of Polar Park.
As with previous council discussions about creation of the commission, it wasn t without debate, and it wasn t without another attempt to send it back to City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. for further revisions.
The city manager had intended to have the commission in place ahead of the scheduled May 11 opening day at the city-owned minor league baseball stadium in the Canal District that will serve as the home of the top minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
The Worcester Red Sox s lease with the city to play for up to 35 years in Polar Park was approved Friday by the Worcester Redevelopment Authority.
The long-anticipated lease agreement commits the WooSox to play at Polar Park for at least 25 years, starting as soon as April. The team is also picking up the entirety of a $17-million cost overrun announced last week, an increase that brings the project s total cost to roughly $157 million.
The authority, a city body that is the technical owner of the ballpark site and gives direct oversight to the project, approved the lease unanimously.
Authority members, like their City Council colleagues, have dismissed concerns about the ballpark s costs or likelihood of being financially prudent for Worcester.
The cost of building Polar Park, the new home of the minor league Worcester Red Sox, has risen to $157 million, Worcester officials said Friday afternoon, reflecting cost increases stemming largely from the coronavirus pandemic.
With the increase, the public facility will become the most expensive minor league baseball stadium ever built, surpassing the inflation adjusted $153-million home of the Las Vegas Aviators.
The WooSox have committed to covering the latest overruns, which the city says total $17.3 million, according to a memo to the Worcester City Council made public late Friday.
With potentially less than three months until the stadium s opening, the city has also reached a tentative lease agreement with the baseball team, which now requires approval from the Worcester Redevelopment Authority. The City Council will also need to approve $14 million, including fees and interest, in new borrowing to cover most of the project s latest overruns, which will then be repaid by t