More than baseball.
It may be a down year for the Boston Red Sox business on the field, but the business side of the Red Sox franchise continues to move ahead. Two August items illustrate that Boston Red Sox baseball is just a part of that business. The Red Sox ownership has received the go ahead to build a concert venue next to Fenway Park. The venue would seat about 5,400 people and could open in about two years. Another part of the Red Sox business, Fenway Sports Management, is partnering with the New York Mets non-baseball stadium business to bring hurling to the Mets Flushing, New York stadium in November. Hurling is an extremely popular sport in Ireland. The Fenway Sports Group’s NESN regional TV network has carried previous hurling competition in the United States as Fenway Sports had deals with the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Gaelic Players Association to hold a one-day series of games and that happened in 2015, 2017 and 2018. The event did get people into Fenway Park in November 2015 and 2017 but attendance fell in 2018. Amateur teams from Kilkenny, Limerick, Tipperary and Wexford are going to New York.
The Mets non baseball event business, Metropolitan Hospitality is turning over the Mets stadium to the Red Sox marketing group for the event. A sports franchise today is far more than just putting a team on the field and putting up a shingle, baseball today. Sports owners have multiple businesses rooted in the team but first they have to get a team. The Red Sox advertising agency business found marketing partners for the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. Fenway Sports Group owns Fenway Park and real estate surrounding the stadium, a regional cable TV network, the Fenway Sports Group, the Liverpool soccer team, and a NASCAR team. The concert business is next.
