Get ready for the Worcester Red Sox — or WooSox, for short.
The Pawtucket Red Sox announced Friday the team has signed a letter of intent to build a new ballpark in Worcester's Canal District.
If it's OK'd, the park would be scheduled to open in 2021.
"We are eager to build an innovative, family-friendly ballpark that reflects the love and appreciation of baseball and that unifies Central Massachusetts and the Blackstone Valley Corridor," PawSox Chairman Larry Lucchino said in a statement.
WBUR reported Thursday that a tentative deal, subject to approval, had been reached between the team and Worcester officials.
The state has committed $35 million to the effort over two to three years, the Baker administration said in a statement. The money will support new market rate housing and public infrastructure.
“The administration is committed to working with our partners at the local level to support economic development opportunities across the Commonwealth to create jobs and strengthen communities,”
Gov. Charlie Baker said in the statement. “We are pleased to continue to invest in the City of Worcester and look forward to working together to welcome a premier professional ball team to the state.”
The PawSox, the Boston Red Sox's top minor league team, will remain in its current Pawtucket, Rhode Island, stadium the next two years.
The team has been housed in Pawtucket since 1973.
The question in Worcester is whether the stadium financing plan, which has not yet been made public, can win popular support and City Council approval. Minor League Baseball also needs to OK the project.
Lucchino had been eyeing the team's departure from Pawtucket since he purchased the club in 2015, and Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. had been quietly negotiating with the club for more than a year.
Worcester business leaders told WBUR this week that they would welcome the team to town, if convinced that economic benefits would justify a large, public expenditure.
With reporting from WBUR's Ben Swasey, Callum Borchers and Laney Ruckstuh.
The story was originally published by WBUR.
