Billionaire real estate developer Stefan Soloviev has offered to renovate McCoy Stadium to bring baseball back to Pawtucket. Still, the Rhode Island city’s mayor is instead committed to demolishing the ballpark to build a new high school.
The Providence Journal first reported news of Soloviev’s pitch to save McCoy Stadium. The ballpark was home to the Pawtucket Red Sox, the MLB’s team Triple-A affiliate, from 1970 through 2020 until the franchise moved to Worcester, Mass. A group led by longtime MLB executive Larry Lucchino purchased the Pawtucket Red Sox for over $20 million in 2015 and maintains ownership of the Triple-A club now in Worcester.
Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien’s office spokesperson told Target 12 that the stadium land is “off the table” because voters approved a $330 million bond last year to demolish the stadium and build a new public high school on the land.
Soloviev is the chairman of Soloviev Group and has a net worth of $2.3 billion, per Forbes. He is the son of real estate tycoon Sheldon Solow, who passed away in 2020.
USL Championship expansion team Rhode Island FC will debut in 2024 and had been planning to build a 10,000-seat soccer stadium in Pawtucket, but the project faces uncertainty after city officials paused on giving $27 million in public funding for the stadium. Last month, Rhode Island FC said it would play its inaugural 2024 season at Bryant University in Smithfield.
