December 15, 2006
Tourism Booster
Tourism Massachusetts expects Daisuke Matsuzaka to raise tourism revenue in Boston per year more than the value of his contract:
The Red Sox spent more than $100 million to bring Dice-K to Boston.
That's how many more visitors Tourism Massachusetts, a nonprofit marketing group, estimates will come to Boston annually to watch Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka in a Red Sox uniform.
They're also expected to spend $75 million annually here.
That's a bit more than the $52 million the Red Sox are paying Matsuzaka in salary, or the $51.1 million they had to pay to his former team.
And while the Red Sox won't see much of that money, boosting revenues that much should give them more political pull, always a good thing.
How do you boost tourism when Fenway is consistantly sold out? It will obviously help some but it seems a little far fetched to say that when he's only starting at most 35 games. That's a whole lot of money.
Jason:
There's a difference between boosting tourism in Boston and drawing more crowds at Fenway. More people will go to Boston and spend their money in Massachusetts. They might go to bars or restaurants, museums or movies, but they won't go to Fenway if the games are sold out. I think this article is talking about Mass. as a whole (or at least the city of Boston) and not just the Red Sox.
Just what Henry needs, more power. Fenway II will be funded by Mass taxpayers I guess.
