Seconds after Dustin Pedroia broke open Game 7 of the American League Championship Series with a three-run, bases-loaded double in the eighth inning Sunday night, Boston tourism czar Pat Moscaritolo, seated above the third base line at Fenway Park, received an urgent e-mail on his BlackBerry.
"It was Major League Baseball," Moscaritolo said. "They needed hotel rooms, 550 of them."
As the World Series begins in Boston tomorrow, there will be many more winners and losers than the two teams on the field. This Fenway Fall Classic is expected to generate millions of dollars in revenue for hotels, airlines, restaurants, bars, and shops, an estimated $3.6 million per home game, tourism officials say.
Many workers, from waiters to valets, stand to make a windfall in the World Series, as does the state, which collects taxes on meals, lodging, liquor, and purchases of baseball paraphernalia.
On the losing side of the contest? Try the City of Boston and its residents, who don't share in most of those state tax receipts but pay to put hundreds of extra police officers on the streets for security, plus extra staffing to clean the streets around Fenway and to direct traffic.
I'm not big into baseball, but it would really suck if, after paying all those tax dollars, the Red Sox lost to the freaking Rockies. Visit New England Sports News!
Thanks Ben for mentioning Nesportsnews. I just want to make a note to Nesportsnews visitors that I will (I promise) be making a lot of posts regarding the World Series in the coming days. My production of articles has dipped since August, but I am ready to get back on track!
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