WEEI, Ordway try to work out deal

[Maureen Carney]

It didn't have to be 10 years. The Sox played Entercom like a fiddle. CBS wasn't even in the mix, and Greater Media dropped out at a certain level. ESPN Boston has a bad signal so they wouldn't have been considered if they made a bid. The Sox taking the games in-house seems like a hollow threat, or at least one that's more of a long-term goal. While making money with the team right now there are other deals that Fenway Sports Group is involved with that also require much capital, time management and political goodwill. NESN was a pre-existing entity when current ownership took over the team. Since the chance of them buying WEEI was small, they would have to buy a station and flip formats. That would mean staffing a new station, and deciding how different an identity it would have from NESN and the Globe. The timeline was just too short for that the last time the contract came up, and economic conditions are not good for such a move right now.



________________________________
From: Don A <donald_astelle@yahoo.com>
To: Maureen Carney <m_carney@yahoo.com>; Boston Radio Group <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 1:45:35 PM
Subject: Re: WEEI, Ordway try to work out deal




> Getting Eagan & Braudie isn't a dumb move. I was commenting on the overall decisions of Julie Kahn and Jason Wolfe. That Sox deal has to be the worst in pro sports.<<

Is it worse than WEEI losing and not having the Red Sox at all?

That's the choice it appears they were faced with.