A spokesman for Minor League Baseball said Springfield would need approval from the Hartford Yard Goats and the Eastern League before any PawSox relocation could become a reality in Massachusetts' Hampden County.
SPRINGFIELD — A spokesman for Minor League Baseball said this week that if the Pawtucket Red Sox were to relocate to Springfield, as hoped by some, there would be a need for approval from a new Hartford team due to an encroachment on its territorial rights.
Both the Hartford Yard Goats, a new Double-A baseball team in the Eastern League, and the Eastern League would need to grant approval for any move of the Triple-A PawSox, of the International League, to Springfield, said Jeff Lantz, director of communications for Minor League Baseball, based in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Generally, the existing team's territory is the county where it exists, Lantz said.
The Yard Goats, set to begin play in 2016, are in Hartford County, which stretches to the Massachusetts state line and abuts Hampden County, the edge of the Yard Goats' territory just a few miles from Springfield.
"However, before a team could be granted permission to move into an adjacent county, it would need to seek appropriate approvals in accordance with our rules because new home territories are supposed to be at least 15 miles from existing home territories unless consent or an exception applies," Lantz said.
A spokesman for the Yard Goats could not be reached for comment.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said this week he would "love" to have the PawSox in his city, and said he had preliminary discussions with PawSox and Boston Red Sox executives.
Minor League territorial rights are described under Rule 52, which stipulates each baseball team is granted "protected territorial rights covering a specific geographic area called a 'home territory,' unless a Club and League agree to forego a home territory ..."
Without approval, "no Major or Minor League Club may play its home games within the home territory or within 15 miles from the boundary of the home territory of any other Minor League Club," the rule states.
While the move of the PawSox to Springfield is "purely speculation at this point," it is true that the Hartford Yard Goats team would have to give its approval, Lantz said. There is a framework for such an effort, Lantz said.
Lantz cited as one example the relocation of the Oneonta baseball team in the New York-Penn League to Norwich, Connecticut. In that case, the league and club "worked closely with the International League, Eastern League, New Britain club and the Pawtucket club as part of the process," Lantz said.
Kevin Kennedy, Springfield's chief development officer, said the city is aware of the territorial rights issue and it is "one of the things we need to look into." The pursuit of a baseball team is a "complex issue" that will be reviewed methodically, he said.
Lantz said Minor League Baseball and the International League office are in regular contact with the PawSox ownership and "at this time they are focused on Providence, although we have received inquires from states and counties in a number of locations expressing an interest in attracting the Red Sox Triple-A club."
He would not specify others that might have an interest in the PawSox, and a spokesman for the PawSox would not provide specifics.
"Right now, our focus is on preparing for the 2016 season here at McCoy Stadium," PawSox spokesman Bill Wanless said.
The PawSox ownership will continue to listen to any ideas or plans "that are brought to us regarding the long-term future of the franchise," he said.
A proposal for the PawSox to move to a waterfront property in Providence failed, followed by Sarno's expressed interest during an Editorial Board meeting involving reporters and editors of The Republican and MassLive.