We strongly encourage all fans of baseball, and Fenway Park in particular, to check out the recent series of articles at ESPN.com. It's great to see coverage from intelligent, non-partisan sports experts, who are not compromised by their financial relationship with the Red Sox! Please give them your feedback on the articles and the future of Fenway. Below is a sampling of many of the articles, and links to the full article:

National landmark status could help Red Sox
By Tom Farrey, ESPN.com, Friday, November 10, 2000

Getting that shiny plaque can help fund upgrades to the ballpark, [SFP's Jeffrey] Harris said. If Fenway were to be designated as a landmark, the team could qualify for tax credits through the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program, which could reduce the cost of any effort to rehabilitate Fenway by 20 percent.
"You have to have the will and spirit to treat Fenway Park with the respect it deserves," [Preservationist Howard] Decker said. "If you do that, miracles can happen."

Thoughts on Fenway Park
Excerpts from various respondents, ESPN.com, Monday, November 6, 2000

" I'm tired of baseball's inclination to bulldoze its history in the name of economics. To me, places like Fenway and Wrigley and Yankee Stadium aren't mere ballparks. They're national historic monuments. So we should no more consider blowing up Fenway than we would Independence Hall." -- Jayson Stark

"[T]here is a charm that exists at Wrigley that everyone in the National League looks forward to experiencing. And everybody in the American League feels the same way about Fenway -- each year, players can't wait to get to Boston or Chicago." -- Rick Sutcliffe

"[E]very time I walk in[to Fenway Park], I think about Ted Williams and Babe Ruth, and that stuff is really important. Even if they build a park to look just like it, it won't be the same." -- Tim Kurkjian

"As a player at Fenway, the fans are right on top of the field and there's so much history you can feel it. Everything surrounding Fenway makes it such a fun place to play, especially the neighborhood it's in. It's one of the best parks in baseball for the players on the field." -- Brian McRae

"I love the historical aspect of baseball and the history of Fenway makes saving it worth more than any economic downside. There is enough technology to refurbish the stadium without having to tear it down." -- Rob Dibble

"Fenway Park is baseball history and a remarkable baseball setting. " -- Buck Martinez

Audio-Chat: Fenway Park
A discussion with Tom Farrey, ESPN.com, Wed., 11/08/00

[This is an audiotape of a discussion about Fenway Park. It requires Real Audio or similar software on your computer in order to listen to it.]

Renovation Plan could save Fenway
By Tom Farrey, ESPN.com, Friday, November 10, 2000

" ...Both efforts to save Fenway will require generous amounts of creativity to pull off. But history has shown that the best urban architecture is done when designers are given constraints, not freedom, Llanes said. He argues that Fenway is enough of a gem to make the effort, especially because the cost of modernizing the ballpark would likely cost less money than a new ballpark because no new land must be taken."

Historic Fenway faces uncertain future
By Tom Farrey, ESPN.com, Tuesday, November 7, 2000

Why not just renovate Fenway? It's a question worth asking before the steamroller of progress levels another historic ballpark.
"This is a battle for baseball's soul," [Dan] Wilson [of Save Fenway Park!] said. "If we can't beat the corporate takeover of baseball here, we won't be able to stop it anywhere."

Comparing Fenway Plans
By Tom Farrey, ESPN.com, Wed., Nov. 8, 2000

[A chart comparing existing Fenway Park with SFP's two proposals (Renovation and Grandstand Reconstruction) and to the Red Sox ownership plan for a new stadium.]

New park too costly for Sox?
By Darren Rovell, ESPN.com, Wed., Nov. 8, 2000

"The theory is that a new stadium will generate more revenue for the Red Sox, allowing more money for player salaries and thus a better team. In practice, a new ballpark might bring so much debt that the increased revenue goes to paying off the debt and not to salaries at all."

A time machine worth saving
By Rob Neyer, ESPN.com, Mon., Nov. 6, 2000

"Fenway Park... allows us to imagine what baseball was like when Ted Williams galloped around in left field, when Lou Gehrig sent towering fly balls into the right-field bleachers, when Carlton Fisk hit the most-replayed home run in baseball history. [H]ave we become so spoiled, so coddled, so insulated that we cannot cope with three hours of discomfort, in exchange for three hours in a time machine?"

Don't take a wrecking ball to history
By Jim Caple, special to ESPN.com, Nov. 8, 2000.

"...I know Fenway's seats are cramped... I know that, gasp, worst of all, it doesn't have enough luxury suites. But that doesn't give the team license to take a wrecking ball to history. Fenway Park is the soul of baseball. Getting rid of it would be as unforgivable as holding a garage sale at Cooperstown."