Opinion: Put This One in the Loss Column

Count us among those disappointed that the Boston Red Sox won’t be coming back to Springfield this January for Winter Weekend.

The team has decided to scrap those festivities in favor of a one-day Fenway Fest at Fenway Park and the MGM Music Hall. We’re not sure what the reasoning was for the change, but it certainly adds up to a loss for this region, and local fans as well.

Winter Weekend was definitely not a long-standing tradition in this region — there were only a few of them thanks to the partnership between the team and MGM — but it had gained some traction, and, like all events staged in this area, it was beneficial to hotels, restaurants, and other hospitality-related businesses.

Meanwhile, the event served as a way to spread the wealth, if you will, when it comes to the Red Sox and the Commonwealth. The team plays in Boston. Its Triple-A affiliate plays in Worcester. Winter Weekend gave Springfield a small — make that very small — piece of the pie.

And it gave the region some notoriety, especially the past few years. Indeed, as the team’s fortunes faded with a last-place finish in 2022, Red Sox owner John Henry and then-Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom were roundly booed during the town-hall Q&A portion of the 2023 Winter Weekend at the MassMutual Center. That episode was recounted dozens, if not hundreds, of times on talk radio and other media outlets over the course of the equally disappointing 2023 season, leading to unending speculation about what would happen when Henry returned to Springfield in 2024.

Alas, the owner conveniently had a scheduling conflict for that weekend. Meanwhile, the town-meeting segment was scrapped in favor of a much friendlier (to the Red Sox brass, anyway) talk-show format.

And now, Henry won’t be coming to Springfield this January, or for the foreseeable future. Winter Weekend is gone, and so is any controversy — and any good that came to this region — from the short-lived but still appreciated event.

As far as Greater Springfield goes, this isn’t a big loss, but it’s a loss nonetheless.