October 5, 2025 • 58 mins
On today’s program, we speak with the Jim O’Brien general manager of the Topsfield Fair. Don Seiffert managing editor the Boston Business Journal shares this week’s business headlines. Larry Edelman business reporter for The Boston Globe talks about the housing market. And Skip Perham expert on the business of sports examines value of our local sports teams.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the New England Business Report with Joe Shortsleeve
and Kim Carrigan, a weekly roundup and discussion of the
top business news impacting our New England economy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
And good morning and welcome to the New England Business Support.
On this Sunday morning, October the fifth, Joe shorts of
here with Kim Carrigan and Kim, I guess you know this,
of course is the month of Halloween. And my first
question to you is a business question about Halloween. Have
you started the Halloween spend?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I have not. Of course I don't have small children
around me, so I don't right now. You know what
I'm pumped this weekend is my pumpkin Day. So today,
because it's like eighty degrees today, I'm going to have
a pumpkins and moms today.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well what about like hot what about stuff for the
yard decorations Halloween?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Do you do that?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I don't. I don't. If I had little ones when
my kids are little, I did. I don't anymore. Yeah,
I'm not so I'm not so Halloween is But have
you seen the price tag on Halloween elect billions of dollars?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Eric, It's just spent twelve billion bucks I mean, and Christmas,
I guess it's twenty five billion, but Halloween's number two
as twelve.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
And you know when you break.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
It down, Okay, so costumes almost four billion, candy three
and a half billion, yard decorations almost four billion.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, I'm not surprised
at all about the yard decorations because they're so elaborate. Now,
it's nothing like when my kids are little, our kids
are a little it was, you know, they put out
some spider webs those. I'm not surprised about it.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
All.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
The candy, I'm a little surprised about. But I do
think about a billion dollars of that is eating at
my house because I buy candy and then I hide it,
then my husband finds it and eats it. Then I
have to buy it again, you know, So it's uh,
you know, it's a little trick here.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
My favorite yard decoration is the witch into the tree.
You know, of course it is Joe.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I love that one.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
All right, Look, we're going to talk a little bit
about October and what folks are doing with their dollars
this October, and how about the Topsfield Fair. Yeah, we're
gonna go up there. We're gonna be talking with the
general manager of the Topsfield Fair. That would be one
Jim O'Brien, widely recognized as America's oldest county fair, founded
in eighteen eighteen.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Kim, and I'm sure you've taken that in quite a
few times that I have.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
And it's always a lot of fun. And you know
who doesn't love the fried food?
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I know, I know, I think all kinds of stuff.
I mean the pig racing, I mean, the pumpkin way off.
I mean, you know, it's just fun, all right, So
talk to Jim O'Brian about that. We're also going to
be talking with Don Seifert, to managing editor of the
Boston Business Journal, about headlines that they were pushing out
this week. One is an interesting headline, greenwashing is out.
(02:49):
Green hushing is the new corporate trend. Companies secretly pursue
climate goals despite public backtracking. I mean that's yeah, don't
talk about it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Tell anybody you're putting that in the recycling bin.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, it's going to talk a little bit of a
mass general. I guess, well, the DCU Center is going
to be I saw that as well, and the Mass
General is planning a new impatient tower. So a lot
going on in the first half of the program.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Second half we got just as much going on. Are
there houses for sale in your neighborhood?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, up.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, they're starting to pop up. And we've talked about this,
you know, for the last year and a half and
how there really was a lack of them. But whether
there's houses being put up for sale or not, there
is a segment of the population that is going to
start to feel some pressure to put their houses up
for sale, and that's empty nesters. You know, they are
not doing it for an abundance of reasons, not the
(03:47):
least of which is that they probably have their house.
Their mortgage is much lower rate than what they could
get if they sell and have to buy again, and
one another mortgage. But the problem is that, you know,
we have these young couples who need the these bigger
houses for families, and empty nesters aren't moving out. We're
going to talk to Boston Globe columnists Larry Edelman about
that issue and the kind of incentives that are being
(04:11):
suggested to try to get those empty nesters to get
out of their houses and the skip perm He's the
director of sports management at stuff A University, and he's
going to be our guest to talk all things the
business and sports. There is so much to talk about, Joe.
You know, we've been I've been smiling every time I
think about our Red Sox and how we thought at
the beginning of the season this was a team that
(04:31):
wasn't going to be able to do anything, and we
saw a lot of injuries and crazy trades, and then
they ended up being a team that you know, has
a lot to join fun.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, I mean, and the skip perm sent through a
pretty interesting stat He talked about the Red Sox trade
ha Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants in June
of twenty twenty five, and then the Red Sox post
trade record was fifty two and thirty seven the Giants.
The Giants had the wor first record in baseball something
(05:04):
like eighteen and thirty three since they took Devs on.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
But first, this morning, the leaves are changing, the temperatures
are dropping, and that means it's tops Field Fair time
festivities kicked off this past Friday. Enjoining us to talk
about the fair and its impact on the area is
the general manager, Jim O'Brien, Jim. Always great to have you.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
Thank you very much, very much. Enjoy talking with you.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Well, it's great to have you. So the oldest fair
in America, it is off and running. Talk to us
a little bit about the longevity of the fair. Started
in eighteen eighteen. I know it's moved its location since then.
But what do you think has has been so popular
and kept this fair going for such a long time.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
You know that the fair two hundred and seventy years old,
started right here in Topsfield and it was all about
educating farmers on the best way to grow things and
for families. It was always for the beginning it was
a cattle show, so that was part of the educational
component of it. But it was always about families, bringing
people together. So the community, and that's what's important. Community.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Jim, give us the big picture.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Okay, what's going on there at the Topsfield Fair in
these coming days.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
Well, you know the giant Pumpkin way off. We have
the Budweiser Clydesdales here this year until Monday. That's exciting.
For this weekend, we have the Morrisville Hitch. We have
farm hands swifty racing pigs which people always enjoy. The
middle of the week, we're going to have rodeo, so
there's a lot of fear and there's a lot to see.
(06:41):
This year, we got Frankie Avalon coming in, We've got
Sammy Kershaw coming in on Wednesday, and of course at
the end of it we finish it up with a
nice demolition derby and figure eight race.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Jim, this fair is so important to the local economy.
Talk a little bit about the impact that it has
on the local economy and why.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
You know it does. It's truly amazing the spin off
that comes from the fear. It's a lot more than
just them coming here and us all the people. We
hire three hundred people during the course of this week,
but it's about the hotels, the restaurants, everything around benefits
from the fear. It brings people to the area. Brings
(07:22):
over three or four hundred thousand people to this area.
Granted a few local and they go home, but a
lot of them come from other areas. We get information
all the time that people coming into the area. It's
very hard to get a hotel room this time of
the year because of the fear being here, and you
know yourself, there's a lot of hotels around this area,
so the fact that we're filling them all up is
(07:42):
a huge dynamic engine for the communities. The tax dollars
they get from meal taxes, the gas stations, everything. It
really gets quite elaborate when you actually stat thinking about
all the different things that the fair grounds touches that
we never had thought about years ago.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, well, Jim, do you have a real numbers for
some of those stats you're sharing with us there? I mean,
in terms of how many people will actually come through
the fair and what is the dollar amount at the
end of the day.
Speaker 6 (08:10):
You know, we're working with Salem State University to try
to lock those numbers down. You know, over the years,
I've heard of hundreds of millions of dollars that are
brought in. Part of that's because the tourist industry tracks that,
and we're trying to get a little bit more of
a solid number. But you know, again, everybody you talk to,
(08:32):
you know, people coming into the area. People are flying
in just to see the show. So I mean it's
really a regional event, not just a local event.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Well, it seems like it's just so well timed because
then you also have all the things that are going
on in Salem, and so it's an opportunity for people
to come and to do all of it, which is
really terrific. Where do all those dollars go, Jim?
Speaker 6 (08:55):
All the money that's raised by the Top Sophia goes
to our mission. We do scholarships. Last year we had
sixty scholarships we gave out, but trying to maintain our grounds,
and we donate back to the community in all kinds
of ways. Some are financials, some are with tickets submission
to the Fear. So all the money is generated by
(09:16):
the Top So Fear in any capacity goes back to
the Fear.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
We pay taxes to.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
The town or tops Field. We definitely you know there's
a lot of expenses to run in a show like this.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah, yeah, Now the Fair runs through the thirteenth of October.
Give us an idea of highlights for you. And what
is Jim O'Brien doing the whole time?
Speaker 6 (09:37):
You know, today I'm running around like when my hair
are on fire. But normally during the Fear, you know,
as we run multiple events. We have the Missus e
c pageant, We've got concerts and different things, so I
spend my time going around with that. I really my
favorite spot is to sit out in front of the
office here on the porch and see the families, you know,
(10:00):
because our client tele is those people. It's children and
families coming by. And I just really appreciate the fact
that they, you know, can come to the fair. They
pay for it admission, and they can spend all day here.
We have five stages that are going on all day long.
There's so much to see here. It's just great. And
(10:21):
if they want to go on the rides, they can.
They go on the rides and play the games, but
they don't have to. There's so much to see here.
It's the fear, you know, you almost want to come
back twice.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
And there's a lot of education that goes on. A
lot of school kids get an opportunity to come out
talk to us about that.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
Yeah, So we have a program here that right now,
I think the numbers over fourteen thousand students will be
coming through the fairgrounds Monday through Friday. We run educational
programming so that they get some exposure to our culture.
But they understand where chickens come from, where milk comes from.
You know, years ago we ran some surveys and talked
(10:57):
to kids, and I asked one of the kids said,
where's chocolate milk come from? It goes a supermarket, It doesn't, Jim.
It does come from the supermarket, but it comes from
a cow, you know, So it's important. But I was
talking with the Beat Apartment. They were saying that they've
(11:18):
inundated with entries this year, so we're hoping for a
really great year. The animals are coming in.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Talk to us about well, traffic because I remember when
I went there once, traffic was an issue. Didn't take
away from how lovely the fair was, but getting there
and getting out was a little bit of a challenge.
What do you do to make that easier on folks?
Speaker 6 (11:37):
You know, we have this elaborate plan to try to
move traffic. We've bought additional property so we have additional parking.
But this year, I am very glad to say the
upside of the drought is that we're parking right down
to the river, so that gives me an extra two
thousand parking spaces. We have over seven thousand parking spaces
on our property. We'll be running shuttles from Norso Community College.
(12:02):
We'll be running shuttles from our farm up the street.
We got a lot of pock in this year, and
I'm going to really hope and strive that we will
not have long lines on rout one.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
And Jim, I cannot talk about the fair without talking
about the food. How many vendors are you guys going
to have this year? And is there anything being offered
that's maybe new or really unique that you want to share?
Speaker 6 (12:25):
You know, we have over one hundred food vendors, and
we try to diversify them because everybody has different tastes.
Somebody wants to come in and get a candy apple,
somebody wants to come in and get a sausage. But
we have loads of other types of foods. We got
lobster rolls. I was when I came in just a
few minutes ago, there was vendor right out here setting up.
They have lobsteroles, We have sighted donuts, we have those
(12:48):
fried oreos.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
I mean, you can get.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
Almost any kind of food item you want here. But
we also have about one hundred and fifty to two
hundred dry goods vended. We have a building where people
come in and they off and you can buy all
those things that you thought you needed or didn't think
you needed. It's kind of fun, you know. But the
food pot we try to keep it to one hundred
vendors so that we don't inundate. It's a lot more
(13:12):
here than just the food.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I'm sorry, fried oreos. Can you walk me through that place, Jim.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Yeah, So they do fried oreos, they do fried twinkies.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
You know.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
These vendors get very creative on different types of food.
And the surprising pot is people enjoy them and love them.
I think people once a year break did diets and
they break did change their diet and come to the
fair and just eat whatever they'd like.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Why not, it's once a year, right, But those these
are very important times for those vendors, right because I
mean this is the time that they make their dollars.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Absolutely, and the vendors this year really suffered because we
had all that rain, with thirteen weeks of rain in
the beginning of the season. They move from FAA grounds
to FA round or festival to festivals, but they lost
this spring this year. So it has been very important.
And we're we're a big venue, We're one of the
last venues for the year for them. This is make
(14:13):
or break for those vendors.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Sure well listen. We wish you the best fare ever,
which is you know, tough to do because it's been
there since eighteen eighteen, but we hope this is the
best again. It runs through Columbus Day, October thirteenth. If
you can go to top Fieldfair dot org and get
your tickets. Jim, thanks so very much. Coming up, we'll
(14:36):
talk to the folks at the Boston Business Journle.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
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Speaker 3 (17:02):
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Speaker 2 (17:04):
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That's Any Business Radio all one word at gmail dot
com and we'll get your business on the show too.
And welcome back to the New England Business Report on
this Sunday morning, October fifth. A lot of business headlines
(17:37):
in Boston and the region this past week or so.
We want to bring in the managing editor now of
the Boston Business Journal, one Don Seifert. Don joins us regularly. Don,
let's talk about some of those headlines. The one that
I guess that you enjoyed and spent a lot of
time researching, and it's a fascinating topic. This whole idea
of greenwashing is out. Green hushing is the new corporate trend.
(18:01):
You say, companies secretly pursuing climate goals despite public backtracking. Uh,
give us a big picture here, what's going on?
Speaker 10 (18:10):
Yeah, it's it's kind of you can kind of think
of green hushing as the opposite of greenwashing. You know,
green washing was the was a big trend a few
years ago. Companies used to get accused of it when
they you know, they talked a big game about you know,
being wanting to be sustainable and pursue climate goals, but
then they didn't do a whole lot. This is actually
(18:30):
the opposite and is kind of born of the political
era that we're in, you know, with the with you know,
President Trump is not a big fan of clean energy
and a lot of sustainability and wind energy. You know,
we've all we've all seen the steps here taken there
so companies have, you know, we we've we've reported on
companies actually backtracking on their climate goals. What what I
(18:52):
think was interesting is I talked to a couple of
key people like in the investment community who have said
that there's actually that you know, those same companies, many
of them are still pursuing those goals, but they are
you know, publicly saying that they're backtracking. And the reason,
I mean, it sounds kind of bizarre, but I mean
the reason is that you know that there's a lot
(19:13):
of reasons that that companies, you know, have have a
business intensive to pursue these goals. You know, one is
that the rest of the world is going towards the
more sustainable economy and more clean energy, and if the
US is not doing that, then we kind of get
left behind. And you know, there's plenty of local companies
that that are global that you know, they work around
(19:33):
the world. And also I think people realize that the
current political environment is not going to be around forever
and that it could well change a couple of years.
So just a really interesting phenomenon I think.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
So, uh, let me just ask you don how are
they conducting business and doing this without you know, making
it known. I said to Joe earlier, you know, are
they just sneaking into the.
Speaker 10 (19:56):
Cycling or I mean it's they're you know, they're I
think a lot of these companies they you know, they're
they're showing evidence sometimes like in their in their filings
that they are still you know, working on being doing
projects that would make them more more carbon neutral or
you know, but they're just not saying, you know, they're
not coming out and saying we're working towards being you know,
(20:18):
carbon neutral by twenty thirty five anymore. But you know,
I mean you can think of car companies in particular
car companies, uh, you know, a few years ago under Biden,
you know that a lot of them had made this commitment,
we're not going to be putting out carbon combustion engines
after twenty thirty five. It takes years to redo factories.
(20:40):
So the idea is that these car factories, that these
car companies are now not pursuing those goals seems you know,
very illogical and bad for their own business. So I
think that there's and that there's an assumption that these
companies are still working towards them, but they're just not
talking about it anymore.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
John, what's the example that you use in the article
about the State Street Corporation as it relates to green hushing, Well,
what's going on there?
Speaker 10 (21:05):
Yeah? Well, I mean State three was one of those
that they made a big deal over the last couple
of years, you know, starting in twenty twenty, twenty twenty one,
where they they've made a lot of big comments about
about ESG investing in particular. That's environmental, social, and governance
investing basically, you know, part of that, A big part
of that is investing in companies that are climate you know,
(21:28):
that are that are sustainable, that are making steps to
be sustainable. They they did, you know, they've they've definitely backtracked,
you know, they they withdrew from this from this group
called Climate Climate one hundred. I mean, so did Black
Rock and Fidelity.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
You know.
Speaker 10 (21:46):
So it's not like State three is the only one,
but but so, I mean State three they've they've very
clearly like backtracked on it. It's hard to tell what
they're doing under you know, like beyond that. But I mean,
you know, Trillium Investments is in the same building as them,
and you know, the CEO of Trillium Investments he suspects,
(22:10):
you know, strongly that that State Street is still you know,
looking you know, taking into effects, taking into account climate
goals when it's investing in companies, They're just not talking
about it like they used to.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Another article that was written in the Boston Business Journal
this past week, this one by Grant Welker, talks a
little bit about BioMed Realty and how they are suing
one of their lab tenants over in Cambridge. That lab
tenant is Smart Labs for two point seven million dollars
in back rent. This sounds like a weakness here that
(22:49):
is not good.
Speaker 10 (22:51):
Yes, I think that this goes along with the category
of biotech companies are not doing very well right now.
There's been a model way off there. Smart Lab is
kind of you can think of it as a we
work for biotech companies. They you know, they offer flexible
lab space and other support specific to drug developers, early
stage drug developers. So so you know, Smart Labs actually
(23:12):
began in Boston, you know, ten years ago. I think
they were originally called Boston Innovation Labs or something, but
they changed their name to Smart Labs. They're now in
Boston and also in San Francisco, but there, you know,
we we have tried to contact Smart Labs. They we
haven't heard from them yet, but there are several instances
(23:32):
of problems. BioMed Realty is one of the biggest landlords
of biotech space in the Boston area as well as
in California, and they are suing. They actually suit them
not only here in Boston for that lab space, but
also in California. So there's now a couple of different lawsuits,
you know, saying that they haven't paid their rent. In
(23:53):
addition to that, we found out recently that Smart Labs,
they had said that they're going to be taking over
a the third floor of Cambridge Side in Kendall Square,
they are now not doing that. We reported that, you know, earlier,
and uh so a lot of a lot of potential
issues with smart Lab, probably related just to the to
(24:14):
the how how badly biotech is doing in general.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Talking with Don Seiffert, Managing enter of the Boston Business
Journal about the business headlines this week and this one,
you know, I went to holy Cross, Don, so pretty
familiar with the d CU center. Of course it was
the Worcester Central, I think when I I knew it.
But it's no longer going to be the d CU center.
What's happening here?
Speaker 10 (24:34):
No, I mean d c U is not going to
be DCU anymore. Just this past week they they they
got federal approval for a big merger with a California
company and they are going to be changing their name,
you know, I mean d c U is for Digital
Credit Union and that's you know, only only people of
(24:55):
a certain age and older. Even though what Digital is
obviously that was the big theater company in the sixties
right around Boston that kind of invented mainframe computers. So
this credit union builds up around there, and it's been
you know, it is now by far the biggest in
the state and one of the biggest in the nations.
They are merging with another company, First Tech Center, is
(25:20):
what it's called, another big credit union, and they're going
to actually form the sixth largest credit union in the nation.
But as part of that, they are going to change
their names. And you know, probably very few people remember
or associate anything with a digital at this point, so
they're going to change it to something probably a little
bit more modern. As a result, the DCU Center is
(25:42):
going to change its name.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Well, you have here that it's going to be the
first tech Center.
Speaker 10 (25:46):
You're right, it's going to be the first tech center
as opposed to Digital Credit.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, and you're right, that's more modern. That sounds more
modern for sure. But I have a question for you.
Did you guys get any reaction from the folks who
live over there in the Worcester area, because I mean,
they've been calling it the DCU Center for a long time.
Speaker 10 (26:02):
Yeah, No, we haven't heard yet, but we will. I mean,
we're putting out calls to try to see if anybody
is upset about that. But I would think stadiums and
big centers changing often, not fairly often, but every once
in a while, and people always have to just get
used to it. But yeah, i'd be interesting to hear
if Worster people kind of are upset about the loss
(26:24):
of the DCU Center.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah, and don quickly here what about thirty seconds left here?
Mass General Brigham plans a new inpatient tower.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Tell us about this.
Speaker 10 (26:33):
Yes, this is going to be a giant tower in
Longwood that's going to be I think over five hundred
hospital beds. It sounds like it has a potentially one
of the biggest hospital projects in recent years. We don't
have many details about it at all. Basically, what happened
this past week is that the Mass General Brigham board
(26:54):
voted in favor of pursuing this. They still need to
get a lot of approvals to do it, and obviously
they need to put forward a plan of exactly what
this is going to be. So we don't know the cost.
We just know about how big it's going to be.
But you know, we are we are trying to find
you estimates of what the cost could be because we
kind of suspect that it may be pretty pricey.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yeah, I would guess so. All right, he's Downsidhered. He's
the manager to go to of the Boston Business Journal.
I appreciate you joining us on the New England Business Support.
Up next, we're going to talk about your local Starbucks
and why it may have closed.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Kim and Joe will explore more business news that impacts
our New England economy when they return.
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Speaker 8 (28:38):
Are you a brother or sister of one of Greater
Boston's local trade unions and finally thinking about getting ready
to hang up your tools after thirty five years of
working your tailoff? Congratulations, you worked hard to build your
retirement nest egg. But now what? Let me help you
break through the nonsense and financial speak so we can
get to the questions that are important to you. As
you know, nothing gets built without a set of plans,
(29:00):
and neither will you a financial future. My name is
Mike Marshall, President and CEO of Marshall Wealth Management and
creator of the Marshall Plan, a comprehensive customized plan that
will help you answer important questions in all seven key areas.
You don't have to do it alone. There is no
cost or obligation. Call us at eight five seven three
four two ten thirty. That's eight five seven three four
(29:22):
two ten thirty. Well check us out online at Marshallwealth
dot Com, Marshall with two els Marshallwealth dot Com.
Speaker 9 (29:29):
Advisory services offered through Capital Analysts or Lincoln Investment Registered
Investment Advisors. Securities offered through Lincoln Investment Broker Dealer Member Finra, SIPC,
Lincoln Investment dot Com, Marshall Wealth Management and the above
firms are independent and not affiliated.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Welcome back everybody to the New England Business Report. It's
so good to have you with us this morning. I'm
Kim Kerra. Get along with Joe short Sleeve coming up
at this half hour. Empty nesters. They need a little
enticing Joe to get out of their homes apparently, and maybe, yeah,
maybe tax and satives are exactly what they need. We're
going to be talking to Boston Globe columnists Larry Edelman
(30:04):
about that coming up in a second.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, I sold the house a couple I sold the
house a couple of years ago, and I went through
this Capitol Gain stuff and it has not been changed
since the late nineties, so you know it would help.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yeah, absolutely, that's so true. And we do need them
out because we got a shortage of homes for some
of these young folks. Let's take a look at some
of the other headlines though that maybe you missed this week.
The first one that I thought was really cool and
I happened to actually stumble upon it. I was downtown
a TD garden celebrating thirty years after it reopened on
(30:36):
September thirtieth, nineteen ninety five, so all remodeled and spiffed up.
It feels like I was, you know, here in Boston.
You certainly were here.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
That certainly was.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
I mean, well, I mean you're a guy from here originally,
that's what I need. Okay, fine, we're only thirty. I
remember you were just thirty when this house. But anyway,
so to mark the milestone, which is pretty cool, they've
had all kinds of pop up parties down there there.
I just happened to be down there on the thirtieth
(31:08):
and some of the Bruins players were there and people
were just going nuts everywhere. But it's a really cool thing.
They have a bunch of things planned for the next
year to celebrate thirty years of this Boston garden that
we know.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
You're right, well, it was the guardenmember. Remember when was
the Fleet Center? Yeah, I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
When when I first got here, WGBH launching a three year,
two hundred and twenty five million dollars Fund the Future campaign.
They're going to go after some of their biggest donors.
They're going to go after people who they have never
spoken to before. They're hoping that some programming, some new programming,
is going to help them to bring in these dollars.
(31:49):
All of this after, of course, a lot of federal
funding being cut for all these independent stations like this.
So it's going to be interesting and probably you'll be contacted.
We'll all be contacted saving WGBH.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah, well, Kim, I was thinking about you in this headline,
this Globe headline story written by Janelle Nanos, this is
why your local Starbucks just closed. From weak demand to
rising costs to the death of the third place, the
coffee giant is facing a wave of challenges. I guess
(32:22):
you probably know this as well. Across Greater Boston, according
to the Globe story, consumers have been forced to change
up their coffee routines this week after Starbucks and Hose
was closing nineteen nineteen local shops, a shuddering of four
hundred stores across the United States and Canada, part of
a larger billion dollar restructuring effort. But it's interesting when
(32:44):
you read a little bit into this and why and
what happened here, and they talked a little bit about
and I'll be interested with what you think about this.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
They say that all these.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Digital tools that came about during COVID and a whole
bit actually hurt Starbucks because it is no longer personalized
and it was Kim's name or Joe's name wasn't written
necessarily written on the coffee companymore.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
I mean, do you buy that?
Speaker 5 (33:09):
Well?
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I do buy it.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
I think all of us are looking for the digital,
easier way out in many cases. And so I also
think that Starbucks and some of these others are really
getting hit with the local, interesting little coffee shops. A
lot of people really like to go into a little cute,
local shop and.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
I can spend seven bucks on a cup of coffee.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
There, you have it exactly.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Joe housing is a major issue in the New England area,
between the cost and the lack of inventory. Many believe
that they impact on the economy is really dramatic and
if something isn't done, we're going to continue to see
that drama in our economy. Interest rates have certainly had
an impact, but one of the big problems apparently is
that empty nesters don't want to sell. You know, they
(34:01):
don't know where they're going to go. Number One, they
if they have to have another mortgage, they don't want
higher interest rates, so they need some incentive. And then
of course there's also that whole capital gains issue. Joining
us to talk a little bit more about this is
Boston Global columnist Larry Edelman. He recently wrote an article
about this the title we need to nudge empty nesters
(34:24):
out of their nest. We could do it by cutting
taxes on home sales. Larry, great to have you along.
Speaker 11 (34:30):
Hey, it's great to be here.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Let's just talk about your research for this. Give us
some ideas about some of the things that you found.
Speaker 11 (34:38):
Well, look, there's a lot of reasons that people are
holding onto their houses long after they don't need two thousand,
three thousand, four thousand square feet. As you mentioned, One
of them is just where they're going to go. Prices
is so high, and interest rates are still high, stilled
above six percent. But another one is that a lot
of people have huge equity built up in those homes.
(35:02):
If they've been in there twenty years or thirty years,
and that could really lead to a big tax bill
when they sell. Currently, there's an exclusion you can put,
you can set you can exclude two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars for an individual and five hundred thousand dollars
for a couple on the capital gains tax. However, you
(35:27):
know people have gains that are even much larger than that.
So there are proposals out there, both in the House
and in the Senate, and even President Trump has floted
the idea of either eliminating the capital gains tax on
primary home sales or doubling that exclusion, making it higher.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Talking about Larry Edelman, Yeah, Globe Financial columnst there, Larry,
it's a really good point. I mean, I sold a
home a couple of years ago and I sit there.
Won't They haven't changed these numbers is two fifty and
five hundred since nineteen ninety seven. You'd think that the
very least would be tied to inflation or are some
sort of upward instrument instrument there, But so tell us
(36:10):
what's going on to change it. It looks like there
might be bipartisan efforts.
Speaker 11 (36:13):
Yeah, there are there's there's you know, a proposal in
the House, as I said, and in the Senate. They
really haven't gotten anywhere right now, but maybe that'll change
because it has popped up on President Trump's radar, and
you know sometimes when he takes an interest in something,
it gets to be momentum behind it. So we'll see,
(36:35):
you know, it's it's it's an issue, and you know,
there's only so much that the federal government can do
to help the housing market because you know, to paraphrase
Tip O'Neil, you know, all real estate is local and
the but one of the things that the Feds could
do is change this tax treatment. So I think it
(36:58):
might get a little.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
More Larry, is it an overstatement to say that this
is one of the biggest issues impacting our economy in
this certainly in the state of Massachusetts, where housing is
so high and at such you know, such a low inventory.
Speaker 11 (37:15):
Absolutely, just overall, the housing market is a real a
real problems. It's especially acute in the Boston area in
Massachusetts because of how the high housing costs, in the
fact that we don't have as much land for building,
and we have a lot of local restrictions on building
and that really is keeping people, keeping companies, for example,
(37:39):
from expanding, because it's hard to get people to move
to move here, you know, when they're facing these huge
home sales. You know, if you get a job in Boston,
you know, how close can you get to a neighborhood
where you could buy a house? You know, you end
up in Rhode Island up in an hour and a half.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
You know, it's so true, It's so true.
Speaker 5 (38:03):
Larry.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
You also cover the Fed, and obviously we saw the
Fed cut rates back quarter of a point, but in
some circles it seemed like Wall Street was a little
bit disappointed in the forecast for further cuts.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
You know, bring us up to speed. Where are we
on interest rates and cuts going forward?
Speaker 11 (38:23):
Well, I think the general expectation is that the Fed
will cut at least one more time this year, maybe
maybe twice. It really depends on what they see in
upcoming data on the jobs market and inflation. Now it's
going to get a little complicated because if the government shutdown,
(38:45):
the jobs report probably won't come out on Friday is scheduled,
So there may be a little bit of a blind
spot for the Fed there. You know, the same for
the CPI report that's due out in the middle of
the month. So there's a little concern that the FED
might grow hesitant to act without having those reports. But
we'll have to see. But the real question comes not
(39:09):
so much this year but next year, and the debate
is really what's the appropriate level for interest rates? Right now,
it's around four percent. Some people think that that is appropriate.
Some people meant by some people, I mean members of
the FED Policy Setting Committee, but others, notably Steve Malan,
(39:30):
who has just joined the board he's a Trump appointee,
thinks it should be much lower, more like three percent.
And as we've seen, the President has been pushing very
hard to get the FED to move more quickly, and
they've been very cautious because they don't want to get
caught with inflation spiking due to tariffs. Another twist in
(39:54):
this is the is the fight over Lisa Cook, who
to Trump, is trying to force off board. He's alleged
that she committed mortgage fraud by listing two separate houses
as her primary residents and mortgage applications. But the Supreme
Court just yesterday said that that dismissal will have to
(40:15):
wait until the case is litigated, and it's not going
to hear it until early next year. And one final
twist is that Jerome Powell is his term as the
chairman is slated to end in May, and Trump will
get to a point a new chair and that person
will undoubtedly want to see interest rates fall faster than
(40:38):
Powell has been.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
Willing to go.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Larry, because you follow this so closely, let me ask
you this. Were you surprised when j Powell said last
month that he anticipated this inflation will stay with us
until twenty twenty eight?
Speaker 5 (40:53):
You know?
Speaker 11 (40:54):
It's yeah, it seems like it's taken forever, huh to
get that right back down to two percent, which is
which is his defensive target. He did say that, but
at the same time in a bit of good news,
and we all could use a little We can all
use some good news these days, right. His current thinking
and that of most of the people on the board,
(41:15):
is that tariffs, the impact of tariffs will be kind
of one time, meaning that yes, as the tariff hits,
you know, companies will raise their prices, but it won't
lead to a cycle of ever rising prices. Instead just
kind of like a one time markup. And that If
(41:36):
that proves to be true, it will give the said
more leeway to cut raids.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Larry, you also cover the job market here in Massachusetts.
You have a recent headline on the globe there mass
job market remains stuck in low gear. I'm curious as
to how much of you think that has to do
with AI and companies now not needing all those starting positions.
Speaker 11 (42:00):
I think it's on the margins at best, Joe. You know,
companies are just starting to figure out how to do
to do AI and how to make it, how to
make it work. At the same time, they may be
putting off hiring until things sort themselves out, both on
the AI front as it becomes clearer exactly what they
(42:23):
can and cannot do and who they could replace, or
what functions they could replace and what they can't. And
at the same time, I think the companies are also
on hold just given the economic uncertainty that we're seeing.
You know, how far is the job market going to fall?
You know, what's going to happen to GDP, what's the
impact of Tariff's going to be? You know, what's the
(42:45):
government shutdown now going to mean. You know, there's so
much uncertain in the air that I think that more
than just AI itself is the reason behind job growth
here is all but stalled.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
Yeah, when we look at twenty twenty five, I think
certainty will be one of those words that was a
buzzword for the entire year. Larry Edelman, thank you so much.
Appreciate your time this morning and your insight still come
in your way, folks. The business of sports, there's plenty
of it here in New England. This is the New
England Business Report.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston w RKO six eighty. Joe and
Kim will be right.
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Speaker 8 (44:31):
Are you a brother or sister of one of Greater
Boston's local trade unions and finally thinking about getting ready
to hang up your tools after thirty five years of
working your tailoff? Congratulations, you worked hard to build your
retirement nest egg. But now what? Let me help you
break through the nonsense and financial speak so we can
get to the questions that are important to you. As
you know, nothing gets built without a set of plans,
(44:52):
and neither will your financial future. My name is Mike Marshall,
President and CEO of Marshall Wealth Management and creator of
the Mars Show Plan, a comprehensive customized plan that will
help you answer important questions in all seven key areas.
You don't have to do it alone. There is no
cost or obligation. Call us at eight five seven three
four two ten thirty. That's eight five seven three four
(45:15):
two ten thirty. Well check us out online at Marshalwealth
dot com. Marshall with two L's Marshallwealth dot Com.
Speaker 9 (45:22):
Advisory services offered through Capital Analysts or Lincoln Investment Registered
Investment Advisors. Securities offered through Linkeln Investment Broker Dealer Member Finra, SIPC,
Lincoln Investment dot Com, Marshal Wealth Management and the above
firms are independent and not affiliated.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
Hi everybody, I'm Kim Kerrigan and I'm Joe Shortsley.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
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Speaker 1 (46:03):
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Speaker 2 (46:18):
And welcome back to the New England Business Report on
this Sunday morning, October the fifth. Well, we wanted to
talk about our local sports teams and all the dollars
that are circling around them these days. One, of course,
the Patriots made some news this week selling a piece
of their ownership.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
Let's bring in skip perm.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
He is, of course a professor of the business supports
there at Suffolk University and our go to guy for
questions like this, tell us what is it the Patriots did?
Speaker 4 (46:44):
Skip well?
Speaker 5 (46:44):
First off, Happy Sunday guys, always good to be with you.
The Patriots unloaded a small steak and eight percent steak
in the team. It's the first time they've done this
since they've purchased the team in nineteen ninety four, and
the valuation is is up over you know, nine billion
dollars there and the stake they sold was just hapne
(47:05):
hundred and twenty million, So this is the first time
I've done it. I don't think it's any sign that
they are moving away from the team. It could be
a sense where they're just sort of cashing in, because
remember they purchased the team in nineteen ninety four for
the small amount of one hundred and seventy five million.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
So you know, Bob Kraft and Jonathan were very clear,
we are not selling this team.
Speaker 5 (47:30):
This is not what this is.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
And you just said, maybe they're cashing in, but what
would of the reasons be for divesting a portion of
the ownership.
Speaker 5 (47:38):
Well, I mean to me, again, I've seen nothing in this.
This is just really me surmising they do have the
New England Revolution. They're trying to make an investment in
that team. They're building a new stadium or you know,
further along they ever have been in building a stadium
in Everett that's going to be a three to five
hundred million dollar project. It's probably more than that, as
(48:00):
we know, given these types of investments, could the money
be going used to defray the cost of that? I
could see that legitimate business purpose. And they're going to
have a brand new twenty thousand seat stadium in ever
Itt and that's going to house more than the Revolution.
So I certainly think they see that as a viable
investment in a way to grow the enterprise as a whole.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Talking with skipperm Business of Sports, certainly, our local team,
the Red Sox, I did a much better job this
past year putting a better team on the field, and
they got some some pretty strong results there.
Speaker 4 (48:39):
But I was more interested in that. I am interested
in that whole topic.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
But I also like the stat that you put together
skip having to do with the Rafael Devers trade and
take us through it, take us through the results since then.
Speaker 5 (48:52):
Yeah, well they were thirty seven and thirty six when
they made that trade. And there was a lot of
hemming and hoiring about that. I think that's the last
time we talked is right after that trade. Their best player,
their best hitter, their most expensive player, and a lot
of folks, whether it's you know, you're personally or on
sports radio or other areas for talking about a salary dump.
The team went fifty two and thirty seven post trade,
(49:16):
finished eighty nine to seventy three and made the playoffs.
They hadn't made the playoffs the previous two to three
years with Raffi, so it certainly seems like whether it
was auditioned through subtraction, they they invested in the young guys,
and the young guys or a younger group delivered in
terms of the postseason.
Speaker 4 (49:36):
Birth and what happened with the Giants.
Speaker 5 (49:38):
Yeah, the Giants, they finished eighty one and eighty one,
And I don't know what Raffi's stat lines were, but
immediately after the trade and the fifty one games that
came after, they were eighteen and thirty three, So they slumped,
and by no means like an indictment of the individual player.
I don't know that organization, but the Red Sox went
in one direction and Let's let's face it, there were
a lot of sort of peaks and valleys with the
(50:01):
Red Sox season, but the Giants, you know, just trended
down overall, the Red Sox trended up.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
You also gave us some stats about the Red Sox
this past season, and the fan base still a very
strong fan base, that's for sure, and as the team
did better and better throughout the course of the year,
I'm sure that fan base got even stronger. Again, give
us some stats that stuck out to you.
Speaker 5 (50:25):
Well, I think the first thing that jumps out at
me is their attendance, which you know, prior to this
year was about five thousand under capacity. They really cut
that in half this year. So if capacity is around
thirty nine thousand, then they averaged but thirty seven point
eight k per game, So that's that's a good number. Obviously,
(50:47):
every ticket you sell is more dollars, so they had
a great year there and brought in two point seven.
Just generally speaking, it sort of mixed when you look
at twenty twenty two, you know, through twenty twenty four,
and when you compare the Red Sox to the rest
of the league, the Red Sox are are more male
(51:07):
oriented sixty two percent versus fifty nine of the league.
They're also have an older fan base, you know, about
twenty percent of their fans a male sixty to sixty
four versus fifteen percent. So I don't think that necessarily
would surprise you given the demographics of New England. But
(51:27):
they're sort of mixed in terms of where they're trending
overall when you look at the business and the health of.
Speaker 11 (51:33):
It long term.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Yeah, and of course the television ratings also this season
were much much stronger. Now, I'm somebody who you know,
signed up for Nesson after they changed that whole format
there and basically you know, took me to the cleaners.
But I love, you know, watching the socks. So there's
nothing I can really do about it at this point.
But tell us about ratings for the Red Sox this
(51:55):
past season.
Speaker 5 (51:56):
Yeah, their ratings certainly did trend up for and look,
the key one of the key things here is they're
they're you know, sort of navigating the migration of consumers
to different platforms. Notably, they're at nest in three sixty
percentage and they did see a forty six percent year
(52:16):
over year increase for their nest In three sixty subscription,
So I have no idea what their base is. It
could be incredibly small. If you're paying for it already,
you're obviously not going to pay for nest In three
sixty on top of that, and I don't think you
have to. But they're seeing some growth there. And Major
League Baseball as a whole had a really good year
(52:38):
in terms of their numbers with national games. So there
are definitely things that the Red Sox of the league
have done in terms of speeding up the games. I
heard a stat yesterday and this isn't exact, the number
of games nine INNY games that went three and a
half hours this year was like four or five. Two
years ago it was like three hundred and fifty something. Wow,
(53:00):
Baseball definitely and I got that from a sports media guy,
so I know that number is not exact, but that's incredible.
Like the pace of play has certainly picked up. It's
a more appealing product. There's more action, it's faster, and
those are great. Clearly, whatever they've done and the rule changes, pitchclock,
all of it, that is working, not just for the
(53:21):
Red Sox but for everybody. And let's face it, Red
Sox Yankees playoff game would generally take four hours or more.
I don't know what stats are on the previous series,
but that's a good thing for all of us, because
four hours is a long time to spend doing anything.
Speaker 3 (53:39):
Yeah, that is so true. I know that we didn't
talk about this prior to you coming on, but I
think you know enough about New England sports that you
can address this. We are about to begin the Celtics
season with new ownership, and we thought that with grossback
(53:59):
would still be the governor. That is not the case.
We've seen some trades, we've seen some changes. What are
you sort of anticipating as we get ready to start
the Celtics season again.
Speaker 5 (54:11):
Well, I just was recently at a Celtics partnership summit
two weeks ago. There's lots of optimism there. The new owner,
Real Chisholm, was there speaking with Brad Stevens and with
the coach as well. So look, I think there's a
lot there's a lot of optimism there. Truthfully, clearly, they're
down a great player. I think, as Joe Missoula has said,
(54:35):
this is a year where he's not going to have
to manage a roster he's going to coach a roster
right because they're definitely younger and a little bit greener,
and I think he's excited about that prospect. Look, I
think this team could. I'm not going to tell you
they're going to make an NBA finals, but I think
they're in the mix, even with without Jason Tatum. I
just think they have good talent and they're well run.
(54:56):
And I don't know that anything's really going to change.
At least my sense is from talking to people that
from a business standpoint, things aren't going to change with
the team on or off the court.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
Yeah, but with that purchase price of six billion dollars,
I wonder what is that.
Speaker 5 (55:11):
Keep asking that, Joe. Yeah, that's the first thing I say. Look,
the mortgage is bigger. Take a million dollar house. That's
going to affect your your spending. Now, clearly I'm not
buying a six billion dollar house if I can't afford it.
But I don't believe any owner is in the business
of losing money. They might be chasing banners, as Wick
always said he did. But look, I'm sure there's a budget.
(55:32):
But everyone I talked to and I asked people directly
that people who work in the front office. Are you
guys under do you feel under more pressure to get
more out of sponsorships, to do this, to do that?
And the sense I get is it's business as usual.
The new owner did his due diligence. He knows the numbers,
(55:52):
so he's fully aware of what the what the ceiling
is and I guess what the floor is. So yeah,
feels good about it. And he keeps saying we're going
after championships.
Speaker 4 (56:03):
Right and twenty dollars hot dogs, you know, something like that.
Speaker 5 (56:07):
That's not unique to them anybody, right, So I don't know.
And look, we could have that conversation about cable prices
and content and that's not going down. But that's the
function of where these leagues are. That's a deeper discussion.
We should have it someday, but that's not changing.
Speaker 4 (56:24):
All right, we'll do He's Skipp Perham.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
He is, of course the professor of Business with Sports
there at Suffolk University. Thank you for joining us on
the New England Business Report.
Speaker 3 (56:34):
Well, Joe, that's going to do it for this edition
of the New England Business Reports. I'm glad everybody could
be with us on this October fifth. Let's take a
look at what's coming up next Sunday. It may only
be early October, but predictions for the upcoming holiday shopping
season are already out. We're going to take a look
at what could be a very interesting season for retailers
(56:55):
in the area that's coming up next Sunday at eight
am on the New Wing in Business Report right here
on the Voice of Boston w r K O A
M six a d
Speaker 7 (58:00):
M.
This is the New England Business Report with Joe Shortsleeve
and Kim Carrigan, a weekly roundup and discussion of the
top business news impacting our New England economy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
And good morning and welcome to the New England Business Support.
On this Sunday morning, October the fifth, Joe shorts of
here with Kim Carrigan and Kim, I guess you know this,
of course is the month of Halloween. And my first
question to you is a business question about Halloween. Have
you started the Halloween spend?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I have not. Of course I don't have small children
around me, so I don't right now. You know what
I'm pumped this weekend is my pumpkin Day. So today,
because it's like eighty degrees today, I'm going to have
a pumpkins and moms today.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well what about like hot what about stuff for the
yard decorations Halloween?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Do you do that?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I don't. I don't. If I had little ones when
my kids are little, I did. I don't anymore. Yeah,
I'm not so I'm not so Halloween is But have
you seen the price tag on Halloween elect billions of dollars?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Eric, It's just spent twelve billion bucks I mean, and Christmas,
I guess it's twenty five billion, but Halloween's number two
as twelve.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
And you know when you break.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
It down, Okay, so costumes almost four billion, candy three
and a half billion, yard decorations almost four billion.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, I'm not surprised
at all about the yard decorations because they're so elaborate. Now,
it's nothing like when my kids are little, our kids
are a little it was, you know, they put out
some spider webs those. I'm not surprised about it.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
All.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
The candy, I'm a little surprised about. But I do
think about a billion dollars of that is eating at
my house because I buy candy and then I hide it,
then my husband finds it and eats it. Then I
have to buy it again, you know, So it's uh,
you know, it's a little trick here.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
My favorite yard decoration is the witch into the tree.
You know, of course it is Joe.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I love that one.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
All right, Look, we're going to talk a little bit
about October and what folks are doing with their dollars
this October, and how about the Topsfield Fair. Yeah, we're
gonna go up there. We're gonna be talking with the
general manager of the Topsfield Fair. That would be one
Jim O'Brien, widely recognized as America's oldest county fair, founded
in eighteen eighteen.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Kim, and I'm sure you've taken that in quite a
few times that I have.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
And it's always a lot of fun. And you know
who doesn't love the fried food?
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I know, I know, I think all kinds of stuff.
I mean the pig racing, I mean, the pumpkin way off.
I mean, you know, it's just fun, all right, So
talk to Jim O'Brian about that. We're also going to
be talking with Don Seifert, to managing editor of the
Boston Business Journal, about headlines that they were pushing out
this week. One is an interesting headline, greenwashing is out.
(02:49):
Green hushing is the new corporate trend. Companies secretly pursue
climate goals despite public backtracking. I mean that's yeah, don't
talk about it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Tell anybody you're putting that in the recycling bin.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, it's going to talk a little bit of a
mass general. I guess, well, the DCU Center is going
to be I saw that as well, and the Mass
General is planning a new impatient tower. So a lot
going on in the first half of the program.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Second half we got just as much going on. Are
there houses for sale in your neighborhood?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, up.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, they're starting to pop up. And we've talked about this,
you know, for the last year and a half and
how there really was a lack of them. But whether
there's houses being put up for sale or not, there
is a segment of the population that is going to
start to feel some pressure to put their houses up
for sale, and that's empty nesters. You know, they are
not doing it for an abundance of reasons, not the
(03:47):
least of which is that they probably have their house.
Their mortgage is much lower rate than what they could
get if they sell and have to buy again, and
one another mortgage. But the problem is that, you know,
we have these young couples who need the these bigger
houses for families, and empty nesters aren't moving out. We're
going to talk to Boston Globe columnists Larry Edelman about
that issue and the kind of incentives that are being
(04:11):
suggested to try to get those empty nesters to get
out of their houses and the skip perm He's the
director of sports management at stuff A University, and he's
going to be our guest to talk all things the
business and sports. There is so much to talk about, Joe.
You know, we've been I've been smiling every time I
think about our Red Sox and how we thought at
the beginning of the season this was a team that
(04:31):
wasn't going to be able to do anything, and we
saw a lot of injuries and crazy trades, and then
they ended up being a team that you know, has
a lot to join fun.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, I mean, and the skip perm sent through a
pretty interesting stat He talked about the Red Sox trade
ha Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants in June
of twenty twenty five, and then the Red Sox post
trade record was fifty two and thirty seven the Giants.
The Giants had the wor first record in baseball something
(05:04):
like eighteen and thirty three since they took Devs on.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
But first, this morning, the leaves are changing, the temperatures
are dropping, and that means it's tops Field Fair time
festivities kicked off this past Friday. Enjoining us to talk
about the fair and its impact on the area is
the general manager, Jim O'Brien, Jim. Always great to have you.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
Thank you very much, very much. Enjoy talking with you.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Well, it's great to have you. So the oldest fair
in America, it is off and running. Talk to us
a little bit about the longevity of the fair. Started
in eighteen eighteen. I know it's moved its location since then.
But what do you think has has been so popular
and kept this fair going for such a long time.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
You know that the fair two hundred and seventy years old,
started right here in Topsfield and it was all about
educating farmers on the best way to grow things and
for families. It was always for the beginning it was
a cattle show, so that was part of the educational
component of it. But it was always about families, bringing
people together. So the community, and that's what's important. Community.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Jim, give us the big picture.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Okay, what's going on there at the Topsfield Fair in
these coming days.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
Well, you know the giant Pumpkin way off. We have
the Budweiser Clydesdales here this year until Monday. That's exciting.
For this weekend, we have the Morrisville Hitch. We have
farm hands swifty racing pigs which people always enjoy. The
middle of the week, we're going to have rodeo, so
there's a lot of fear and there's a lot to see.
(06:41):
This year, we got Frankie Avalon coming in, We've got
Sammy Kershaw coming in on Wednesday, and of course at
the end of it we finish it up with a
nice demolition derby and figure eight race.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Jim, this fair is so important to the local economy.
Talk a little bit about the impact that it has
on the local economy and why.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
You know it does. It's truly amazing the spin off
that comes from the fear. It's a lot more than
just them coming here and us all the people. We
hire three hundred people during the course of this week,
but it's about the hotels, the restaurants, everything around benefits
from the fear. It brings people to the area. Brings
(07:22):
over three or four hundred thousand people to this area.
Granted a few local and they go home, but a
lot of them come from other areas. We get information
all the time that people coming into the area. It's
very hard to get a hotel room this time of
the year because of the fear being here, and you
know yourself, there's a lot of hotels around this area,
so the fact that we're filling them all up is
(07:42):
a huge dynamic engine for the communities. The tax dollars
they get from meal taxes, the gas stations, everything. It
really gets quite elaborate when you actually stat thinking about
all the different things that the fair grounds touches that
we never had thought about years ago.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, well, Jim, do you have a real numbers for
some of those stats you're sharing with us there? I mean,
in terms of how many people will actually come through
the fair and what is the dollar amount at the
end of the day.
Speaker 6 (08:10):
You know, we're working with Salem State University to try
to lock those numbers down. You know, over the years,
I've heard of hundreds of millions of dollars that are
brought in. Part of that's because the tourist industry tracks that,
and we're trying to get a little bit more of
a solid number. But you know, again, everybody you talk to,
(08:32):
you know, people coming into the area. People are flying
in just to see the show. So I mean it's
really a regional event, not just a local event.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Well, it seems like it's just so well timed because
then you also have all the things that are going
on in Salem, and so it's an opportunity for people
to come and to do all of it, which is
really terrific. Where do all those dollars go, Jim?
Speaker 6 (08:55):
All the money that's raised by the Top Sophia goes
to our mission. We do scholarships. Last year we had
sixty scholarships we gave out, but trying to maintain our grounds,
and we donate back to the community in all kinds
of ways. Some are financials, some are with tickets submission
to the Fear. So all the money is generated by
(09:16):
the Top So Fear in any capacity goes back to
the Fear.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
We pay taxes to.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
The town or tops Field. We definitely you know there's
a lot of expenses to run in a show like this.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah, yeah, Now the Fair runs through the thirteenth of October.
Give us an idea of highlights for you. And what
is Jim O'Brien doing the whole time?
Speaker 6 (09:37):
You know, today I'm running around like when my hair
are on fire. But normally during the Fear, you know,
as we run multiple events. We have the Missus e
c pageant, We've got concerts and different things, so I
spend my time going around with that. I really my
favorite spot is to sit out in front of the
office here on the porch and see the families, you know,
(10:00):
because our client tele is those people. It's children and
families coming by. And I just really appreciate the fact
that they, you know, can come to the fair. They
pay for it admission, and they can spend all day here.
We have five stages that are going on all day long.
There's so much to see here. It's just great. And
(10:21):
if they want to go on the rides, they can.
They go on the rides and play the games, but
they don't have to. There's so much to see here.
It's the fear, you know, you almost want to come
back twice.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
And there's a lot of education that goes on. A
lot of school kids get an opportunity to come out
talk to us about that.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
Yeah, So we have a program here that right now,
I think the numbers over fourteen thousand students will be
coming through the fairgrounds Monday through Friday. We run educational
programming so that they get some exposure to our culture.
But they understand where chickens come from, where milk comes from.
You know, years ago we ran some surveys and talked
(10:57):
to kids, and I asked one of the kids said,
where's chocolate milk come from? It goes a supermarket, It doesn't, Jim.
It does come from the supermarket, but it comes from
a cow, you know, So it's important. But I was
talking with the Beat Apartment. They were saying that they've
(11:18):
inundated with entries this year, so we're hoping for a
really great year. The animals are coming in.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Talk to us about well, traffic because I remember when
I went there once, traffic was an issue. Didn't take
away from how lovely the fair was, but getting there
and getting out was a little bit of a challenge.
What do you do to make that easier on folks?
Speaker 6 (11:37):
You know, we have this elaborate plan to try to
move traffic. We've bought additional property so we have additional parking.
But this year, I am very glad to say the
upside of the drought is that we're parking right down
to the river, so that gives me an extra two
thousand parking spaces. We have over seven thousand parking spaces
on our property. We'll be running shuttles from Norso Community College.
(12:02):
We'll be running shuttles from our farm up the street.
We got a lot of pock in this year, and
I'm going to really hope and strive that we will
not have long lines on rout one.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
And Jim, I cannot talk about the fair without talking
about the food. How many vendors are you guys going
to have this year? And is there anything being offered
that's maybe new or really unique that you want to share?
Speaker 6 (12:25):
You know, we have over one hundred food vendors, and
we try to diversify them because everybody has different tastes.
Somebody wants to come in and get a candy apple,
somebody wants to come in and get a sausage. But
we have loads of other types of foods. We got
lobster rolls. I was when I came in just a
few minutes ago, there was vendor right out here setting up.
They have lobsteroles, We have sighted donuts, we have those
(12:48):
fried oreos.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
I mean, you can get.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
Almost any kind of food item you want here. But
we also have about one hundred and fifty to two
hundred dry goods vended. We have a building where people
come in and they off and you can buy all
those things that you thought you needed or didn't think
you needed. It's kind of fun, you know. But the
food pot we try to keep it to one hundred
vendors so that we don't inundate. It's a lot more
(13:12):
here than just the food.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I'm sorry, fried oreos. Can you walk me through that place, Jim.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Yeah, So they do fried oreos, they do fried twinkies.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
You know.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
These vendors get very creative on different types of food.
And the surprising pot is people enjoy them and love them.
I think people once a year break did diets and
they break did change their diet and come to the
fair and just eat whatever they'd like.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Why not, it's once a year, right, But those these
are very important times for those vendors, right because I
mean this is the time that they make their dollars.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Absolutely, and the vendors this year really suffered because we
had all that rain, with thirteen weeks of rain in
the beginning of the season. They move from FAA grounds
to FA round or festival to festivals, but they lost
this spring this year. So it has been very important.
And we're we're a big venue, We're one of the
last venues for the year for them. This is make
(14:13):
or break for those vendors.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Sure well listen. We wish you the best fare ever,
which is you know, tough to do because it's been
there since eighteen eighteen, but we hope this is the
best again. It runs through Columbus Day, October thirteenth. If
you can go to top Fieldfair dot org and get
your tickets. Jim, thanks so very much. Coming up, we'll
(14:36):
talk to the folks at the Boston Business Journle.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston WRKO six eighty. Joe and Kim
will be right.
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Speaker 3 (17:02):
Hi, everybody, I'm Kim Carrigan and.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
I'm Joe Shortslee. If you want to be part of
the New England Business Report, sponsorships are still available.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You can email us at Any Business Radio at gmail
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Speaker 2 (17:16):
That's Any Business Radio all one word at gmail dot
com and we'll get your business on the show too.
And welcome back to the New England Business Report on
this Sunday morning, October fifth. A lot of business headlines
(17:37):
in Boston and the region this past week or so.
We want to bring in the managing editor now of
the Boston Business Journal, one Don Seifert. Don joins us regularly. Don,
let's talk about some of those headlines. The one that
I guess that you enjoyed and spent a lot of
time researching, and it's a fascinating topic. This whole idea
of greenwashing is out. Green hushing is the new corporate trend.
(18:01):
You say, companies secretly pursuing climate goals despite public backtracking. Uh,
give us a big picture here, what's going on?
Speaker 10 (18:10):
Yeah, it's it's kind of you can kind of think
of green hushing as the opposite of greenwashing. You know,
green washing was the was a big trend a few
years ago. Companies used to get accused of it when
they you know, they talked a big game about you know,
being wanting to be sustainable and pursue climate goals, but
then they didn't do a whole lot. This is actually
(18:30):
the opposite and is kind of born of the political
era that we're in, you know, with the with you know,
President Trump is not a big fan of clean energy
and a lot of sustainability and wind energy. You know,
we've all we've all seen the steps here taken there
so companies have, you know, we we've we've reported on
companies actually backtracking on their climate goals. What what I
(18:52):
think was interesting is I talked to a couple of
key people like in the investment community who have said
that there's actually that you know, those same companies, many
of them are still pursuing those goals, but they are
you know, publicly saying that they're backtracking. And the reason,
I mean, it sounds kind of bizarre, but I mean
the reason is that you know that there's a lot
(19:13):
of reasons that that companies, you know, have have a
business intensive to pursue these goals. You know, one is
that the rest of the world is going towards the
more sustainable economy and more clean energy, and if the
US is not doing that, then we kind of get
left behind. And you know, there's plenty of local companies
that that are global that you know, they work around
(19:33):
the world. And also I think people realize that the
current political environment is not going to be around forever
and that it could well change a couple of years.
So just a really interesting phenomenon I think.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
So, uh, let me just ask you don how are
they conducting business and doing this without you know, making
it known. I said to Joe earlier, you know, are
they just sneaking into the.
Speaker 10 (19:56):
Cycling or I mean it's they're you know, they're I
think a lot of these companies they you know, they're
they're showing evidence sometimes like in their in their filings
that they are still you know, working on being doing
projects that would make them more more carbon neutral or
you know, but they're just not saying, you know, they're
not coming out and saying we're working towards being you know,
(20:18):
carbon neutral by twenty thirty five anymore. But you know,
I mean you can think of car companies in particular
car companies, uh, you know, a few years ago under Biden,
you know that a lot of them had made this commitment,
we're not going to be putting out carbon combustion engines
after twenty thirty five. It takes years to redo factories.
(20:40):
So the idea is that these car factories, that these
car companies are now not pursuing those goals seems you know,
very illogical and bad for their own business. So I
think that there's and that there's an assumption that these
companies are still working towards them, but they're just not
talking about it anymore.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
John, what's the example that you use in the article
about the State Street Corporation as it relates to green hushing, Well,
what's going on there?
Speaker 10 (21:05):
Yeah? Well, I mean State three was one of those
that they made a big deal over the last couple
of years, you know, starting in twenty twenty, twenty twenty one,
where they they've made a lot of big comments about
about ESG investing in particular. That's environmental, social, and governance
investing basically, you know, part of that, A big part
of that is investing in companies that are climate you know,
(21:28):
that are that are sustainable, that are making steps to
be sustainable. They they did, you know, they've they've definitely backtracked,
you know, they they withdrew from this from this group
called Climate Climate one hundred. I mean, so did Black
Rock and Fidelity.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
You know.
Speaker 10 (21:46):
So it's not like State three is the only one,
but but so, I mean State three they've they've very
clearly like backtracked on it. It's hard to tell what
they're doing under you know, like beyond that. But I mean,
you know, Trillium Investments is in the same building as them,
and you know, the CEO of Trillium Investments he suspects,
(22:10):
you know, strongly that that State Street is still you know,
looking you know, taking into effects, taking into account climate
goals when it's investing in companies, They're just not talking
about it like they used to.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Another article that was written in the Boston Business Journal
this past week, this one by Grant Welker, talks a
little bit about BioMed Realty and how they are suing
one of their lab tenants over in Cambridge. That lab
tenant is Smart Labs for two point seven million dollars
in back rent. This sounds like a weakness here that
(22:49):
is not good.
Speaker 10 (22:51):
Yes, I think that this goes along with the category
of biotech companies are not doing very well right now.
There's been a model way off there. Smart Lab is
kind of you can think of it as a we
work for biotech companies. They you know, they offer flexible
lab space and other support specific to drug developers, early
stage drug developers. So so you know, Smart Labs actually
(23:12):
began in Boston, you know, ten years ago. I think
they were originally called Boston Innovation Labs or something, but
they changed their name to Smart Labs. They're now in
Boston and also in San Francisco, but there, you know,
we we have tried to contact Smart Labs. They we
haven't heard from them yet, but there are several instances
(23:32):
of problems. BioMed Realty is one of the biggest landlords
of biotech space in the Boston area as well as
in California, and they are suing. They actually suit them
not only here in Boston for that lab space, but
also in California. So there's now a couple of different lawsuits,
you know, saying that they haven't paid their rent. In
(23:53):
addition to that, we found out recently that Smart Labs,
they had said that they're going to be taking over
a the third floor of Cambridge Side in Kendall Square,
they are now not doing that. We reported that, you know, earlier,
and uh so a lot of a lot of potential
issues with smart Lab, probably related just to the to
(24:14):
the how how badly biotech is doing in general.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Talking with Don Seiffert, Managing enter of the Boston Business
Journal about the business headlines this week and this one,
you know, I went to holy Cross, Don, so pretty
familiar with the d CU center. Of course it was
the Worcester Central, I think when I I knew it.
But it's no longer going to be the d CU center.
What's happening here?
Speaker 10 (24:34):
No, I mean d c U is not going to
be DCU anymore. Just this past week they they they
got federal approval for a big merger with a California
company and they are going to be changing their name,
you know, I mean d c U is for Digital
Credit Union and that's you know, only only people of
(24:55):
a certain age and older. Even though what Digital is
obviously that was the big theater company in the sixties
right around Boston that kind of invented mainframe computers. So
this credit union builds up around there, and it's been
you know, it is now by far the biggest in
the state and one of the biggest in the nations.
They are merging with another company, First Tech Center, is
(25:20):
what it's called, another big credit union, and they're going
to actually form the sixth largest credit union in the nation.
But as part of that, they are going to change
their names. And you know, probably very few people remember
or associate anything with a digital at this point, so
they're going to change it to something probably a little
bit more modern. As a result, the DCU Center is
(25:42):
going to change its name.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Well, you have here that it's going to be the
first tech Center.
Speaker 10 (25:46):
You're right, it's going to be the first tech center
as opposed to Digital Credit.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, and you're right, that's more modern. That sounds more
modern for sure. But I have a question for you.
Did you guys get any reaction from the folks who
live over there in the Worcester area, because I mean,
they've been calling it the DCU Center for a long time.
Speaker 10 (26:02):
Yeah, No, we haven't heard yet, but we will. I mean,
we're putting out calls to try to see if anybody
is upset about that. But I would think stadiums and
big centers changing often, not fairly often, but every once
in a while, and people always have to just get
used to it. But yeah, i'd be interesting to hear
if Worster people kind of are upset about the loss
(26:24):
of the DCU Center.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah, and don quickly here what about thirty seconds left here?
Mass General Brigham plans a new inpatient tower.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Tell us about this.
Speaker 10 (26:33):
Yes, this is going to be a giant tower in
Longwood that's going to be I think over five hundred
hospital beds. It sounds like it has a potentially one
of the biggest hospital projects in recent years. We don't
have many details about it at all. Basically, what happened
this past week is that the Mass General Brigham board
(26:54):
voted in favor of pursuing this. They still need to
get a lot of approvals to do it, and obviously
they need to put forward a plan of exactly what
this is going to be. So we don't know the cost.
We just know about how big it's going to be.
But you know, we are we are trying to find
you estimates of what the cost could be because we
kind of suspect that it may be pretty pricey.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yeah, I would guess so. All right, he's Downsidhered. He's
the manager to go to of the Boston Business Journal.
I appreciate you joining us on the New England Business Support.
Up next, we're going to talk about your local Starbucks
and why it may have closed.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Kim and Joe will explore more business news that impacts
our New England economy when they return.
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Speaker 8 (28:38):
Are you a brother or sister of one of Greater
Boston's local trade unions and finally thinking about getting ready
to hang up your tools after thirty five years of
working your tailoff? Congratulations, you worked hard to build your
retirement nest egg. But now what? Let me help you
break through the nonsense and financial speak so we can
get to the questions that are important to you. As
you know, nothing gets built without a set of plans,
(29:00):
and neither will you a financial future. My name is
Mike Marshall, President and CEO of Marshall Wealth Management and
creator of the Marshall Plan, a comprehensive customized plan that
will help you answer important questions in all seven key areas.
You don't have to do it alone. There is no
cost or obligation. Call us at eight five seven three
four two ten thirty. That's eight five seven three four
(29:22):
two ten thirty. Well check us out online at Marshallwealth
dot Com, Marshall with two els Marshallwealth dot Com.
Speaker 9 (29:29):
Advisory services offered through Capital Analysts or Lincoln Investment Registered
Investment Advisors. Securities offered through Lincoln Investment Broker Dealer Member Finra, SIPC,
Lincoln Investment dot Com, Marshall Wealth Management and the above
firms are independent and not affiliated.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Welcome back everybody to the New England Business Report. It's
so good to have you with us this morning. I'm
Kim Kerra. Get along with Joe short Sleeve coming up
at this half hour. Empty nesters. They need a little
enticing Joe to get out of their homes apparently, and maybe, yeah,
maybe tax and satives are exactly what they need. We're
going to be talking to Boston Globe columnists Larry Edelman
(30:04):
about that coming up in a second.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, I sold the house a couple I sold the
house a couple of years ago, and I went through
this Capitol Gain stuff and it has not been changed
since the late nineties, so you know it would help.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yeah, absolutely, that's so true. And we do need them
out because we got a shortage of homes for some
of these young folks. Let's take a look at some
of the other headlines though that maybe you missed this week.
The first one that I thought was really cool and
I happened to actually stumble upon it. I was downtown
a TD garden celebrating thirty years after it reopened on
(30:36):
September thirtieth, nineteen ninety five, so all remodeled and spiffed up.
It feels like I was, you know, here in Boston.
You certainly were here.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
That certainly was.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
I mean, well, I mean you're a guy from here originally,
that's what I need. Okay, fine, we're only thirty. I
remember you were just thirty when this house. But anyway,
so to mark the milestone, which is pretty cool, they've
had all kinds of pop up parties down there there.
I just happened to be down there on the thirtieth
(31:08):
and some of the Bruins players were there and people
were just going nuts everywhere. But it's a really cool thing.
They have a bunch of things planned for the next
year to celebrate thirty years of this Boston garden that
we know.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
You're right, well, it was the guardenmember. Remember when was
the Fleet Center? Yeah, I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
When when I first got here, WGBH launching a three year,
two hundred and twenty five million dollars Fund the Future campaign.
They're going to go after some of their biggest donors.
They're going to go after people who they have never
spoken to before. They're hoping that some programming, some new programming,
is going to help them to bring in these dollars.
(31:49):
All of this after, of course, a lot of federal
funding being cut for all these independent stations like this.
So it's going to be interesting and probably you'll be contacted.
We'll all be contacted saving WGBH.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah, well, Kim, I was thinking about you in this headline,
this Globe headline story written by Janelle Nanos, this is
why your local Starbucks just closed. From weak demand to
rising costs to the death of the third place, the
coffee giant is facing a wave of challenges. I guess
(32:22):
you probably know this as well. Across Greater Boston, according
to the Globe story, consumers have been forced to change
up their coffee routines this week after Starbucks and Hose
was closing nineteen nineteen local shops, a shuddering of four
hundred stores across the United States and Canada, part of
a larger billion dollar restructuring effort. But it's interesting when
(32:44):
you read a little bit into this and why and
what happened here, and they talked a little bit about
and I'll be interested with what you think about this.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
They say that all these.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Digital tools that came about during COVID and a whole
bit actually hurt Starbucks because it is no longer personalized
and it was Kim's name or Joe's name wasn't written
necessarily written on the coffee companymore.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
I mean, do you buy that?
Speaker 5 (33:09):
Well?
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I do buy it.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
I think all of us are looking for the digital,
easier way out in many cases. And so I also
think that Starbucks and some of these others are really
getting hit with the local, interesting little coffee shops. A
lot of people really like to go into a little cute,
local shop and.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
I can spend seven bucks on a cup of coffee.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
There, you have it exactly.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Joe housing is a major issue in the New England area,
between the cost and the lack of inventory. Many believe
that they impact on the economy is really dramatic and
if something isn't done, we're going to continue to see
that drama in our economy. Interest rates have certainly had
an impact, but one of the big problems apparently is
that empty nesters don't want to sell. You know, they
(34:01):
don't know where they're going to go. Number One, they
if they have to have another mortgage, they don't want
higher interest rates, so they need some incentive. And then
of course there's also that whole capital gains issue. Joining
us to talk a little bit more about this is
Boston Global columnist Larry Edelman. He recently wrote an article
about this the title we need to nudge empty nesters
(34:24):
out of their nest. We could do it by cutting
taxes on home sales. Larry, great to have you along.
Speaker 11 (34:30):
Hey, it's great to be here.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Let's just talk about your research for this. Give us
some ideas about some of the things that you found.
Speaker 11 (34:38):
Well, look, there's a lot of reasons that people are
holding onto their houses long after they don't need two thousand,
three thousand, four thousand square feet. As you mentioned, One
of them is just where they're going to go. Prices
is so high, and interest rates are still high, stilled
above six percent. But another one is that a lot
of people have huge equity built up in those homes.
(35:02):
If they've been in there twenty years or thirty years,
and that could really lead to a big tax bill
when they sell. Currently, there's an exclusion you can put,
you can set you can exclude two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars for an individual and five hundred thousand dollars
for a couple on the capital gains tax. However, you
(35:27):
know people have gains that are even much larger than that.
So there are proposals out there, both in the House
and in the Senate, and even President Trump has floted
the idea of either eliminating the capital gains tax on
primary home sales or doubling that exclusion, making it higher.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Talking about Larry Edelman, Yeah, Globe Financial columnst there, Larry,
it's a really good point. I mean, I sold a
home a couple of years ago and I sit there.
Won't They haven't changed these numbers is two fifty and
five hundred since nineteen ninety seven. You'd think that the
very least would be tied to inflation or are some
sort of upward instrument instrument there, But so tell us
(36:10):
what's going on to change it. It looks like there
might be bipartisan efforts.
Speaker 11 (36:13):
Yeah, there are there's there's you know, a proposal in
the House, as I said, and in the Senate. They
really haven't gotten anywhere right now, but maybe that'll change
because it has popped up on President Trump's radar, and
you know sometimes when he takes an interest in something,
it gets to be momentum behind it. So we'll see,
(36:35):
you know, it's it's it's an issue, and you know,
there's only so much that the federal government can do
to help the housing market because you know, to paraphrase
Tip O'Neil, you know, all real estate is local and
the but one of the things that the Feds could
do is change this tax treatment. So I think it
(36:58):
might get a little.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
More Larry, is it an overstatement to say that this
is one of the biggest issues impacting our economy in
this certainly in the state of Massachusetts, where housing is
so high and at such you know, such a low inventory.
Speaker 11 (37:15):
Absolutely, just overall, the housing market is a real a
real problems. It's especially acute in the Boston area in
Massachusetts because of how the high housing costs, in the
fact that we don't have as much land for building,
and we have a lot of local restrictions on building
and that really is keeping people, keeping companies, for example,
(37:39):
from expanding, because it's hard to get people to move
to move here, you know, when they're facing these huge
home sales. You know, if you get a job in Boston,
you know, how close can you get to a neighborhood
where you could buy a house? You know, you end
up in Rhode Island up in an hour and a half.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
You know, it's so true, It's so true.
Speaker 5 (38:03):
Larry.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
You also cover the Fed, and obviously we saw the
Fed cut rates back quarter of a point, but in
some circles it seemed like Wall Street was a little
bit disappointed in the forecast for further cuts.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
You know, bring us up to speed. Where are we
on interest rates and cuts going forward?
Speaker 11 (38:23):
Well, I think the general expectation is that the Fed
will cut at least one more time this year, maybe
maybe twice. It really depends on what they see in
upcoming data on the jobs market and inflation. Now it's
going to get a little complicated because if the government shutdown,
(38:45):
the jobs report probably won't come out on Friday is scheduled,
So there may be a little bit of a blind
spot for the Fed there. You know, the same for
the CPI report that's due out in the middle of
the month. So there's a little concern that the FED
might grow hesitant to act without having those reports. But
we'll have to see. But the real question comes not
(39:09):
so much this year but next year, and the debate
is really what's the appropriate level for interest rates? Right now,
it's around four percent. Some people think that that is appropriate.
Some people meant by some people, I mean members of
the FED Policy Setting Committee, but others, notably Steve Malan,
(39:30):
who has just joined the board he's a Trump appointee,
thinks it should be much lower, more like three percent.
And as we've seen, the President has been pushing very
hard to get the FED to move more quickly, and
they've been very cautious because they don't want to get
caught with inflation spiking due to tariffs. Another twist in
(39:54):
this is the is the fight over Lisa Cook, who
to Trump, is trying to force off board. He's alleged
that she committed mortgage fraud by listing two separate houses
as her primary residents and mortgage applications. But the Supreme
Court just yesterday said that that dismissal will have to
(40:15):
wait until the case is litigated, and it's not going
to hear it until early next year. And one final
twist is that Jerome Powell is his term as the
chairman is slated to end in May, and Trump will
get to a point a new chair and that person
will undoubtedly want to see interest rates fall faster than
(40:38):
Powell has been.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
Willing to go.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Larry, because you follow this so closely, let me ask
you this. Were you surprised when j Powell said last
month that he anticipated this inflation will stay with us
until twenty twenty eight?
Speaker 5 (40:53):
You know?
Speaker 11 (40:54):
It's yeah, it seems like it's taken forever, huh to
get that right back down to two percent, which is
which is his defensive target. He did say that, but
at the same time in a bit of good news,
and we all could use a little We can all
use some good news these days, right. His current thinking
and that of most of the people on the board,
(41:15):
is that tariffs, the impact of tariffs will be kind
of one time, meaning that yes, as the tariff hits,
you know, companies will raise their prices, but it won't
lead to a cycle of ever rising prices. Instead just
kind of like a one time markup. And that If
(41:36):
that proves to be true, it will give the said
more leeway to cut raids.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Larry, you also cover the job market here in Massachusetts.
You have a recent headline on the globe there mass
job market remains stuck in low gear. I'm curious as
to how much of you think that has to do
with AI and companies now not needing all those starting positions.
Speaker 11 (42:00):
I think it's on the margins at best, Joe. You know,
companies are just starting to figure out how to do
to do AI and how to make it, how to
make it work. At the same time, they may be
putting off hiring until things sort themselves out, both on
the AI front as it becomes clearer exactly what they
(42:23):
can and cannot do and who they could replace, or
what functions they could replace and what they can't. And
at the same time, I think the companies are also
on hold just given the economic uncertainty that we're seeing.
You know, how far is the job market going to fall?
You know, what's going to happen to GDP, what's the
impact of Tariff's going to be? You know, what's the
(42:45):
government shutdown now going to mean. You know, there's so
much uncertain in the air that I think that more
than just AI itself is the reason behind job growth
here is all but stalled.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
Yeah, when we look at twenty twenty five, I think
certainty will be one of those words that was a
buzzword for the entire year. Larry Edelman, thank you so much.
Appreciate your time this morning and your insight still come
in your way, folks. The business of sports, there's plenty
of it here in New England. This is the New
England Business Report.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston w RKO six eighty. Joe and
Kim will be right.
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Speaker 8 (44:31):
Are you a brother or sister of one of Greater
Boston's local trade unions and finally thinking about getting ready
to hang up your tools after thirty five years of
working your tailoff? Congratulations, you worked hard to build your
retirement nest egg. But now what? Let me help you
break through the nonsense and financial speak so we can
get to the questions that are important to you. As
you know, nothing gets built without a set of plans,
(44:52):
and neither will your financial future. My name is Mike Marshall,
President and CEO of Marshall Wealth Management and creator of
the Mars Show Plan, a comprehensive customized plan that will
help you answer important questions in all seven key areas.
You don't have to do it alone. There is no
cost or obligation. Call us at eight five seven three
four two ten thirty. That's eight five seven three four
(45:15):
two ten thirty. Well check us out online at Marshalwealth
dot com. Marshall with two L's Marshallwealth dot Com.
Speaker 9 (45:22):
Advisory services offered through Capital Analysts or Lincoln Investment Registered
Investment Advisors. Securities offered through Linkeln Investment Broker Dealer Member Finra, SIPC,
Lincoln Investment dot Com, Marshal Wealth Management and the above
firms are independent and not affiliated.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
Hi everybody, I'm Kim Kerrigan and I'm Joe Shortsley.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
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Speaker 1 (46:03):
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Speaker 2 (46:18):
And welcome back to the New England Business Report on
this Sunday morning, October the fifth. Well, we wanted to
talk about our local sports teams and all the dollars
that are circling around them these days. One, of course,
the Patriots made some news this week selling a piece
of their ownership.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
Let's bring in skip perm.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
He is, of course a professor of the business supports
there at Suffolk University and our go to guy for
questions like this, tell us what is it the Patriots did?
Speaker 4 (46:44):
Skip well?
Speaker 5 (46:44):
First off, Happy Sunday guys, always good to be with you.
The Patriots unloaded a small steak and eight percent steak
in the team. It's the first time they've done this
since they've purchased the team in nineteen ninety four, and
the valuation is is up over you know, nine billion
dollars there and the stake they sold was just hapne
(47:05):
hundred and twenty million, So this is the first time
I've done it. I don't think it's any sign that
they are moving away from the team. It could be
a sense where they're just sort of cashing in, because
remember they purchased the team in nineteen ninety four for
the small amount of one hundred and seventy five million.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
So you know, Bob Kraft and Jonathan were very clear,
we are not selling this team.
Speaker 5 (47:30):
This is not what this is.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
And you just said, maybe they're cashing in, but what
would of the reasons be for divesting a portion of
the ownership.
Speaker 5 (47:38):
Well, I mean to me, again, I've seen nothing in this.
This is just really me surmising they do have the
New England Revolution. They're trying to make an investment in
that team. They're building a new stadium or you know,
further along they ever have been in building a stadium
in Everett that's going to be a three to five
hundred million dollar project. It's probably more than that, as
(48:00):
we know, given these types of investments, could the money
be going used to defray the cost of that? I
could see that legitimate business purpose. And they're going to
have a brand new twenty thousand seat stadium in ever
Itt and that's going to house more than the Revolution.
So I certainly think they see that as a viable
investment in a way to grow the enterprise as a whole.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Talking with skipperm Business of Sports, certainly, our local team,
the Red Sox, I did a much better job this
past year putting a better team on the field, and
they got some some pretty strong results there.
Speaker 4 (48:39):
But I was more interested in that. I am interested
in that whole topic.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
But I also like the stat that you put together
skip having to do with the Rafael Devers trade and
take us through it, take us through the results since then.
Speaker 5 (48:52):
Yeah, well they were thirty seven and thirty six when
they made that trade. And there was a lot of
hemming and hoiring about that. I think that's the last
time we talked is right after that trade. Their best player,
their best hitter, their most expensive player, and a lot
of folks, whether it's you know, you're personally or on
sports radio or other areas for talking about a salary dump.
The team went fifty two and thirty seven post trade,
(49:16):
finished eighty nine to seventy three and made the playoffs.
They hadn't made the playoffs the previous two to three
years with Raffi, so it certainly seems like whether it
was auditioned through subtraction, they they invested in the young guys,
and the young guys or a younger group delivered in
terms of the postseason.
Speaker 4 (49:36):
Birth and what happened with the Giants.
Speaker 5 (49:38):
Yeah, the Giants, they finished eighty one and eighty one,
And I don't know what Raffi's stat lines were, but
immediately after the trade and the fifty one games that
came after, they were eighteen and thirty three, So they slumped,
and by no means like an indictment of the individual player.
I don't know that organization, but the Red Sox went
in one direction and Let's let's face it, there were
a lot of sort of peaks and valleys with the
(50:01):
Red Sox season, but the Giants, you know, just trended
down overall, the Red Sox trended up.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
You also gave us some stats about the Red Sox
this past season, and the fan base still a very
strong fan base, that's for sure, and as the team
did better and better throughout the course of the year,
I'm sure that fan base got even stronger. Again, give
us some stats that stuck out to you.
Speaker 5 (50:25):
Well, I think the first thing that jumps out at
me is their attendance, which you know, prior to this
year was about five thousand under capacity. They really cut
that in half this year. So if capacity is around
thirty nine thousand, then they averaged but thirty seven point
eight k per game, So that's that's a good number. Obviously,
(50:47):
every ticket you sell is more dollars, so they had
a great year there and brought in two point seven.
Just generally speaking, it sort of mixed when you look
at twenty twenty two, you know, through twenty twenty four,
and when you compare the Red Sox to the rest
of the league, the Red Sox are are more male
(51:07):
oriented sixty two percent versus fifty nine of the league.
They're also have an older fan base, you know, about
twenty percent of their fans a male sixty to sixty
four versus fifteen percent. So I don't think that necessarily
would surprise you given the demographics of New England. But
(51:27):
they're sort of mixed in terms of where they're trending
overall when you look at the business and the health of.
Speaker 11 (51:33):
It long term.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Yeah, and of course the television ratings also this season
were much much stronger. Now, I'm somebody who you know,
signed up for Nesson after they changed that whole format
there and basically you know, took me to the cleaners.
But I love, you know, watching the socks. So there's
nothing I can really do about it at this point.
But tell us about ratings for the Red Sox this
(51:55):
past season.
Speaker 5 (51:56):
Yeah, their ratings certainly did trend up for and look,
the key one of the key things here is they're
they're you know, sort of navigating the migration of consumers
to different platforms. Notably, they're at nest in three sixty
percentage and they did see a forty six percent year
(52:16):
over year increase for their nest In three sixty subscription,
So I have no idea what their base is. It
could be incredibly small. If you're paying for it already,
you're obviously not going to pay for nest In three
sixty on top of that, and I don't think you
have to. But they're seeing some growth there. And Major
League Baseball as a whole had a really good year
(52:38):
in terms of their numbers with national games. So there
are definitely things that the Red Sox of the league
have done in terms of speeding up the games. I
heard a stat yesterday and this isn't exact, the number
of games nine INNY games that went three and a
half hours this year was like four or five. Two
years ago it was like three hundred and fifty something. Wow,
(53:00):
Baseball definitely and I got that from a sports media guy,
so I know that number is not exact, but that's incredible.
Like the pace of play has certainly picked up. It's
a more appealing product. There's more action, it's faster, and
those are great. Clearly, whatever they've done and the rule changes, pitchclock,
all of it, that is working, not just for the
(53:21):
Red Sox but for everybody. And let's face it, Red
Sox Yankees playoff game would generally take four hours or more.
I don't know what stats are on the previous series,
but that's a good thing for all of us, because
four hours is a long time to spend doing anything.
Speaker 3 (53:39):
Yeah, that is so true. I know that we didn't
talk about this prior to you coming on, but I
think you know enough about New England sports that you
can address this. We are about to begin the Celtics
season with new ownership, and we thought that with grossback
(53:59):
would still be the governor. That is not the case.
We've seen some trades, we've seen some changes. What are
you sort of anticipating as we get ready to start
the Celtics season again.
Speaker 5 (54:11):
Well, I just was recently at a Celtics partnership summit
two weeks ago. There's lots of optimism there. The new owner,
Real Chisholm, was there speaking with Brad Stevens and with
the coach as well. So look, I think there's a
lot there's a lot of optimism there. Truthfully, clearly, they're
down a great player. I think, as Joe Missoula has said,
(54:35):
this is a year where he's not going to have
to manage a roster he's going to coach a roster
right because they're definitely younger and a little bit greener,
and I think he's excited about that prospect. Look, I
think this team could. I'm not going to tell you
they're going to make an NBA finals, but I think
they're in the mix, even with without Jason Tatum. I
just think they have good talent and they're well run.
(54:56):
And I don't know that anything's really going to change.
At least my sense is from talking to people that
from a business standpoint, things aren't going to change with
the team on or off the court.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
Yeah, but with that purchase price of six billion dollars,
I wonder what is that.
Speaker 5 (55:11):
Keep asking that, Joe. Yeah, that's the first thing I say. Look,
the mortgage is bigger. Take a million dollar house. That's
going to affect your your spending. Now, clearly I'm not
buying a six billion dollar house if I can't afford it.
But I don't believe any owner is in the business
of losing money. They might be chasing banners, as Wick
always said he did. But look, I'm sure there's a budget.
(55:32):
But everyone I talked to and I asked people directly
that people who work in the front office. Are you
guys under do you feel under more pressure to get
more out of sponsorships, to do this, to do that?
And the sense I get is it's business as usual.
The new owner did his due diligence. He knows the numbers,
(55:52):
so he's fully aware of what the what the ceiling
is and I guess what the floor is. So yeah,
feels good about it. And he keeps saying we're going
after championships.
Speaker 4 (56:03):
Right and twenty dollars hot dogs, you know, something like that.
Speaker 5 (56:07):
That's not unique to them anybody, right, So I don't know.
And look, we could have that conversation about cable prices
and content and that's not going down. But that's the
function of where these leagues are. That's a deeper discussion.
We should have it someday, but that's not changing.
Speaker 4 (56:24):
All right, we'll do He's Skipp Perham.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
He is, of course the professor of Business with Sports
there at Suffolk University. Thank you for joining us on
the New England Business Report.
Speaker 3 (56:34):
Well, Joe, that's going to do it for this edition
of the New England Business Reports. I'm glad everybody could
be with us on this October fifth. Let's take a
look at what's coming up next Sunday. It may only
be early October, but predictions for the upcoming holiday shopping
season are already out. We're going to take a look
at what could be a very interesting season for retailers
(56:55):
in the area that's coming up next Sunday at eight
am on the New Wing in Business Report right here
on the Voice of Boston w r K O A
M six a d
Speaker 7 (58:00):
M.
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