More Massachusetts sports-adjacent news you won’t see on ESPN
The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism isn’t exactly known for sports coverage. Since our inception nearly a decade ago, we have been much more focused on less joyous subjects, like prison and pollution.
At the same time, we have done some truly interesting features that you might say are at least sports culture-adjacent. Some that come to mind include our coverage of the Somerville turf field wars, youth and women’s sports, surveillance at the Boston Marathon, Fenway Park’s cash-only impunity, and the local tradition of amateur boxing. Earlier this year, we also collaborated with documentary writer and author Bijan Bayne on a historical look at race and the Red Sox.
And this week, we published a feature that involves one of the great pro sports heroes of modern time, plus is squarely in line with a realm of reporting we frequently work in—state contracts. Specifically, we looked into a Massachusetts Department of Transportation announcement that it is seeking a no-bid contract with an electric vehicle charger company tied to David Ortiz. Here’s more from ace muckraker Dan Atkinson:
Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz has earned nearly $160 million in his Hall of Fame career. Now a philanthropist, multi-product influencer, and entrepreneur, he’s still bolstering his riches, including with a new Florida-based company that is poised to receive north of $1 million in business over two years from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation through a no-bid contract for mobile electrical vehicle (EV) chargers.
If approved, the procurement will circumvent standard procedures through what one watchdog called a “murky” process that doesn’t explain if Big Papi is offering taxpayers the best deal.
“There may be reasons in certain circumstances to do a no-bid or sole-source contract,” said Shahrzad Habibi, the research and policy director for the watchdog group In the Public Interest. “What’s unclear is why they are doing it in this case and what the rationale [is]. What are the criteria they are grading on?
“Those things are typically spelled out in a [Request for Proposals], and there’s no RFP.”
It’s not the first time we have looked at contracts secured by sports honchos. In the thick of the pandemic in 2020, BINJ reported on how New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his son Jonathan sold millions of dollars worth of PPE to the state under relaxed bidding requirements.
That scoop, also excavated by Dan Atkinson, was ignored by not only the local sports press, but by their colleagues at news desks across the region as well. We’re not sure how far this look at Big Papi’s power will travel, but the reporting process gave us a new interest in state and federal funding of EV infrastructure, so we are still investigating.
Read “The Power of Big Papi” here.
