WORCESTER, Mass. - Peter Freund, CEO of Diamond Baseball Holdings, visited Polar Park Wednesday after his organization became the new majority owners of the Worcester Red Sox last week.

"We have a lot to learn from the WooSox," Freund said. "They do a lot of things really well. We look to take all the best practices that they have here and put them across the country - whether it's in St. Paul, Minnesota or Memphis, Tennessee, or wherever else we operate."

What You Need To Know

  • Diamond Baseball Holdings became the majority owner of the Worcester Red Sox earlier this month

  • DBH CEO Peter Freund was in Worcester Wednesday visiting Polar Park

  • Freund said everyday operations will see little to no changes under the new ownership

  • He said Worcester was the team they had at their top of the list when they founded DBH

Freund said his first trip to Polar Park was two years ago. Since Diamond Baseball Holdings' creation in 2021, the WooSox was the team they wanted most.

"This was a team we targeted from a management team, from a stadium, from a facility, from a market, from the Red Sox affiliation," Freund said. "We were just really excited to buy this team."

Diamond acquired the team earlier this month, becoming the new majority owner of the club. Ralph Crowley, Larry Lucchino and Jim Skeffington, Jr. will retain their shares in the team. 

When it comes to changes, Freund said they'll be minuscule, if any.

"We really understand that this is a hyper-local business, and we operate locally," Freund said. "The things that we're going to do to impact, whether it's the bottom line or the top line, are really going to be done on a national scale. But everything that happens here at the ballpark is going to be local."

Freund and his partners at DBH now own 29 minor league baseball teams, including Worcester. He describes minor league baseball as a center of energy.

"We just think we have an opportunity to impact each of those communities, its accessibility, its affordability," Freund said. "Worcester is a great example of what you can do in a community, and how it can help revitalize a community and energize a community."

Their ultimate goal is to ensure the prosperity of minor league baseball for future generations.

"We eat, sleep, and drink minor league baseball," Freund said. "So yes, we wake up every day and we think about how do we have the best fan experience, how do we have the best player experience for our major league partners, and to really strengthen minor league baseball across the country."