Throughout the bidding process, which started last fall whenteam CEO John Harrington announced that the Jean R. Hawkey Trustwould sell its 53% stake in the team, it was clear that it would bethe new owners who would decide whether and where the Red Sox wouldbuild a new ballpark. While each of the seven bidders for the teamhad its own plans on where to locate the Sox, the John Henry grouphave made it clear that if they won they would renovate FenwayPark.

The Red Sox had previously rejected the idea of renovatingFenway Park and had lobbied the state to relocate the ballpark.Last year the state approved a $100-million infrastructureimprovement package for the Fenway area. A number of localpoliticians, including city Mayor Thomas M. Menino had supported a$665 million plan to relocate Fenway Park right next to its oldsite but that plan has been facing difficulties as negotiationswith local landowners have stalled.

Frank McCourt, who had been one of the bidders till he droppedout last week, had waged an aggressive campaign to build a newballpark for the Sox on his swath of parking lots here in SouthBoston near the waterfront. Charlie Kenney, his spokesperson, tellsGlobeSt.com that that plan has been abandoned. "The Henry grouppredicated their proposal on the renovation of Fenway," he says. "Iassume they'll do that and we'll go in another direction."