Rays to get NEW STADIUM!!!

[Triple B]

As for Steinbrenner, he oppossed the team in 1995, when he made plans and a deal with Hillsborough to move the Yankee's day to day operations as well as their spring training to Tampa.

Again, what would he be scared of?

[JoeB]

15000 empty seats looks alot better than 30000 empty seats.

35,000 seats is plenty for the Devil Rays.

[Joe]

I don't think he's scared. He just knows he has a nice hold on the Tampa market. Look at it he has a float at Gasparilla, he gets places like Malios to put up signs welcoming the Yanks when they come to town to play the Rays, he sponsors several events under the Yanks name.

[Triple B]

I don't think he's scared. He just knows he has a nice hold on the Tampa market. Look at it he has a float at Gasparilla, he gets places like Malios to put up signs welcoming the Yanks when they come to town to play the Rays, he sponsors several events under the Yanks name.

I think the Rays will be fine with the move to downtown St Pete but if they moved to Tampa it would have a negligible effect on the Yankees .... if the movers and shakers in Tampa thought that the economic impact of getting the Rays over here was significant enough, I seriously doubt that George has that much clout to stop a serious attempt to get them over here.

[crambone]

Are they gonna jack up the taxes, a la Glazers/RayJay?

[SixtySix]

i think less is more.. the pirates optioned for a smaller, more intimate stadium and PNC is freaking awesome.  same with the giants stadium..

my only issue is it being in St. Pete again.. i am from plant city, so they are isolating fan bases east of Tampa.  if it were in tampa, at least St. Pete residents are used to driving to tampa for athletic events (bucs, bulls, lightning, etc).

i'd love for a stadium to be in Ybor and made to look like a historic cigar factory.  that way, you can take that **** trolley that loses money on an annual basis and you can pregame at one of the many bars on 7th avenue.  logistically, the parking would be a nightmare.

I figured at least 40,000 seats would be in the new stadium.

Yeah sure, they are isolating the fan base east of Tampa, but if they moved it to Tampa they would isolate all the fans west of St. Pete.

I thought they were trying to market to Orlando, that would be much easier if 45min were taken off the trip (and it's going to be a lot longer trip than that if the Rays get good and people actually start showing up to games).  But this lease preventing them from leaving the city of St. Pete pretty much makes it impossible to move a stadium to the other side of the bay, unless Stu forks over A LOT of money to St. Pete.

Here is what a poli sci guy thinks about the situation....

1- Both are great cities, but Tampa would then house three decent professional teams, thus making it a sports center in the States.

1.1 St. Pete needs a large icon to draw in crowds

1.1.1 St. Pete's toursim dollars would then be lost as well - financial impact

1.1.2 St. Pete has huge interest in the small business market there, as a large portion is owned by minorities and women - and have been profitable

2-Takes away clout from St. Pete and the stadium  - which they still owe 100+ million bucks on.

2.1 If the Rays moved into the Tampa area, just think of all of the heads that would roll based on the move across the bay. - potential for recall voting based on the fiscal irresponsibilities of the county

2.2 Loss of venue for large music performances

3 ticket sales would not increase nor decrease

3.1 Diehard fans and corporate buyers will still purchase bulk seats

3.2 Fairweather fans will still make the drive either way

3.3 We would gain the 275E -I-4 portion of Tampa, but how much more would we gain

3.3.1 Would residents of Orlando be willing to make the drive if a stadium was in Tampa vs. St. Pete - doubt it.

[Qbanbull]

Again, the article says the Rays will pay $150 million and use the proceeds from the sale of the Trop and the development rights.

and use the development rights to the trop that the county taxpayers own not the devil rays. by the way they still owe about $100million dollars on that so selling it would only pay off existing debt which of course they won't do. They will just hand that money to the owners and then continue to pay that debt down with taxpayer money and then give them a prime piece of property for the new stadium

If you think the owners will drop one dime on this then you are crazy. Crist is already talking about a $60million tax rebate for both Miami and St Pete for these tax payer funded stadiums. This is taking tax money directly from the state coffers and giving it to these wealthy owners.

He says it will bring JOBS. What a joke. Peanut vendor jobs maybe but not $60 million dollars worth of jobs. Let them leave or build their own stadium. Don't even give them the land to build on. Public financed stadiums are a joke especially when our state has a $1.5 billion budget shortfall and their talking about cutting education and other vital services.

How about our property tax rebates he's promised first?

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/nov/14/na-rays-face-financial-hurdles-on-stadium/?news-nationworld

Whoa!!! I just crawled out from under my rock. This is news to me. My $$$ to fund their joke of a team and stadium? Do we get a vote on this?  ??? ??? ???

And  Sixtysix ^...

I know many folks that would die for a team in Tampa and do not go to games in St. Pete. Not because the team stinks or that the stadium and it's location suck but that they felt the team was destined for Tampa. I don't have facts and figures to offer but I am pretty sure that there would be a major difference in attendance if the team was here in Tampa instead of across the bay in St. Pete. An opinion mind you.

When I think of St. Pete I do not exactly think of sports but rather of beaches, spas and condos.  ;D

[Triple B]

I know many folks that would die for a team in Tampa and do not go to games in St. Pete. Not because the team stinks or that the stadium and it's location suck but that they felt the team was destined for Tampa.

No offense to those folks you know but that's a pretty lame excuse ....

[Qbanbull]

I know many folks that would die for a team in Tampa and do not go to games in St. Pete. Not because the team stinks or that the stadium and it's location suck but that they felt the team was destined for Tampa.

No offense to those folks you know but that's a pretty lame excuse ....

No offense taken but why?

How many MLB teams are there to pick from?

Grew up with the Yanks. Would have gone with a new Tampa team in a heart beat. Instead I continue enjoying NY and so do my friends and family. I don't see anything lame about it. Before USF Bulls football was everyone a ucIF fan and traveling to their games? I don't think so. Why do I need to be a fan of a team not even in my own town? So why is it "a pretty lame excuse"?

[Triple B]

I know many folks that would die for a team in Tampa and do not go to games in St. Pete. Not because the team stinks or that the stadium and it's location suck but that they felt the team was destined for Tampa.

No offense to those folks you know but that's a pretty lame excuse ....

No offense taken but why?

How many MLB teams are there to pick from?

Grew up with the Yanks. Would have gone with a new Tampa team in a heart beat. Instead I continue enjoying NY and so do my friends and family. I don't see anything lame about it. Before USF Bulls football was everyone a ucIF fan and traveling to their games? I don't think so. Why do I need to be a fan of a team not even in my own town? So why is it "a pretty lame excuse"?

I didn't know you were from New York. That kind of explains it. The Tampa Bay area has always been one area as far as our pro sports teams are concerned. People from St Pete, Sarasota, Lakeland, et al, travel to Tampa to support the Lightning and Bucs while people from Tampa, Sarasota, Lakeland, et al, go to St Pete to support the Rays. By your theory, someone who lives in Plant City shouldn't support the Bucs because they don't play in their own town. If you don't want to give up teams you grew up with, that's fine, I wouldn't give up my TB teams if I moved away, but to not support the local   team just because it's not in right zip code ....... Sorry, that's a lame excuse.