Rays to get NEW STADIUM!!!

[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"?

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.

In a perfect world this concept makes a lot of sense. Yet, there is no universal law that says you have to support your local team when you enjoy another team. There are many folks who enjoy the Bucs and have never spent a day in Florida let alone Tampa. Are they wrong for supporting a team not from their hometown? Let's just say the Rays have never been my cup of tea. Well, I take that back. I enjoyed having Fred McGriff and Tino Martinez back in town for a short time.

Sounds like you are a fan and I can appreciate that. When the Rays or anyother baseball team makes Tampa it's home I'll buy the first beer.  ;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 ....

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.

In a perfect world this concept makes a lot of sense. Yet, there is no universal law that says you have to support your local team when you enjoy another team.

I never said you did. In fact, I said just the opposite ....Please note the red bold up there.

There are many folks who enjoy the Bucs and have never spent a day in Florida let alone Tampa. Are they wrong for supporting a team not from their hometown?

That's a whole nuther conversation.... 

Let's just say the Rays have never been my cup of tea.

No problem with that all. It's just the whole Tampa vs St Pete bs that stirs the blood ...

[jg]

How about a new bullpen first

[SixtySix]

How about a new bullpen first

if the city gives money towards it... it becomes a part of the Tampa Sports Authority, and we dont want that.

And fwiw... just give it time... I think February is nice.

[hightechbull]

This push for a new stadium is such utter horse crap.  The Trop is fine, and surveys from ball players say the Trop has one of the nicest fields to play on.  Not bad for a stadium with fake grass.

The city of St. Pete have an iron clad lease with the D-Rays.  The D-Rays cannot leave.  If the mayor of St. Pete had any balls, he would tell the new owners to pay for the stadium themselves with ZERO tax breaks.  They cannot leave without St. Pete breaking the contract for almost 30 years, so the city can make the owners suffer by staying in the Trop if that stadium is so bad.

They should spend some money on players and people will pack the Trop.  Remember the Twins when they played in their dome in those two world series?  The dome helped them beat the Braves that one year, and until the Yankees got their collective heads out of their arses and won a few World Series, all teams who played in domes had a huge advantage in the playoffs - Twins & Blue Jays to name a few.

Tax dollars and tax breaks for sports teams is a complete waste of money, and there are better uses for those economic vehicles.  The only decent jobs that a new stadium would provide is construction jobs to build the stadium.  After the completion of the stadium, those jobs would go away.  The other stadium jobs already exist in the Trop, so what "magical" new jobs do they think they will create with this stadium?