Survival79

You're welcome! Here's an email the team just sent out. Subject: Tampa Bay Rays Sister City Concept

Montreal businessman on Rays' future: 'It's a full-time team played in 2 places' Montreal, QC — Canadian businessmen Stephen Bronfman and Pierre Boivin acknowledged Wednesday St. Petersburg’s mayor would have to give the Tampa Bay Rays approval to begin pursuing the possibility of splitting home games between two cities. Bronfman’s investment company, Claridge, and development company Devimco are teaming up to try to bring Major League Baseball back to Montreal. "We really have a real chance to have a team in Montreal today," Bronfman said. The Rays’ lease runs through the 2027 season at Tropicana Field. Under the team’s current agreement, the Rays can’t pursue hosting home games outside of St. Petersburg during that time period. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman said Tuesday the city would "not participate in the funding of a new stadium for a part-time team." "It’s a full-time team," Bronfman said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. "It’s just played in two places." The Rays would have to reach a memorandum of understanding with the city of St. Petersburg before they could negotiate playing home games elsewhere, in this case between the Tampa Bay area and Montreal. The Montreal group needs approval from St. Petersburg before devising a business model, Bronfman said. The Montreal Expos left Canada after the 2004 season when the franchise moved to Washington, D.C. Bronfman and Boivin have gotten MLB’s approval to pursue the two-city plan while they wait for St. Petersburg. "We've got an opportunity to explore and study this sister-city concept," Bronfman said. "Hats off to MLB for their innovative thinking." Bronfman called the split-city concept "groundbreaking," comparing it to massive sharing-economy companies like Airbnb and Uber. A North American professional sports team – which includes MLB, the NFL, the NHL and the NBA – has never had a team evenly split its home games for an entire season. Before the Montreal Expos moved from Montreal to Washington, D.C. in 2005, the team played 22 home games in Puerto Rico in 2003 and 2004. Bronfman admitted to having conversations with Rays owner Stuart Sternberg. Bronfman said he didn't ask Sternberg to buy the team, but he did ask about relocating the Rays. During Wednesday’s news conference, Bronfman and Boivin didn’t say how much an open-air stadium would cost or how it would be financed. "We’re not going to start building a stadium without a definitive plan," Boivin said. Bronfman said it might make more fiscal sense to build an open-air stadium used for part of the year because the seats higher up in any stadium or arena don’t provide as much return on investment as the closer, more expensive seats. He also admitted inclement weather in both Tampa Bay and Montreal could lead to postponed games and doubleheaders. A new open-air stadium in Montreal could also be used for concerts and football, according to Bronfman. Bronfman said it wasn’t his call for how soon it could be until Montreal hosts MLB games again. He said it would take about three years to build a new stadium. Bronfman said he would like for his 88-year-old father to see the first pitch if MLB returns to Montreal. While Bronfman didn’t dismiss the possibility of playing at the Expos’ old home, Olympic Stadium, for the first few years, he said MLB prefers a new downtown stadium before bringing a team to Montreal. Bronfman also acknowledged the necessity of getting the MLB Players’ Association on board with a split-city concept. Sports agent Scott Boras told the Tampa Bay Times he didn’t think any player moving midseason was "workable." Boras said he couldn’t envision the Players’ Association agreeing to the split season because he said it would affect players, their performance and their families. Bronfman said while Boras was one key voice, it would be a "team effort" to get the Players’ Association to agree to a team hosting home games in two cities. It would take a "lot of lobbying and a lot of work," Bronfman said. Like Sternberg and Rays management suggested Tuesday, Bronfman said the team could have a higher player payroll by splitting the season between two cities. "It's hard to fight against a behemoth [the New York Yankees]," Bronfman said.

1. Give Sternberg an expansion team. 2. Merge the Rays and the Marlins. Rename the team the Florida Largemouths (the state freshwater fish). Largemouth bass logo with sun rays. The shared history serves as a foundation for the new team. 3. Hold an expansion/merger draft with the former Rays and Marlins players. The Florida team and Sternberg's expansion team rotate picks. 4. This is all no more ridiculous than Sternberg's Tampa Bay/Montreal model. Both franchises are floundering. I'd totally embrace a team shared among Florida locales. Under this scenario, a new stadium would be built in St. Petersburg/Tampa just like the proposed Tampa Bay/Montreal model.

Hello, Mr. Sternberg. How are you today? Seems the rumors are abound, your team might move away. Now, me I'm sentimental, but I'm not one to cry.

It'll be interesting to see what Sternberg has to say today. Hopefully, someone will remind him of his promise. May 2007: Principal owner Stuart Sternberg clarified comments in a The New York Times story, saying there is no deadline for a new ballpark and he will stick to his promise to never demand one. When Sternberg took over the team in October 2005 he pledged he would never demand a new stadium, and Tuesday he reiterated that promise. "Absolutely,'' he said. "I was extra clear a year and a half ago, and nothing has changed.'' never adverb nev·er | \ ˈne-vər \ Definition of never 1: not ever : at no time 2: not in any degree : not under any condition

1957-1958 St. Louis Hawks World Championship Ring - Front-Office Provenance!

Step 1: Move the Marlins to Montreal. Step 2: Split the Rays between Tampa Bay and Miami. Step 3: The Florida Rays. OR Step 1: Move the Rays to Montreal. Step 2: Split the Marlins between Miami and Tampa Bay. Step 3: The Florida Marlins. OR Step 1: Move the Rays or Marlins to Montreal. Step 2: Move whichever team is left to Orlando. Step 3: The Florida Rays or the Florida Marlins.

Why is he wearing sunglasses?

Yes, that is what it is based on. Chris's article mentioned it and I posted this in the College Football Uniforms - 2019 thread.

It was his 1988 American League Champions ring.

Between the dates on each side is a jersey with his number for those years. 1996-2005: 8 2006-2016: 24

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?page=Mag15playforkeeps "Bowden doesn't bother to wear his 1993 championship ring. He doesn't want his players to think he's satisfied. He doesn't wear any of his ACC title rings either, or the stash of bowl rings and watches he has hidden away in a dresser drawer. Those are for his 21 grandchildren. He wears only a ring given to him by Burt Reynolds, who was once an FSU running back." I'm pretty sure this is the ring...

Still doesn't change my thought process behind my comment. They are making it more about LeBron and less about the franchise. There should be THREE trophies on the FRONT of the ring. If they want to make a note about LeBron or the three players coming together or whatever, then do it on the SIDE. I'm not a fan of what they did...maybe its just me. I'm no fan of his, but I think you're wrong here. When you've got back-to-back championships, I'm okay with celebrating that on the front of the ring at the expense of all prior titles. We agree to disagree then. I feel that it should always be about the franchise on the front and the individual stories on the sides. I believe it has been that way for years and I don't know of any other professional ring that mimics this trend. I could be totally wrong, but I don't remember a team doing anything similar to this. I'm not against a team bucking the trend and creating something new. I'm just not a fan of this. It seems way too pretentious for my liking. The Lakers have done it with their recent rings.

Sam Shields...

The Tampa Bay Lightning also listed all the teams that they beat in the postseason.

Tampa Bay Rays 2008 American League Championship Ring

Bill Mazeroski:

Without Michael Jordan, there would be no "Baby Jordan".

Joe Montana as a New York Jet. " "