The Montreal-Tampa Rays?

[dfwabel 4,155]

https://www.tampabay.com/news/st-petersburg/2020/01/30/hardball-rays-threaten-to-block-redevelopment-of-tropicana-field/

 

Quote

The Tampa Bay Rays are now playing hardball with the most lucrative piece of property in the city.

 

Rays officials have told City Council members that the team will hold up any attempts to develop the 86-acre Tropicana Field site while its locked into playing at the dome through the 2027 season.

 

That’s what team president Brian Auld conveyed to council members during a spate of rapid-fire meetings held Tuesday and Wednesday, according to two council members.

snip

Quote

The revelation of the Rays’ hardball stance comes the day before what could be a contentious meeting between the City Council members and the Krisemans administration on Thursday about the fate of the Rays and the land underneath the Trop.

 

Council members Amy Foster and Darden Rice both said Auld, in his meetings with them this week, referenced a quote from former St. Petersburg city attorney John Wolfe that appeared in a July 15, 2019 Tampa Bay Times article about the redevelopment of Tropicana Field.

 

[Walk-Off 98]

https://ballparkdigest.com/2020/02/07/rob-manfred-backs-rays-pursuit-of-split-season-plan/

 

Commissioner Manfred, have you no shame?

 

I am sorry, but I cannot think of much else to say about the person presumably in charge of the whole of MLB granting an official, public blessing to Sternberg's complexity-inducing, greed-laden, hubris-laden, almost certainly fan-alienating plan for the future of the Rays.

[Olmec 553]

I can only speak for myself but I was close to pulling the trigger on becoming a STM as I found myself genuinely rooting for the Rays the past two seasons and attending more and more games. However after what I've heard the past 24 hours, my support has been officially exhausted. I'll continue spending my money on the Bolts and soon the Vipers instead. 

[Red Comet 1,255]

2 hours ago, Walk-Off said:

https://ballparkdigest.com/2020/02/07/rob-manfred-backs-rays-pursuit-of-split-season-plan/

 

Commissioner Manfred, have you no shame?

 

I am sorry, but I cannot think of much else to say about the person presumably in charge of the whole of MLB granting an official, public blessing to Sternberg's complexity-inducting, greed-laden, hubris-laden, almost certainly fan-alienating plan for the future of the Rays.

 

It's not just Manfred:

 

"saying he and MLB team owners view it as a viable plan."

 

What I want to know, is this: Was there anyone in that room who has half a brain?

 

EDIT: Nah, they aren't being stupid. I think they think this is actually going to fly in their markets. Sorry, no one is going to go watch the Omaha-Kansas City Royals. 

Edited February 8 by Red Comet

[SFGiants58 11,850]

It’s because of that lease, trying to find a way around it.

[GDAWG 1,500]

The Montreal ExRays of Tampa and (probably soon) the Jacksonville Jaguars of London.......weird.  

[Gothamite 21,312]

Owners want to find ways to support other owners.  This isn’t a great surprise, even if it remains a profoundly stupid plan. 

[BringBackTheVet 16,272]

Of course he's going to say that.  He has to. Either Tampa will et scarred and pony up for a full-time park, Montreal will get excited and just build something that would allow them to have the team full time, or it actually happens and becomes a case study.

 

I doubt that any of them actually think the split-season thing will work, but the more they support it, the more likely the local gorernments will seize the opportunity to build a new dome stadium.

[GDAWG 1,500]

5 hours ago, Walk-Off said:

https://ballparkdigest.com/2020/02/07/rob-manfred-backs-rays-pursuit-of-split-season-plan/

 

Commissioner Manfred, have you no shame?

 

I am sorry, but I cannot think of much else to say about the person presumably in charge of the whole of MLB granting an official, public blessing to Sternberg's complexity-inducting, greed-laden, hubris-laden, almost certainly fan-alienating plan for the future of the Rays.

 

I'm sure the players association will have something to say about that.

[OnWis97 4,281]

It’s still amazing to me that that an expansion team was able to move into that dump with a 30-year lease starting in 1998.  That is only three years before contraction talk started and after completion of current ballparks in Cleveland, Baltimore, and Colorado, not to mention the now-defunct park in Arlington.and several high-revenue parks (Houston, Milwaukee, SF, Detroit) were under construction.

[dfwabel 4,155]

Tampa mayor Jane Castor and Hillsborough County commissioner meets with Rays/Sternberg for 2.5 hours on Monday.

Edited February 10 by dfwabel

[rmc523 203]

Still seems like such a stupid concept.

[TBGKon 2,422]

After seeing highlights of the KBL, it makes me wonder if something like the NC Dinos stadium should be a model for the Rays to follow in Tampa Bay.  It seats 22k as is, but could be configured a little bit differently to allow for a few more, and allows for social gathering spaces.

 

 

[bosrs1 1,274]

3 hours ago, TBGKon said:

After seeing highlights of the KBL, it makes me wonder if something like the NC Dinos stadium should be a model for the Rays to follow in Tampa Bay.  It seats 22k as is, but could be configured a little bit differently to allow for a few more, and allows for social gathering spaces.

 

 

 

And it would need some form of roof I'd think being in Florida. 

[BringBackTheVet 16,272]

If a team needs to reduce their capacity to 22k just to fill it, that's an indication that there shouldn't be a team there.  I'm not advocating for the return of 50k-60k stadiums, but something like what the Pirates have should be the minimum (I think it's 35k).  It's just a minor-league look to have such a small stadium, and it really sucks for fans too, since if the team ever does get any support, the tiny capacity will just freeze too many people out.

[GDAWG 1,500]

If MLB comes back without any fans, it will basically be business as usual for the Rays.

[SFGiants58 11,850]

5 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

If MLB comes back without any fans, it will basically be business as usual for the Rays.

What an original joke. I’ve totally never seen it before.

[the admiral 24,366]

3 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

If a team needs to reduce their capacity to 22k just to fill it, that's an indication that there shouldn't be a team there.  I'm not advocating for the return of 50k-60k stadiums, but something like what the Pirates have should be the minimum (I think it's 35k).  It's just a minor-league look to have such a small stadium, and it really sucks for fans too, since if the team ever does get any support, the tiny capacity will just freeze too many people out.

 

Agreed, 35,000-50,000 seems to be the ideal range for baseball (and really, you shouldn't be going above 45,000 unless you're the Yankees or Dodgers, or maybe the Mets). Dip into the 20s, and you're charging major-league prices for a minor-league venue -- in fact, you might even try to get away with charging more for the "intimate experience," which would be highly stupid in Florida for obvious market-saturation reasons.

[BringBackTheVet 16,272]

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

 

Agreed, 35,000-50,000 seems to be the ideal range for baseball (and really, you shouldn't be going above 45,000 unless you're the Yankees or Dodgers, or maybe the Mets). Dip into the 20s, and you're charging major-league prices for a minor-league venue -- in fact, you might even try to get away with charging more for the "intimate experience," which would be highly stupid in Florida for obvious market-saturation reasons.

 

I'd err on the side of too big.  When the Phillies had a 5+ year sellout streak (I think CBP is 45k), it was nearly impossible for a parent to take their kids to a major league game without paying an unreasonable amount of money, and even then, it was probably SRO.  I'd rather for major league baseball (and sports in general) to be more accessible to people, and not be big business for scumbag resellers.

[Digby 4,459]

Yeah, I don’t miss the days of cavernous multiuse ballparks, but I don’t love the excuse of “more intimate” as a dog whistle for “more luxury seats”. Something tells me we’re gonna go the wrong way on that particular issue in the coming 1-3 years, though.