Montreal/Tampa Bay Rays name speculation

[gosioux76]

5 minutes ago, kimball said:

 

Is it so much that he doesn't want to spend his money ... or that he just wants to get out of the market?

I wouldn't be surprised if he were planning to sell the team to the Montreal group. But it's not worth much to them when they're locked into a lease until 2027. 

[panthers_2012]

1 hour ago, kimball said:

 

Is it so much that he doesn't want to spend his money ... or that he just wants to get out of the market?

He's going to pull a Modell move. Cry and complain that the city won't build the stadium, move the team because another city will pay for a stadium, and then all of a sudden, the former city builds the stadium and the Rays are back a few years after moving.

 

It's all a game and I hope the citizens of Tampa Bay stick to their guns about not fully paying for a stadium.

[Eastport76]

TB-Montreal Rays? I doubt that. Rays aren't moving until they lease in 2027 and the city's mayor said Rays will get a new stadium before 2028.

Montreal should get a expansion team and a brand new stadium.

[mjd77]

1 hour ago, panthers_2012 said:

He's going to pull a Modell move. Cry and complain that the city won't build the stadium, move the team because another city will pay for a stadium, and then all of a sudden, the former city builds the stadium and the Rays are back a few years after moving.

 

It's all a game and I hope the citizens of Tampa Bay stick to their guns about not fully paying for a stadium.

 

No way that ever happens.  If Tampa moves, they will never get a baseball team again.

[BBTV]

Quote

“A lot of things that make this a fabulous place to live, work and play make it uniquely ill-suited to supporting a major-league baseball team,’’ team president Brian Auld said.

 

This is the most true statement that’s ever been publicly said about the situation. Could also go for a couple other teams too. 

[Gothamite]

1 hour ago, Eastport76 said:

TB-Montreal Rays? I doubt that. Rays aren't moving until they lease in 2027 and the city's mayor said Rays will get a new stadium before 2028.

 

 

I kid, but that does seem very, very unlikely. The team’s owners have essentially given up.

[SFGiants58]

5 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

I kid, but that does seem very, very unlikely. The team’s owners have essentially given up.

 

I know that Stu is adamant against selling the team, but I'm sure somebody would be interested in overpaying for the club. Maybe even somebody local (e.g., lives in the area and was maybe even born there), which is paramount to the Rays' continued existence. A Frank McCourt situation might be the only way to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay Area.

 

At the very least, it'll mean that Rays fans can stop using the word "carpetbagger."

[Gothamite]

41 minutes ago, SFGiants58 said:

I know that Stu is adamant against selling the team, but I'm sure somebody would be interested in overpaying for the club. Maybe even somebody local (e.g., lives in the area and was maybe even born there), which is paramount to the Rays' continued existence. A Frank McCourt situation might be the only way to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay Area.

 

What has he done that warrants such treatment?  McCourt threatened to put the Dodgers into bankruptcy, which is why the owners finally forced a sale. 

 

41 minutes ago, SFGiants58 said:

At the very least, it'll mean that Rays fans can stop using the word "carpetbagger."

 

Ugh.   Tell me that’s not a thing. 

[SFGiants58]

1 minute ago, Gothamite said:

 

What has he done that warrants such treatment?  McCourt threatened to put the Dodgers into bankruptcy, which is why the owners finally forced a sale. 

 

He hasn't done anything like that yet, so I doubt it'll happen. Also, when its a storied franchise that's one of the most marketable in the majors, the desire to give it good ownership is much greater.

 

1 minute ago, Gothamite said:

 

Ugh.   Tell me that’s not a thing. 

 

I've seen it all over Reddit threads and Twitter. I get that it's part of the natural toxicity of those formats, but they certainly do it! Go into any discussion of the Rays and at least a few Rays fans will happily call Stu a "carpetbagger" or point out how he's from Brooklyn and never saw the desire to move to the Tampa Bay Area. 

 

It's understandable why they use that term, but I just wish that they didn't entertain the thought of comparing him to Northerners who profited off of the post-Civil War chaos in the South (Florida was very much a part of the Confederacy).

[Gothamite]

Yeah, the Confederacy language is disappointing.  But so is the parochialism.  We heard “carpetbagger” applied to Derek Jeter in Miami, of all people.  Small-minded excuse-making. 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

11 hours ago, Gothamite said:

On 6/25/2019 at 10:41 PM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Just an off-topic observation: Sternberg is quite a charming fellow. His address today was impressive, as he laid out his position without weasel words.

 

I think you and I watched two different speeches. 

 

If you don't think that Sternberg was charming and personable, then perhaps we did.

 

I found it remarkable that he was able to present such a sincere-sounding defence for this bizarre plan. He clearly is a superb speaker and a master of presentation.

[THRILLHO]

6 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

If you don't think that Sternberg was charming and personable, then perhaps we did.

 

I found it remarkable that he was able to present such a sincere-sounding defence for this bizarre plan. He clearly is a superb speaker and a master of presentation.

I’m with @Gothamite on this one.  I’ve seen plenty of Stu sternberg appearances on television; on the podium and in the booth during broadcasts.   To me he appeared very nervous and it almost felt like he knew every word out of his mouth was going to be met with hostility.  He’s not dumb.  

[TBGKon]

Can we try to keep this thread to the purpose of the name change and possibilities?  There's a completely different thread in Sports in General for the discussion of the topic overall.

[THRILLHO]

Maybe this belongs in “concepts” since this project is hypothetical 

[TBGKon]

2 hours ago, THRILLHO said:

Maybe this belongs in “concepts” since this project is hypothetical 

It's not a project, its just conversation about the subject of what the team name might be.

[Eastport76]

If they are still stuck at awful Tropica Field till 2028, what is plan B?

i guess, the only answer is moving.

[rmc523]

9 minutes ago, Eastport76 said:

If they are still stuck at awful Tropica Field till 2028, what is plan B?

i guess, the only answer is moving.

 

They literally said they don't have one, and that staying in Tampa isn't an option.

[THRILLHO]

1 hour ago, AstroBull21 said:

It's not a project, its just conversation about the subject of what the team name might be.

By project I meant Rays ownerships project to move the team, not this threads conversation. 

[THRILLHO]

45 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

They literally said they don't have one, and that staying in Tampa isn't an option.

Plan A is to move the team.  This proposal is disingenuous and Montreal is the perfect dancing partner because they don’t have to worry about alienating them since they don’t actually want to be there either. 

 

I never thought they’d move.  Now I’m convinced it will happen.  You’d think that all of Florida would become Marlins TV territory.  But do you really think Yankee ownership won’t take that opportunity as a TV land grab?   

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

On 6/25/2019 at 10:51 PM, SFGiants58 said:

He’s adopted the Bob Lurie approach, not wishing to spend any significant percentage of his own money to complete a stadium deal. Heck, I’d argue that he’s worse than Lurie, since Lurie at least tried to work more extensively with city officials throughout the Bay Area to get a deal done (him not knowing that Bay Area voters don’t like paying directly for stadiums is his own fault).

 

Lurie gets pretty sympathetic treatment in the book Stadium for Rent.  It says that he brought in an Ivy League guy who confirmed that there was no scenario under which the Giants could make money at Candlestick.  And he kept waiting for a stadium referrendum to pass and getting increasingly frustrated when it didn't; evidently paying for a new stadium himself did not occur to him.  That's when he gave up and accepted the offer of the Naimoli group of St. Petersburg.

The hero of the book, St. Pete assistant city manager Rick Dodge, is given lots of space to complain about how the city did everything according to the rules, and even got Fay Vincent's approval to explore a move, only to have baseball under N.L. president Bill White change the rules after Vincent was fired.  That's unfortnuate for Dodge, who comes off as a sincere and passionate person who really suffered on account of not having landed the Giants.

But history is bigger; it is bigger even than the nice guy Rick Dodge.  The Giants should not be moving; and whatever redefinitions or whatever that Bill White had to pull in order to get a local buyer and keep the team where it belongs is worth it.

 

Another odd angle that the book takes appears in the section on the selection of the cities for the 1993 expansion. The auther Bob Andelman seems to regard the Marlins' hiring of Carl Barger away from the Pirates as some kind of scandalous or underhanded move. The reasons for this characterisation remain unclear.

But, overall, this has been a very informative and interesting book. (I am a few pages from the end.)  The detailed looks at Dodge and at Frank Morsani, among other interesting players in the story are worthwhile.  Thanks for the recommendation,