Jump to content

Rays seem ready to dump Devil


Survival79

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 1.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

An update from the Times this morning - got to give ownership credit for trying new things:

Devil Rays Tempting Fans With a Field Trip

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 3 ? Under the dome of Tropicana Field, Carlos Peña hit a pop-up that never came down. It lodged in the ceiling for a foul ball. Next time up, in the 10th inning, Peña hit another pop-up that caromed off a catwalk and landed for a single behind the confused Minnesota infielders.

That hit fueled a rally that gave the Tampa Bay Devil Rays a 4-3 victory before 9,101 fans. Later, Peña said that he liked the quirky indoor stadium but also looked forward to going to Disney World for three games in the open air of a spring training and minor league facility about 100 miles northeast.

?It?s a gorgeous ballpark, and it?s also close to my home,? Peña said Wednesday of the 7,500-seat stadium at Disney?s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, where the Devil Rays will play host to the Texas Rangers on May 15-17. ?I live in Orlando. Hopefully, I can get a couple of my teammates over to my house for dinner.?

Perhaps Peña can invite the customers, too, as part of the team?s new marketing campaign. If ticket sales do not improve for the games against the Rangers, the Devil Rays? experiment at a home-away-from-home site could be a disappointment.

Tampa Bay?s new ownership, in its second season, is trying to expand the regional profile of one of baseball?s weakest franchises. Stuart Sternberg, the principal owner, would not reveal specific ticket sales at the Disney park, but he expressed concern.

?It?s a low number,? said Sternberg, whose team is averaging 15,729 this season. ?If we don?t end up attracting a reasonable crowd, it would be my first significant disappointment.?

Sternberg and his top aides are baseball novices who did well on Wall Street. Their newest investment certainly has potential.

With the youngest roster in baseball, the Devil Rays rank near the bottom of the 30 major league teams in attendance (last in the A.L. each of the past six years), payroll (last in the majors this season) and franchise valuation (29th, according to Forbes magazine). They drew 1.37 million fans last season, up from 1.14 million in 2005. They hope for 1.5 million this season. Their circumstances are somewhat paradoxical.

The Devil Rays play 81 regular-season home games in a region best known for spring training. Although their state is known for outdoor activity and year-round sunshine, the sun never shines in their stadium and the scorecards flutter in the artificial breeze of the air-conditioning.

The team?s name mentions Tampa, but it plays in St. Petersburg. Another step to expand the brand will come in 2009, when the Devil Rays plan to move their spring training camp from St. Petersburg to Port Charlotte, Fla., about 78 miles to the southeast.

Matt Silverman, the 30-year-old president of the Devil Rays, said that ?there are blemishes and there are challenges? about the franchise and that ?this is a work in progress.? The word Devil may soon be dropped, he said, among other changes, a decade after the team?s expansion debut.

?We expect to change our uniform and our colors and our logo effective for the 2008 season,? Silverman said.

So far, the new management has invested $18 million for improvements in a stadium that opened in 1990 but has not aged well.

?Baseball does not feel right indoors,? Sternberg said.

The current capacity is 36,736, reduced by 4,000 this season by blue tarps that are draped over seats high in the upper deck. The field is covered with a new version of grasslike artificial turf.

?How do we make the best of this thing?? Sternberg said. ?It wasn?t built to last 30 to 40 years.?

Although he made no threats to move or suggestions for a new stadium, he said of the current stadium, ?We recognize it has a shelf life of five years.?

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/sports/b...amp;oref=slogin

Hope the fans respond - I don't know what more they could really want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although he made no threats to move or suggestions for a new stadium, he said of the current stadium, ?We recognize it has a shelf life of five years.?

Well, fingers crossed that it is a move to Tampa. Otherwise, I'll have to become a Pirate fan... again.

:lol:

0I3kSAc.png

We are wolves • Under the moon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems like a rather empty threat.

According to this article from 2000, the Devil Rays' lease runs through 2027. The city won't finish paying off the park until 2025 (although who knows what the new ownership and their recent renovations have done to that timetable).

So how exactly do they propose to get a new stadium? Is the city of Tampa really going to give them a new ballpark and enough money to buy out the last two decades of their St. Petersburg lease?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I may be the minority here, but I just don't see Orlando as a hotbed for pro sports. The Magic aren't doing THAT well despite having a great young team and I doubt that baseball will do any better. Sounds like they aren't going anywhere and if they figure out the whole stadium thing they can probably do well enough where they are now IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sternberg clarifies Trop remarks

May 08, 2007

The Devil Rays eventually will need a new stadium to replace Tropicana Field.

But they're not expecting one anytime soon.

Principal owner Stuart Sternberg on Tuesday clarified comments in a New York Times story, saying there is no deadline for a new ballpark and he will stick to his promise to never demand one. But he also said he doesn't think the Trop, which opened in 1990, can be the team's home for the remaining 20 years on its lease.

"I know we have to be here at least five years and I know we can't be here for 20,'' Sternberg said. "It does not have a shelf life of 20. ... Now that we've been in here a little bit longer and done all the improvements, we can really see the issues structurally within the building. It's not an option that it will last another 15 or 20 years.''

Sternberg and his group have invested about $18-million in stadium related upgrades over the last two years with the idea the team would be at the Trop for awhile. "We didn't do that to amortize it over a five-year period,'' he said.

Sternberg said the idea of a new stadium is not a priority issue, but more something he and his top officials talk about on occasion. With the recent - and thus far unsuccessful - efforts to get state funding for a new south Florida stadium for the Marlins, as well as the renovations to the Rays' new spring training home in Port Charlotte, he acknowledged that the subject has been more topical.

"We'll focus on it more as time goes by,'' Sternberg said. "Something of this magnitude, it really isn't anything I've spent a lot of time on. I have thought about it. Nothing can be done overnight. It's in the background. We know it's there. We chat about it - how and what.''

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.''

He did say Tuesday that he might initiate the conversation, but that any effort would have to have the support of the Tampa Bay area and the state.

"I might present ideas to other people but it's in conjunction with the region,'' he said. "Given the scope of the project it's got to make economic sense and it's got to make civic sense. If we do our job right as an organization (in improving the franchise), I would expect that it would make it that much easier and that much clearer that it would be the right thing for the municipalities and the Devil Rays.''

The Rays are in their 10th season at the downtown St. Petersburg stadium.

0I3kSAc.png

We are wolves • Under the moon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Talk about doublespeak....

This:

"I know we have to be here at least five years and I know we can't be here for 20,'' Sternberg said. "It does not have a shelf life of 20. ... Now that we've been in here a little bit longer and done all the improvements, we can really see the issues structurally within the building. It's not an option that it will last another 15 or 20 years.''

is not compatible with this:

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.''

The two statements are contradictory at best. If the stadium will really not last for the length of its lease, then he will have to demand a new stadium, or be negligent in his responsibilities to the club.

Interesting that he felt the heat so quickly, though. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm all for Rays games at Disney's WWoS. I'm no expert, but could they not have the mid-summer games (Jun-Aug) at the Trop with trips to Orlando either side?

Then again would they allow a team to have 2 permanent home stadiums?

Say hello to the Tampa Bay-Orlando Rays (of St. Petersburg) !! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm all for Rays games at Disney's WWoS. I'm no expert, but could they not have the mid-summer games (Jun-Aug) at the Trop with trips to Orlando either side?

Then again would they allow a team to have 2 permanent home stadiums?

Do the Montreal Expos of 2002-2004 count?

---

Chris Creamer
Founder/Editor, SportsLogos.Net

 

"The Mothership" News Facebook X/Twitter Instagram

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm all for Rays games at Disney's WWoS. I'm no expert, but could they not have the mid-summer games (Jun-Aug) at the Trop with trips to Orlando either side?

Then again would they allow a team to have 2 permanent home stadiums?

Do the Montreal Expos of 2002-2004 count?

Well yes, there is a precedent then - I forgot to mention that, and I didn't realise it was that long that they were the San Jose Expos. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm all for Rays games at Disney's WWoS. I'm no expert, but could they not have the mid-summer games (Jun-Aug) at the Trop with trips to Orlando either side?

Then again would they allow a team to have 2 permanent home stadiums?

Do the Montreal Expos of 2002-2004 count?

It was actually 2003-2004, but the point is well taken.

It's a little older, but I'd also add the 1968-1969 Chicago White Sox, who played some of their home games at Milwaukee County Stadium.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Say hello to the Tampa Bay-Orlando Rays (of St. Petersburg) !! ;)
...or, your Central Florida Rays...

Hmm... playing games in Orlando, moving Spring Training to Port Charlotte... are you trying to tell us something?

lookaroundxn9.gif

0I3kSAc.png

We are wolves • Under the moon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a little older, but I'd also add the 1968-1969 Chicago White Sox, who played some of their home games at Milwaukee County Stadium.

I guess you could class both (Expos and Sox) as temporary. I doubt that they would be allowed to do it on a permanant basis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not MLB, but let's not forget the Kansas City-Omaha Kings.

Also, IIRC, the Carolina Cougars of the ABA played games in multiple home cities around North Carolina.

Bottom line -- it isn't unprecedented.

I could see MLB allowing it on a permanent basis if Orlando built a true major league stadium. However, I don't see why Orlando (or one of the suburbs, like Kissimmee) would build a 30-40,000 stadium for a part time team.

Most Liked Content of the Day -- February 15, 2017, August 21, 2017, August 22, 2017     /////      Proud Winner of the CCSLC Post of the Day Award -- April 8, 2008

Originator of the Upside Down Sarcasm Smilie -- November 1, 2005  🙃

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.