Are mlb teams building new stadium too quickly

[pmoehrin]

as far as this year goes...half the dodger fans show up. this is the emptiest i have seen dodger stadium on a consistent basis. but your right us dodger fans do go.

I'm looking at the attendance figures and what I'm seeing on TV and its not matching.

They have to be barely cracking 20,000 people most games and in some games had to be under 20,000. To be fair though when you have an owner like Frank McCourt running your team its hard to blame a fanbase for being apathetic.

I'll give them a mulligan for this year as far as fan support goes. They aren't rejecting the team, they're rejecting the owner and there is no doubt that once Frank McCourt is gone attendance will pick up again.

[Norva]

How much time?

People do care, I am sorry but it's hard to judge a market you aren't in. I see Rays gear everywhere, turn on the local news and whenever you see locals guess what they are wearing? Rays gear. I went to a Storm game, I saw a huge amount of people wearing, guess what, Rays gear. It's easy to paint a market you have little knowledge of from far away but Tampa does care. And it's funny to me how in Montreal people say it's a baseball market (and I agree) that had a horrible location but in Tampa location doesn't matter. Seems like a double standard to me.

I see tons of Rays gear and proportionally Tampa is among the very top rung of local TV viewing. People watch them, people care.

Also the Rays are not struggling at all financially, they are turning a profit, so why leave to an unproven market like Portland, Las Vegas, San Antonio, Charlotte etc and leave a market you are making money in? The Rays have made/looked into a feasibility study....in Tampa. I think they would like to settle there down there to over any other untested market. And Montreal is not an option, no one will play in the O without guarantee of a new stadium and the MLB burnt it's bridges there. The Rays haven't been posturing much either because they realize there is no where else for them to go and their is plenty of opportunity within a market. It takes time in a transient market but a look into schools will clearly show kids are growing up as fans even if their parents cling to old loyalties. Tampa is a baseball rich area, tons of MLBers have come from the area and it's long been a little league hotbed, baseball can and will work there and when all is said and done the Rays will stay in Tampa Bay, most likely in Tampa proper.

Listen, they are not moving to Tampa. They can't. Their lease will not allow them. They'd probably only be able to break it to leave the entire market. But as long as they're in Tampa Bay, they're restricted to St. Pete. The city will hold them to it.

Not so fast.

St. Petersburg council elections could break city's stalemate with the Tampa Bay Rays:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/st-petersburg-council-elections-could-break-citys-stalemate-with-the-tampa/1183474

[Gothamite]

Well, that's going to get very interesting.

[McCall]

Wow. I never heard that the Rays owner wanted to explore within the whole Tampa Bay area. I hadn't heard anything since 2008 when the Al Lang Field site was the primary choice, but they were willing to look for a more "citizen approved" site in St. Pete or near without crossing the bay. That IS interesting. Did that just not get very public nationally or did I just miss it?

[DaytonBlue]

I know the Rays stadium issue made some news when they a player lost a ball in the roof one night and the next night lightning postponed the game for a bit.

[Gothamite]

Yeah, that was when they had to use this:

[bosrs1]

Well, that's going to get very interesting.

The A's situation isn't. The guys over at Newballpark.org did a 2 hour interview with Wolff regarding in large part their current and future stadiums. The short gist of it is that Wolff isn't going to move the team out of state, Selig hasn't said anything lately and Wolff isn't going to push him on it until the blue ribbon panel finishes, San Jose is all but shovel ready, Wolff thinks the BRP hasn't said anything because they can't find any alternatives in Oakland's current "territory", and Wolff doesn't think the A's should pay the Giants for access to San Jose when the Giants didn't pay anything for those rights from the A's in the 90's.

http://newballpark.org/2011/08/05/the-big-lew-wolff-interview-part-5/

Basically Wolff reiterated everything we've known about the A's situation for a long time now.

[Magnum]

I know the Rays stadium issue made some news when they a player lost a ball in the roof one night and the next night lightning postponed the game for a bit.

Some reason that read as "when a player got lost in the roof"

Anyhow, yes, the Rays have been trying to get a new spot for some time without any luck. They've been aiming near Raymond James and even the Florida State Fairgrounds, which would be more accessible to Tampa fans. Also wouldn't have to travel an hour and a half to see them. Bottom line is that St. Pete is really just a bad spot because there isn't a mass fan base actually from there.

[DaytonBlue]

Magnum, do you think the Gateway location right on the edge of the Howard Frankland bridge would be successful for a new ballpark or does it have to be on the Tampa side in your mind?

[TBGKon]

Magnum, do you think the Gateway location right on the edge of the Howard Frankland bridge would be successful for a new ballpark or does it have to be on the Tampa side in your mind?

Speaking as someone from the Tampa Bay area, if the stadium must remain in St. Pete, the Gateway area would be ideal.

If all areas are available, I personally think the fairgrounds vicinity is best.

[dfwabel]

Magnum, do you think the Gateway location right on the edge of the Howard Frankland bridge would be successful for a new ballpark or does it have to be on the Tampa side in your mind?

Speaking as someone from the Tampa Bay area, if the stadium must remain in St. Pete, the Gateway area would be ideal.

If all areas are available, I personally think the fairgrounds vicinity is best.

While the fairgrounds is at the interchange of I-4 and I-75. That interchange has been bad since 75 got that south in the mid80's. Traffic will still be a big issue since the Seminole Tribe has told the state on expanding their casino another 33,000 sq. ft. and have even larger long term plans for their property.

[ZapRowsdower8]

Magnum, do you think the Gateway location right on the edge of the Howard Frankland bridge would be successful for a new ballpark or does it have to be on the Tampa side in your mind?

Speaking as someone from the Tampa Bay area, if the stadium must remain in St. Pete, the Gateway area would be ideal.

If all areas are available, I personally think the fairgrounds vicinity is best.

While the fairgrounds is at the interchange of I-4 and I-75. That interchange has been bad since 75 got that south in the mid80's. Traffic will still be a big issue since the Seminole Tribe has told the state on expanding their casino another 33,000 sq. ft. and have even larger long term plans for their property.

I've only lived down here for a little over two years and will be leaving to go back north (Chicago or Indy most likely) in another 10 months so I don't really have much of a stake in what happens to the Rays but let me throw in my two cents. Currently I live a little less than a mile from the Trop. In my opinion, downtown St. Pete has more to offer than any other area in Tampa Bay. An abundance of restaurants, small and medium sized music venues, art galleries, museums, bars, etc... This factors into what I think makes for a great day at the ballpark, but how much does this truly matter to the general population? Especially on a weeknight.

History shows that building new stadiums has very little impact on the surrounding community. If a new stadium were to go up in the Gateway area or at the Fairgrounds all that you would see around them is a dog track and casino respectively. Not exactly family friendly entertainment, but the number one issue, "It's too far of a drive!" will be taken care of. (I'm not convinced this is true though, I still think people from Hillsborough will bitch about having to cross a bridge if it was in Gateway.)

This leaves two options that I think would work best:

1) Downtown Tampa

Pros: Central location, things to do

Cons: Parking would need to be improved (Lightning games are a hot mess), Not as much to do as there should be in a downtown. (This, like in most cities across the county, is improving as people are moving back to urban centers but it's not quite there yet.)

2) Ybor City

Pros: Parking wouldn't be quite as bad as downtown, lots of bars/restaurants, central location, a stadium designed to fit in with neighborhood architecture and history would be awesome, right were 275 hits I-4.

Cons: Things could get crazy on the weekend/reputation as being an unsafe place at night, safety concerns would need to be addressed, nobody seems to ever bring it up as a possible location so there is probably some glaring problem I just don't see.

[ZapRowsdower8]

Double Post

[McCall]

I don't get why people complain about having to drive from one side of the bay to the other. When I moved to southeast Missouri, my travel time is now an hour and a half to Busch Stadium, half of what it was when I lived in Springfield. And I'm sure it the same for any other market where a lot of the fans travel distances to see their teams play. People in the cities just b**** too much.

[crashcarson15]

Ybor City's some crazy . Don't think I've felt more uncomfortable in my life.