Rays Owner: MLB No Longer Believes in Tampa

[Viva Medias B's]

Stuart Sternberg, the owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, said today the Major League Baseball no longer believes in the viability of having a franchise there. I have always said that the Rays should be in Orlando. I think that's a better market for sports, and the Rays would draw better there.

Link

[LITTLE NELL]

The Bay Area will lose the Rays unless the stubborn mayor of St. Pete does what's best for the area and let's the Rays out of the lease at the Trop.
Team should be relocated near downtown Tampa.
Not sure if Orlando is a good alternative, metro area has only 1,500,000 people while Tampa Bay is at 2,500,000.

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by LITTLE NELL

The Bay Area will lose the Rays unless the stubborn mayor of St. Pete does what's best for the area and let's the Rays out of the lease at the Trop.
Team should be relocated near downtown Tampa.
Not sure if Orlando is a good alternative, metro area has only 1,500,000 people while Tampa Bay is at 2,500,000.

Why would the mayor do that? He holds all the cards and if he lets the Rays out of their lease they will lose them anyway. It seems to me that baseball in Florida just doesn't work.

[LITTLE NELL]

Originally Posted by WhiteSox5187

Why would the mayor do that? He holds all the cards and if he lets the Rays out of their lease they will lose them anyway. It seems to me that baseball in Florida just doesn't work.

Because maybe he would not like being remembered as the guy who was responsible for the loss of the Rays for the area. He needs to do the right thing.

[CoopaLoop]

Florida sucks. Get em all out of there.

[kittle42]

Originally Posted by CoopaLoop

Florida sucks. Get em all out of there.

They should let the state float away.

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by LITTLE NELL

Because maybe he would not like being remembered as the guy who was responsible for the loss of the Rays for the area. He needs to do the right thing.

If he lets the Rays out of their lease they would probably bolt anyways.

[Oblong]

Originally Posted by LITTLE NELL

Because maybe he would not like being remembered as the guy who was responsible for the loss of the Rays for the area. He needs to do the right thing.

would anybody notice? Seems to me like the people there don't want one so I don't understand why the mayor letting them go would be a bad thing.

[Brian26]

Originally Posted by WhiteSox5187

It seems to me that baseball in Florida just doesn't work.

Pretty much this. We heard the same story in Miami. They built a multi-million dollar facility in the "better location", and they still couldn't draw. Shut the state down after Spring Training and move these two teams to cities that will appreciate them.

[mrfourni]

Where are they going to go? Is there a city out there that will publicly finance a $700m-$1b stadium anymore?

[chicagowhitesox1]

I think New York would be the best place to locate a new team. I seriously doubt the Rays would get fans even if they moved to downtown Tampa. It didn't help the Marlins.

[SCCWS]

Originally Posted by Brian26

Pretty much this. We heard the same story in Miami. They built a multi-million dollar facility in the "better location", and they still couldn't draw. Shut the state down after Spring Training and move these two teams to cities that will appreciate them.

Huh???? Miami averaged 27,000 per game last year. That is better than the White Sox did.

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by SCCWS

Huh???? Miami averaged 27,000 per game last year. That is better than the White Sox did.

In a brand new billion dollar stadium with a bunch of new stars, that isn't good enough. They played .700 ball in May and still couldn't draw flies.

[LITTLE NELL]

Originally Posted by SCCWS

Huh???? Miami averaged 27,000 per game last year. That is better than the White Sox did.

The only problem is that they were hoping for 3,000,000 and came up about 800,000 short.
They have the same problem that the Rays have, they built the new park too far south, it should have been near the Broward and Dade county line.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by SCCWS

Huh???? Miami averaged 27,000 per game last year. That is better than the White Sox did.

That's also with the traditional "New Stadium" attendance bump. Let's see how they draw over the next couple of years. I'm guessing it's going to be in the mid to high 10,000's.

Oh, and by the way, the cost of that park is going to be in the billions before Miami pays it off!

http://deadspin.com/5978964/the-real...n-the-billions