Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Hillsborough Ain't Got No Dough

Like I said before, don't get your hopes up that the Rays will be crossing Tampa Bay.

A St. Pete Times article today does a nice job explaining why Hillsborough Co. can't afford to build the team a new stadium, even if it grants a little too much legitimacy in the Rays-to-Tampa rumors.

I've also said before I can't remember the last time a stadium was built without public dollars. People like to chat about "developers building a privately-funded stadium in Tampa."

But remember, developers typically give land so their adjacent land goes up in value. They may even give $100-$150M of land for free. But they don't kick in $300, $400, or $500 million to build a stadium too.

Even with owner Stu Sternberg kicking in a large chunk of cash for a stadium, he said he can't do it alone. It's still a question of when St. Pete/Pinellas Co. will start kicking in some cash...and how much.

1 comment:

  1. Last stadium built on private dollars was AT&T park in San Francisco in 2001. Before that, Dodger Stadium in 1962.

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