This weekend, the St. Pete Times had an article about a flea market mogul offering land in Pinellas Park to the Rays for a new stadium. No surprise, he still hasn't heard back from the team four months later.
While a huge plot of land is nice - as I've explained several times - land isn't a problem for the Rays; financing is.
In other stadium news, Neil deMause over at Field of Schemes talks about a possible "ticket tax" that could help build a new arena in Edmonton.
I imagine that kind of idea would be popular in Tampa Bay. Surcharge the people who attend the games instead of everyone. This kins of plan would work better in Pinellas Co, where the funding gap is much smaller than it would be in Hillsborough County.
However, as deMouse explains, the problems with a ticket surcharge include possibly diminishing the benefit of a new stadium if the extra cost keeps people away and the damage price hikes can inflict on owners' profits. A lot of fans would have to think hard about spending an extra $5 (or more) per game just to go to a new stadium.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Exactly - it's easier for the owners/MLB to fleece the entire city and do it under the radar. Never mind that many people who won't even attend games will end up on the hook to pay for the stadium. And the true cost can be stretched out into onerous long-term debt obligations.
ReplyDeleteIf Sternberg wants public dollars, then he should open up his books to a full accounting and provide concrete info on the supposed benefits of the stadium. Then there needs to be a control instated to prevent this kind of contract-breaking routine the next time he decides that they want a bigger palace to play in. i.e. - shares in the team; stiff penalties, etc.
It's just idiotic to keep agreeing to this ridiculous profiteering from people that have done nothing but reap benefits with absolutely no investments or commitments. Let's see how stoked the real fans are when they have to pay an additional $20 a ticket.