(For what it's worth, Romano wrote in April about how the Rays' contract with St. Pete is "very close" to ironclad)
- "The region must get it right because it's highly unlikely we'll get a third chance."
- "Wherever the Rays play, some fans are going to have to drive across the bay bridges," implying fans should get over it.
- "Cut 15 minutes off the time it takes most fans to get to the stadium and the Rays still will have empty seats."
So how many more fans are needed to warrant the investment?
Thirty-thousand? That would bump the Rays up to 15th out of 30 teams and would mean an extra 870,000 fans a year. But 30,000/game seems unsustainable given the fact that the Marlins only drew 27,400 in their first season and playoff teams like Cincinnati and Baltimore only drew 28,978 and 26,610, respectively, this year despite their modern stadiums.
Twenty-five thousand? That would bump the Rays up to 24th in the league in attendance and mean 465,000 more fans a year. But there's a big question if the Marlins could draw that many next year or if the Rays - by moving from a county with 900,000 residents to a county with 1.1 million residents could either.
Twenty-three thousand? Is it worth $500-600 million for 303,000 fans a year? If the ticket average is $25, that's $7.5 million a year for the Rays. Add parking and concessions and maybe it's $15 million a year for the Rays. Might just be cheaper for Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties to hand the team an annual tax credit.
Back to the Trib, the editorial board implies a Rays departure from St. Pete is imminent: "Because its attendance is the poorest in Major League Baseball, the Rays will not remain in Tropicana Field much longer, regardless of the lease with St. Petersburg."
That's a bold assumption given no track record of MLB teams breaking seemingly ironclad contracts. But the Trib probably was right when it conceded, "Whatever compensation (St. Petersburg) negotiates, or is awarded, it likely will be much less than the value of keeping the Rays as a regional asset."
Which begs the question, "Do the City of St. Pete and Pinellas County owe it to Tampa Bay to give up the equity they've built in the Rays?" And should the rest of Tampa Bay (i.e. Hillsborough Co.) pay them for it if they hop across the bay?
Well, in my opinion, St. Pete needs to come to the realization that they should be lucky they have had a pro team for all these years anyway. St. Pete isn't what it used to be in the 80's and 90's. St. Pete is 77th in the the US pop., and has the lowest pop. in America for a sports team besides Magic, Jazz, Arizona Cardinals, Packers, and maybe 1 or 2 two others like the Panthers hockey, with a lot less when the snowbirds go north for the summer, and should take the money, put it into there city, and try to attract another minor league team. Besides, it's not like they could sell everything in the Trop to the Rays for there new stadium to save money, scrap metal, and sell the land, it's a good location. Either or, the money from a new ballpark isn't about coming from us buying $10 tix, sneaking in our own beer, and sitting it lower box seats, it's about the big businesses that St. Pete lacks that buy a lot of season tix, and luxury boxes. I mean what would WTSP rely on, 10 sec. advertising from small sub shops, and hole-in-the-wall bars around the area, OR advertising from Sweetbay, Publix, Morgan and Morgan, Suntrust, etc.???, Plus as far as being centrally located, i'd tell a lot of people from St. Pete beach to move to Brandon...
ReplyDeleteSorry, I posted before I reread...
ReplyDelete"Well, in my opinion, St. Pete needs to come to the realization that they should just be lucky they have had a pro team for all these years. St. Pete isn't what it used to be in the 80's and 90's. St. Pete is 77th in the the US pop., and has the lowest pop. in America for a sports team besides Magic, Jazz, Arizona Cardinals, Packers, and maybe 1 or 2 two others like the Panthers hockey, with a lot less when the snowbirds go north for the summer. They should simply take the money, put it into there city, and try to attract another minor league team if they want baseball. Besides, it's not like they couldn't sell everything in the Trop to the Rays for there new stadium to make more money, and save the Rays money, scrap metal, and sell the land, it's a good location for developmental. Either or, as far as the added profits with a new park compared to now, it isn't about more of us buying $10 tix, sneaking in our own beer, and sneaking down to sit in lower box seats as much as it is about the big businesses that St. Pete lacks that buy a lot of season tix, and luxury boxes. I mean what does WTSP rely on, 10 sec. advertising from small sub shops, and hole-in-the-wall bars around the area, OR advertising from Sweetbay, Publix, Morgan and Morgan, Suntrust, etc.? And also, building a "new" park isn't as much as about the park it self like most times then it is about being a part of a bigger plan, not just a place to go watch baseball, but an area of great family fun that includes Major League baseball. Plus, as far as being "centrally located", i'd tell a lot of people from St. Pete beach to plan on moving to Brandon..."
Anonymous -
ReplyDeleteYour comments about St. Pete's size relative to other markets is correct but irrelevant. The fact that Glendale hosts the Arizona Cardinals, for example, doesn't mean that the team is not really a Phoenix team. Nobody calls them the "Auburn Hills Pistons," for example, and no one called Detroit's football team the Pontiac Lions when they played in the Silverdome.
Second, I get what you're saying about St. Pete being more of a minor-league city ... but realize that Tampa itself would be a thoroughly minor-league market without St. Pete. The two cities *need* each other. How would you expect the nation's 53rd-largest city (Tampa) to hold onto three major-league sports franchises without the support of the residents of the 77th-largest city, just a few miles away?
That said, there are definitely problems with keeping the Rays in the Trop. I'm skeptical about the property's redevelopment value at the moment, but I suppose anything's possible with the passage of enough time. The fact that Sternberg won't even talk about the Carillon site unless he can talk to Hillsborough County gives away the game right there. He's not interested in a better stadium for the Rays. He's interested in a better stadium for the Rays *in Tampa.* Whether his stubbornness is coming from hard feelings over what happened with the waterfront stadium idea or not, I couldn't say. But he does seem to have his mind made up in favor of an option that is by no means guaranteed to solve the franchise's problems on its own.
- spencer
You're right about the city names of other teams that play outside there repped cities, but besides those teams during there championship years where fans will tend to travel to see winners, there's a reason why a lot of teams are building there new stadiums downtown then out in the country like those built a long time ago. Teams understand these days the average fan will be more likely to attend a game if it's close, and it's "the place to be"...
DeleteTampa is a better city w/ St. Pete, and Clearwater as neighbors. Though, unlike how Pinellas co. pop. has declined over 5k in the last 10 years, with St. Pete losing about 3k of that compared to Tampa gaining over 30k, with Hills. co. gaining over 200k in the last 10 years, not including places like Brandon, W.Chapel, Riverview, etc. pop. sharply rising...
With all that said, with the Rays being the most popular team in Central Fla., the (greater than St. Pete) population to support them, AND the idea of building not just a new ballpark, but an area of entertainment that could rival other places like so in the US, a new Trop. @ Channelside in theory works-out...