It would be somewhat surprising to see Buckhorn, a Democrat, publicly endorse one of the three legit candidates in St. Pete this summer, because:
- He has a relationship to maintain with the current mayor, Bill Foster, a Republican;
- Polarizing Democrat Kathleen Ford supports an even tougher line with the Rays than Foster;
- And Kriseman, a Democrat, the only candidate to support giving the Rays some flexibility, appears to currently be running in third.
My feeling is most St. Pete voters actually support Foster's hard-line on enforcing the Rays' lease, but if Kriseman is looking for issues to differentiate himself from the field, the Stadium Saga appears to be an opportunity.
Well, I would think, if your St. Pete, you might as well get everything you can from the Rays & let'em leave before they leave for nothing...
ReplyDeleteThough Noah, I know you don't believe in the theory of Jeff, Stu, Bob, and other silent partners planning on building a sports mecca that would rival some of the best places like it in America at Channelside, though if I was in your "reporting" position, I would dig in to the idea to possibly benefit my career. If it's nothing, it's nothing, but if it's something, then it's going to really be something. If you read between the lines over the last few years, it all makes sense, and it is going to make some people a lot of money. Just think how ahead of the curve you'll be, and with your resources and your small influence on the political & public side of the equation, while other reporters are reporting old news like how Stu wants to move the Rays downtown, you'll reporting about the blueprints already drawn up, and how much Vinnik is investing in a new hotel that's going to over look the infield (which is how far along I believe they are)(smart rich businessmen don't sit back and do what politics say, especially if Tampa's gov. is on the in crowd, and won't tell on them). OR you can just sit back, and keep posting articles about how Billy losing elections or the Marlins attendance, lol. Hope it helps...
1) Brian, I would never let career goals get in the way of fair journalism.
ReplyDelete2) I agree St. Pete would like to "get everything (they) can from the Rays," but the team has yet to offer anything as a fair buy-out. St. Pete can't collect anything from a non-existent offer.
3) And if a sports team owner really wanted to build his own stadium, he would have proposed/done it by now. It's no secret - they'd like someone else to fund the majority of it for them, and that's the single-biggest holdup in all of this.
1) ? Journalism is your career, and every career should have goals. Let's just say there's those that are comfortable w/ doing the local weather, and then there's people that works hard to accomplish there goal to do the weather for the Weather Channel...
Delete2) My resources say St. Pete won't negotiate to help prolong the Rays stay in St. Pete; the Rays can't "offer anything" to someone that won't "collect"...
3) LOL, newsflash! the Rays are currently held back by Pinellas co.. It isn't a "secret", and it's not fair for Tampa to NOT make an investment towards the project, and reap the revenue benefits for the next century. Don't forget America is a big business, and the city of Tampa is NO different. And, if you definitely knew the truth, opposed to speculating, maybe through you, the people would actually know the truth opposed to this out-of-context, scare-tactic banter. Would you buy your boss dinner if you knew at dinner he was going to offer you a promotion?
4) Though I wanted to find out sooner then later if there's any truth to what other media outlets been reporting, I guess you'll just have to wait until some else breaks the news in the next year or so, until then I guess articles about how new stadiums are bad, and Marlins attendance stats will work, but don't sell these financial elitist & politicians in Tampa involved short...
5) Plus, I'll bet you, PJ, or anyone else 2015 Rays season tickets that within the next 2 years the Rays will announce there plans to build a new ballpark where ConAgra Foods plant is, any takers???
"any takers???" NO?
Delete?
Delete1) Should meteorologists sensationalize the weather just to get on the Weather Channel? No, just like a journalist shouldn't bend the truth to cheerlead a point.
Delete2) I have little confidence in your "resources."
3) The Rays aren't held back by the stadium search, they are held back by the MLB business model which makes it very hard for medium-market teams to compete every year:
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2011/08/rays-stadium-saga-is-mlbs-problem.html
Furthermore, if there was a big pot of money, Tampa would be free to build a stadium, but neither Tampa nor the Rays have - or want to spend - the money to fund a $500M stadium right now. That's why all the negotiating is being done through the media.
4) I'm really not sure what you're getting at here.
5) But if I bet (which I don't), I'd take you up on the offer. You should stop believing everything you see on message boards.
Well "Naive Noah", I guess were just going to have to agree to disagree. Oha, wait, what's this Tampa has 100 mill. for the Rays? LOL, step out of dark & get into the know Noah. Again, to your continued "use of taxes" argument, would you buy your boss dinner if he was going to offer a promotion during dinner? Same thing, paying a some money to get a lot more back. I know, I know, Tampa sucks & is broke, and future is bleek, and can NEVER in a century make their money back, lol...
DeleteNaive's a heavy word...
DeleteThanks for the much needed reality check Noah.
ReplyDeletePom-pom waving by fans as exhibited above has more to do with emotion
and ego than reality.
- Not a solicited response.