Chances are Selig won’t do anything other than make that visit. He’ll decry the attendance woes at Tropicana Field. He’ll continue to say that the team needs a long-term solution. Yet when he attempts to proselytize St. Pete Mayor Bill Foster and other pols, he’ll do so with the knowledge that he has very little leverage in the matter.NewBallpark.org added its now been 53 months since Selig promised "intervention" in the San Francisco Bay area, with no tangible progress to show for it. But Layer has an interesting take on the Rays' situation...click here to read more of it.
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Contrast that with our home situation, where the Giants have all the leverage over the A’s internally with MLB and MLB has leverage over San Jose. As we saw with MLB’s response to the antitrust lawsuit, they’re perfectly willing to shove the antitrust exemption in San Jose’s face when they feel they have power. What about in St. Pete, where they have little power? How about using ATE now, Bud?
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Look on the bright side. 14 years is a long time to save money. Bud should suggest a Rays ballpark layaway plan. That’s part of the way we fund infrastructure in California. The BART-to-Silicon Valley extension is being partly funded by accrued sales tax increment. Only when the revenues hit certain targets will the full extension to downtown San Jose take place. Both Tampa and St. Petersburg have indicated they have limited funds to throw at what will surely be a $600-800 million (in today’s dollars) stadium when all is said and done. Even with some sort of out-of-the-box financing plan, there still will be a major public component, which is unsavory to say the least.
Monday, August 19, 2013
A New Rays Stadium...on Layaway?
Marine Layer, the talented founder of NewBallpark.org, this blog's counterpart that tracks the Athletics' stadium stalemate, penned some thoughts this weekend on Bud Selig's promise to "intervene" in Tampa Bay:
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Funny, I was struck today reading in the Tampa Bay Times about the foreclosure proceedings against the so-called "Happy Heckler," the obnoxious leatherlung who used to heckle opposing players at the Trop, whose ridiculous shouts and squawks were an embarrassment to both the team and the region. And I thought, I'll bet there are still folks who won't go to Rays games today because they think they'll still be subjected to his obnoxious behavior.
ReplyDeleteThat the Rays allowed him to go on as long as they did is part of the sad, sad legacy of this franchise, that no amount of rebranding or winning teams can wash away. Only time and the fading of memories will do that.
You must never been at a game surrounded by Red Sux fans! lol
DeleteAlso Brendan, you seem not to like baseball or the Tampa Bay area or anything else for that matter, so why do you even take the time to post comments on here? I guess this blog is the only place other people will read your Debby-Downer opinions...
B: If I didn't like the Tampa Bay area, I wouldn't live here. Where do you live, by the way?
DeleteAlso think you are (again) missing my point, so I'll just reiterate it: The boorish behavior of that one fan, whose squawks and shouts were heard on televisions throughout the country whenever Rays home games were broadcast to other markets, were an embarrassment to both the team and the region. It was about as bush league as bush league can get. It went on for years and years.
But if Tampa Bay wishes to continue taking pride in the obnoxious behavior of an individual fan, that's their business. But the rest of the country was laughing at you.
Calling Marine Layer your "counterpart" is a real disservice to him. The most glaring difference between you two is he's accepted the team can't keep operating in the same environment. He doesn't prop up the A's attendance by comparing it to the Marlins or April attendance in Minnesota, or Cubs attendance figures from 1981. Nor does he use his blog as "no public funding for stadiums" soapbox, which this site seems to be in its entirety.
ReplyDeletePeople from Bahstun seems to like the "soapbox" approach to prove their points, like how the sky's falling when the Red Sux lose a few games... lol
DeleteSo much for that comment, David:
Deletehttp://newballpark.org/2013/08/25/on-subsidies-and-votes/
A's contract up: 2014
ReplyDeleteRays' contract up: 2027
I suppose no team has ever gotten out of a term of use contract early. I suppose we should be greatful the previous owners only agreed to 30 years, just imagine if it had been 50.
ReplyDelete