Trib Says it Won't Speculate on Stadium Saga; Then Speculates on Stadium Saga

A day after the Tampa Bay Times' editorial board took another swipe at the Stadium Saga, their counterparts from the Tampa Tribune followed suit with "Striking Out at Tropicana Field."

The Trib's editorial board proclaimed, "we won’t venture here into all of the reasons put forth over the years as to why people don’t attend the games."  And then, it ventured into a reason it thinks people don't attend games (the stadium):

We just know Tropicana Field is a failure as a baseball venue. The empty seats this week should eliminate any notion of forcing the team to play there until 2027, the final year of its lease with St. Petersburg.

The Trib makes no acknowledgement that Floridians are often fair-weathered toward professional teams and maybe - just maybe - a move to Tampa may not increase attendance all that much.  In fact, the editorial concludes a new downtown Tampa stadium would draw big crowds.

But to the Trib's credit, at least the editorial board acknowledged some of the fault of the stalemate should be directed toward the Rays and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.  Unlike the Times' editorial board, which continues to give Selig & Sternberg a free pass, the Trib pointed out neither executive has been forthcoming about any possible concessions they may make in ending their current contract early.