Trib Editorial Board Says Build Rays a New Stadium...or Else...Boogeyman

The Tampa Tribune has a rich history advocating for taxpayer-funded stadiums, and for the last five years or so, that's included a new Rays stadium:

• April 2010 - Trib launches all-out barrage on Tropicana Field
• June 2011 - Trib says Bill Foster is about to cost Tampa Bay its team
• Jan 2012 - Trib urges St. Pete to make contract concessions
• Oct 2012 - Trib wants to spend $600M to get Rays out of last place in attendance
• Jan 2013 - Trib says Bill Foster is about to cost Tampa Bay its team (again)
• Aug 2013 - Trib admits its rooting for Rays to move
• Aug 2013 - Trib warns Rays could be contracted
• Sept 2013 - Trib speculates wildly on Rays' future

This morning, the Trib editorial board again applauded Commissioner Ken Hagan's new efforts to launch Tampa stadium talks (just as it did in a similar editorial in June 2011).  The paper also continued to play to the boogeyman fears of every Rays fan in Florida:

As we’ve been saying for well over a year, there is no more time to wait for stadium discussions to begin. Getting a new stadium built, whether in Hillsborough or Pinellas, would be a gargantuan task taking years of negotiations and labor.
Long ago the Rays, and Major League Baseball, grew weary of the empty Tropicana seats. Another season or two with the lowest attendance — and with no plan in the works for a new stadium — is an invitation for the team to leave the market. And each passing year lessens the penalty the Rays face for breaking the lease.

It's not clear why the Trib thinks the Rays would do what no other team in memory has ever done: break an ironclad contract to flee town.

And its not clear why the Trib ignores the questions it posed in August 2013 that questioned whether a Tampa stadium would fare any better.  Or how it would be paid for.

But what is clear is that the Rays are winning the battle of public perception, despite their strong track record of making money and offering few details about how a new stadium could possibly be paid for.