Tampa Bay Times: End the destructive stadium standoff
No surprise, the Rays' cheerleaders-in-chief opined once again for St. Pete councilmember to concede on the MOU:
Unless the Rays can begin a regional search for a new ballpark soon, the County Commission says it may pledge critical resort tax dollars to a different project, a massive midcounty sports complex. That could gut the region's capacity to finance a new major-league stadium and forestall Tropicana Field redevelopment for a decade.Actually, it wouldn't gut Hillsborough's bonding capacity...and isn't that where everyone wants the Rays to play anyway? The editorial continues:
The pitfalls of St. Petersburg's foot-dragging on Major League Baseball have been foreseeable for years. The County Commission, which controls the resort tax, invested as much in the Trop as St. Petersburg did to attract a major-league team. The commission deserves the chance to help preserve that investment for a new generation of fans.
Field of Schemes: There is no stalemate
Love this paragraph from Neil deMause:
That word “stalemate” showed up in just about every news story on the Pinellas talks today, and it’s dead wrong: The St. Petersburg council isn’t stuck making a decision, people. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg has a lease that runs through 2027, and he asked to buy his way out of it, and the St. Pete council said, “No, thanks.” A stalemate implies an impasse toward a needed decision, but a decision’s been made here — Sternberg isn’t happy with it, but it’s done unless he chooses to make another offer.
Shadow of the Stadium: Rays refused deals that could've allowed Toytown talks
This link directs you to a quick comment I posted on this site that echoes deMause's sentiment - Sternberg and the Rays are able to look at sites in Pinellas. Maybe Pinellas Commissioners should redirect some of their frustrations to the profitable corporation that's refusing to talk because of a 2010 ultimatum they gave to the city of St. Pete?
A brief history of Times editorials on the Stadium Saga:
- 9/29/15 - Times Doubles Down Support for Rays Sympathizers
- 8/2/15 - Times: We Want Rays to Look in Tampa, but Pinellas Should Raise Taxes Now Anyway Just in Case
- 7/23/15 - In trying to advance stadium interests, newspapers may do opposite
- 6/14/15 - Opportunity cost of keeping Rays costing St. Pete big
- 6/4/15 - Council blind to economic opportunities at Trop
- 5/30/15 - Times cranks up pressure on opponents of Rays compromise
- 5/28/15 - Hurry up and pass MOU or else we'll have to hurry up in a few years
- 3/31/15 - Times suggests replacing councilmembers who oppose MOU
- 3/28/15 - Maybe council will finally listen to us?
- 2/23/15 - Sternberg wrong to hate on St. Pete council...that's our job!
- 2/20/15 - St. Pete should just give up now
- 12/10/14 - It's in St. Pete's financial interest to let the Rays go to Tampa
- 11/7/14 - St. Pete should amend contract b/c Rays lost their manager, GM
- 10/3/14 - Cheers, warning on Hillsborough negotiations
- 6/30/14 - Save Pinellas tax money for new stadium
- 3/31/14 - Hurry Up! Only 14 More Years to Solve Stadium Stalemate!
- 1/1/14 - Kriseman Should Solve Stadium Stalemate Within "Months"
- 12/1/13 - Message to Kriseman: no time to waste
- 11/12/13 - New mayor will bring an open mind to the negotiations
- 11/6/13 - New mayor should renew discussions with Rays
- And a bevy of Bill-Foster bashing too: Oct. 2013 | Sept. 2013 | Sept. 2013 | Feb 2013 | Feb 2013 | Jan 2013 | Jan 2013 | Oct 2012 | April 2012
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It's funny how everyone besides the Rays are, and have been for years, in a frenzy for info on the "Stadium Saga", including politicians, the media, and the people. The Rays aren't pushing the agenda nor boasting much about it. Why? Because it isn't nor has stopped them from doing what they need to do to set-up the plans of their move, and Channelside is still a few years away from being as ready for them. So while yinz get all indulged in every detail & report, the Rays will continue to work quietly behind the scenes, while living at the Trop for cheap...
ReplyDeleteIt's just like when teams calmly "tank" a few years for better draft picks to develop, while everyone else frets about every game lost, every year, until they make the playoffs, then it's all good, and it's like the tanking never happened, e.i. the Astros...
"The Rays aren't pushing the agenda nor boasting much about it."
DeleteDepending on how you qualify pushing. Sternberg interviews last winter is not what I qualify a quiet way of working behind the scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBfNhf0qy38
And when Sternberg says publicly that he will not sit down ans wait until 2023 (knowing it will take at least 5 years from a MOU to a new stadium), there's not a lot of years ahead to tank and wait like the Astros.
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/rays/sternberg-calls-deal-fair-says-with-no-new-stadium-team-likely-to-be-sold/2209548
So I think the Astros ways of doing things in not applicable to Sternberg.
Now that Manfred is in the driver seat, we will probably see some actions after the D7 election.
Another council member want to propose a deal that he personally validated the feasibility with Rays senior vice president and general counsel John Higgins.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tampabay.com/blogs/baybuzz/gerdes-tweaks-rays-strategy-kills-resolution/2248916
Again, too many cooks in the kitchen.
"Too many cooks" Pat, what's your address? I will mail you a book that describes the basics of representative democracy. If you don't like deliberative democracy, either don't ask government for hundred million dollar stadiums OR move to Sochi.
Delete