Dick Vitale may loathe Trop attendance, but he's throwing his support behind the city of St. Pete's "Baseball Forever" campaign to build a new Rays ballpark on the Pinellas side of Tampa Bay:
But the bigger question remains, WHY ARE TAMPA AND ST. PETE COMPETING OVER THE RAYS? Nobody stands to lose more than the taxpayer when you hand a pro sports team free leverage.
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Isn't the best choice the Westshore area in Tampa? And there is a great site for the new stadium on land that is already owned.. The site is in Tampa, where most people want it..
ReplyDeleteRocky Point Golf Course
In fact, I have heard that it is being talked about under the radar. Have not seen it discussed in the papers.
1. Makes a lot of sense -Owned by the Sports Authority now. No land acquisition costs/problems. Could be sold to the Rays for, say, $5 million.
2. Easy access off the Veterans, central location, near hotels, Westshore,downtown , etc. Neighborhood should like it-makes it like Wrigleyville.
3. 100 plus acres of open land-doesn't have the issues of the displacing high school, Heights, etc. high acquisition costs
4. Lots of extra land for development, parking, commercial stuff, which means Profit potential for Sports Authority if they keep the land or if Rays buy the property, for them to offset cost of stadium
5 Golf course loses money now.
MOST IMPORTANT: The excess land, after stadium and ample parking, could be sold to developers by Sports Authority or the Rays -reduces overall cost,money to Sports Authority-turns loser into big winner, no tourism tax
You forget the most important thing - who's going to pay for a stadium in Hillsborough Co?
DeleteDevelopment rights, which the Rays want to keep for future revenues, won't come close to the cost of a stadium.
Rocky Point is best location and most cost effective-no land acquisition cost, development rights offset cost. The issue of who pays is there for any site-Rocky point site means much less money. Who has a better site?
ReplyDeleteYou'd be surprised that development rights won't cover the cost of a stadium....or else private developers would be building stadiums all over the place.
DeleteDevelopment rights don't have to cover-just offset some of the costs. In any event, this is still the best location and lower cost than anything else.Who is to pay is a question about all the sites-again, this site has more going for it than tearing down a high school, an apartment complex, staying in St. Pete, etc.And the development rights are worth much more than a golf course that loses money.
ReplyDelete