What Election Day 2012 Means to the Rays

While Election Day 2012 won't prove itself as consequential to the Rays as Election Day 2009, it could play a role in how the Stadium Saga plays out in upcoming years.

In Pinellas County, Janet Long and Charlie Justice join incumbant Ken Welch as victorious Democrats, while a pair of incumbant Republicans fell (Neil Brickfield, Nancy Bostock).  While the new commission may be less conservative than in years past, don't expect a big shift in its approach toward new stadium discussions.  Long and Justice didn't differ from their opponents much on a recent Rays-related questionnaire.

In Hillsborough County, the two commissioners who voted against inviting the Rays to the table - Al Higginbotham and Kevin Beckner - both won re-election Tuesday.  But it's not the worst news for the Rays since Higginbotham hasn't been an obstuctionist and Beckner's opponent seemed even less likely to participate in stadium dialogue.

The next major election the team will be eyeing will be St. Petersburg's municipal elections, which will determine next fall if Bill Foster gets another four years as mayor/nemesis.

The NFL & the Concussion Crisis

After 11 NFL seasons without a serious injury, Anthony Becht considers himself one of the lucky ones.

"Have I had a full-fledged concussion in my career? No," Becht said. "But I've gotten 'dinged.' "

Yet Becht - like so many other NFL players - says he accepted the risk to enjoy a successful career.

"Football is football; there's going to be contact. When I signed up for this thing, I knew there was the potential for...injury that could end my career."

But advocates for concussion research and doctors alike suggest football players aren't fully comprehending the severe brain damage - and consequences - they are putting themselves at-risk for.

Continue reading here.

Banning Youth Contact Sports?

Last night, I reported on new research and suggestions from Boston University doctors that indicate no child under the age of 14 should be playing contact sports.  The research shows their brains simply aren't developed enough to sustain multiple head hits, and even without evidence of concussions, dead cells and an "old man's" disease called CTE was found in former athletes as young as 18.

Watch the powerful video and controversial suggestions here.

Where Pinellas Commission Candidates Stand on the Rays Stadium Saga

As the Stadium Saga draws multiple municipalities into a drawn-out "chess match," the Pinellas Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) expects to play an important role in discussions. And Election Day will decide who the county's decision-makers will be.

WTSP takes a look at where commission candidates stand when it comes to keeping the Rays in Pinellas County or working with Hillsborough toward a Tampa stadium.

Read the story here.

Where Hillsborough Commission Candidates Stand on the Rays Stadium Saga

With the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) ready to sit down with the Tampa Bay Rays to discuss their future in the Tampa Bay area, Nov. 6 could prove instrumental in which elected officials decide the team's fate.

WTSP takes a look at which commission candidates support chairman Ken Hagan's push for a new stadium, and which would like to see the county go in a different direction.

Read the story here.

Otto: "Lure of Taxpayer-Funded Palaces Continues"

At the bottom of his Monday morning column, Steve Otto from the Tampa Tribune joins his colleague Joe Henderson in sympathizing with St. Pete Mayor Bill Foster:

In the "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree" department, I can understand why St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster told the Tampa Bay Rays he didn't want them sneaking across the bay and taking a look at possible venue sites for a new baseball stadium.

The poor mayor knows he doesn't have money or geography in his favor.

The siren song of new money, new movers and shakers ready to buy a luxury box or two, and most of all a state-of-the-art baseball arena would be difficult to shake. Owners and fans alike have been tossed against the rocks by promises of success if only they are willing to cough up a half-billion dollars to make it happen.

The lure of taxpayer-funded palaces continues. And it will happen, just as surely as local merchants will continue to suffer around the empty hockey arena and the University of South Florida follows through on its plan to pull out of Raymond James Stadium when its deal is up and the Bulls get their own new stadium, possibly near or even on the USF golf course.

That so much can be spent on stadiums and arenas when so many of us only want less traffic and storm drains that work is also difficult to understand. But, hey, there is always room for one more stadium, one more arena, no matter what the cost.

Rays Amendment Rejection Redux

Mayor Bill Foster's Friday rejection of the Rays' amendment proposal got a bit of play over the weekend, even though the editorial pages were surprisingly quiet (don't worry, there's always the upcoming week).

Sports talk hosts couldn't stop talking about the decision, which provided me a nice opportunity to chat about the topic with WDAE's J.P. Peterson during his Saturday show.  But in a point I've made before, I asked J.P. how many fans would make a $600 million stadium worth it?

Our conversation ultimately went in a different direction, but J.P. and I agreed the Rays' biggest problem was the lack of convenient transportation options for fans in Tampa Bay.  It doesn't have to do with driving across a bridge, but Downtown Tampa - even with a stadium - will never look like Denver's LoDo or Seattle's SoDo or Boston's Fenway neighborhoods because it doesn't have light rail. 

The Tampa Tribune alludes to the issue in comparing Baltimore's stadium district to Downtown Tampa.


Elsewhere in the papers this weekend, no news on the Bud Selig front; Marc Topkin reports the commissioner wasn't happy with Foster's stance on the Rays' contract but isn't doing anything about it right now.

But the most interesting thing to ponder from this weekend - was whether Foster's transparent case for public support accomplished anything.

He wrote to Stuart Sternberg, "when you became the principal owner of the Rays in 2005, you did so with your eyes wide open, fully aware of this history, and with full knowledge of the commitments made by your predecessors just ten years earlier."

"The potential for attendance challenges was foreseeable in 1995, and discussed at length during negotiations," Foster continued.  "And thus, the City bargained away some of its interests in exchange for a thirty year agreement that could not be terminated on the basis of attendance."

Those words weren't directed to the Rays' owner, but indirectly, all of Foster's critics who think he's going to chase the team out of town.

Foster Rejects Rays' Proposed Contract Amendment

St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster's response to the Rays' request for a contract amendment is a resounding and definitive "no."

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Foster sent a letter to Stuart Sternberg telling the Rays to back off their attempts to speak to Hillsborough about its future:

Foster said the only way to preserve the interests of the city is not to let the team look for stadiums outside St. Petersburg or the Pinellas Gateway area.

The Rays, Foster said, have a written obligation to play 1,215 more regular season games at Tropicana Field.

"Make no mistake," Foster wrote. "This is not about money, and the city has absolutely no interest in winding down our relationship prior to 2027."

It's no surprise the response reeks of legalese since Foster, a lawyer by trade, has been working in lock-step with St. Petersburg City Attorney John Wolfe.  But Foster may be right in that the only way to preserve a city's legal leverage in a pro sports contract is to hold firm and avoid a public tug-of-war.

St. Pete's stance has always been that it's contract is ironclad.  They've also subtly indicated if the Rays want to change the agreement, they should bring ideas to the table.

Sternberg considered his latest proposal fair and, like Tampa baseball fans, won't get any warm & fuzzy feelings reading the letter.  Even Bud Selig is frustrated.  But at this point, nobody should be surprised that Foster is holding his ground.

When Does Ironclad Mean Ironclad?

The New York Islanders announced a move to Brooklyn yesterday, complete with 25-year "ironclad" lease.

The Rays supposedly have one of those too (a 30-year deal), but everyone insists they will get out of it.  Of course, few of those people are contract lawyers.

Since pro teams are better at these kind of negotiations than municipalities, there is reason to believe the two contracts are similar (I haven't read the Islanders' contract).

So if the Islanders' contract is "ironclad," so is the Rays', right?  Or is it that promises of an "ironclad" lease is simply a hollow one?

Stadium Financing Caucus Nears Report Release

The long-awaited "Baseball Stadium Financing Caucus" report on just how to pay for a new Rays stadium appears to finally be nearing completion.  Robert Trigaux with the Tampa Bay Times reports Chuck Sykes and members of the Tampa and St. Petersburg chambers of commerce will publicize their findings soon:

An early executive summary emphasizes the importance of finding ways to pay for at least a portion of a new stadium — estimated to at $500 million to $600 million — with public funding. Mindful of today's antitax sentiment, the report looks at bond financing that could be used to raise money for a stadium. The bonds could be paid for by existing taxes used to cover debts that will soon be paid off. That would make tax money available for stadium funding — without the need for new taxes.

Even Trigaux acknowledges the preliminary findings are "rather basic," since there has only been one baseball stadium built in the last 50 years without public funding.

When the study was launched in June 2011, I wrote, "with no taxing authority, the group of businessmen may be hard-pressed to do anything more than lobby for a multi-county tax and tax breaks for the project.  These are some very powerful business leaders determined to make things happen, but if funding a stadium was as simple as pooling their private dollars, we wouldn't be in the current stalemate."

So what new ground will the report break that the ABC Coalition didn't already identify?  In May 2010, Craig Sher, de-facto spokesman for the ABC coalition, said "it's just not going to happen," with regards to a new stadium without public financing.

"There's not that kind of revenue and profit-potential in Major League sports - particularly baseball - to privately-finance a whole stadium," Sher said.

So where will all the money come from?  Will the chambers of commerce address the elephant in the room and take the bold political step of suggesting a multi-county tax?

After several delays in releasing the report, anything from the caucus this fall that breaks the stadium stalemate would be a welcome sight for many Rays fans.  However, it wouldn't be a good idea to hold your breath.

Another Day, Another Times Editorial Whacking Bill Foster

Sure, the Tampa Bay Times editorial board recently complimented Bill Foster, but this week, it was right back to its favorite activity, criticizing the mayor.

Today's editorial indicated the mayor was stuck in 1986, and his approach toward the Stadium Saga "may get him to next year's election for mayor, but in the long run it is a losing one for the city":

Yet in St. Petersburg City Hall, it's still 1986. That is when the bitter fight between St. Petersburg and Tampa over baseball ended and the St. Petersburg City Council voted to build the domed stadium now called Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay has matured since then, cooperation has replaced old rivalries and the Rays have played at the Trop for 15 seasons. Only St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster and City Attorney John Wolfe remain in denial, stuck in the past and fighting outdated parochial battles over another baseball stadium.
...

For those scoring at home, the Rays reasonably want to look in both Pinellas and Hillsborough counties for a site for a new stadium to replace the outdated Trop. A regional franchise needs to look at its entire market, and the Rays have ranked at or near the bottom in attendance despite fielding a competitive, entertaining team. Foster refuses to let the Rays look outside St. Petersburg or nearby Pinellas.

This is a fatally flawed strategy. Every year that ticks off the lease makes it easier for the Rays to leave Tampa Bay. Pinellas County commissioners understand the need for a regional discussion, and they plan to meet with the Rays. So do Hillsborough County commissioners, who should not back down. So does Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. So does the business community on both sides of the bay. So do pragmatic St. Petersburg City Council members such as Jeff Danner and Charles Gerdes. The number of public officials hiding with Foster behind pinched legal opinions shrinks by the month.

As I've written before, the "every year that ticks off the lease" argument doesn't hold water since every year that St. Pete keeps the Rays at the Trop, it's recovering part of the investment it made in the team.

And while the Times is quick to bash Foster for not giving in to the Rays' request, it hasn't held team owner Stuart Sternberg to the same standards.  The newspaper has repeatedly suggested Sternberg offer St. Pete financial compensation for the right to expand the stadium search, but there was zero suggestion of such a proposal in the Rays' recent reply to the city.

Vinik Suspends Channelside Pursuit

Citing "a significant legal hurdle, beyond our control, (that) could not be overcome," Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik announced this morning he has withdrawn his bid for Tampa's struggling Channelside Bay Plaza.

The once-popular-but-now-foreclosed-on complex, adjacent to Vinik's holdings around the Tampa Bay Times Forum, is owned by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.  However, it is controlled by the Tampa Port Authority.  Which means, Vinik's bid - the only one deemed worthy by the Port earlier this year - must get approval from both parties.

The problem stems from the fact that the Port wants whichever owner is best for Downtown Tampa, while the bank simply wants whichever owner is best for its bottom line.  The Port Authority can reject any bank-approved buyer it doesn't think has a good vision for Downtown Tampa.  Likewise, the bank can reject any Port Authority-approved buyer it doesn't think is bringing enough cash to the table.

The bank and port have been negotiating for months, while Vinik has patiently awaited.....until now.

Compare this episode to a home-buyer waiting on a bank to approve a short sell; but after months and months of waiting, the prospective buyer decides to just buy somewhere else, with no inconveniences.

Vinik didn't close the door on his Channelside pursuit, merely "suspended" his efforts.

And for those wondering what it means for the Rays-to-Tampa efforts....it means nothing.  Land, after all, has never been an obstacle in the stadium saga.

St. Pete Weighing Legal Leverage

The Tampa Bay Times took a closer look this weekend at what the City of St. Petersburg stands to gain - and lose - by allowing the Rays to speak to Hillsborough County about its future (albiet in generic terms only):

The team's recent request to explore sites in Hillsborough County has a potential downside: It could weaken the city's legal position if the Rays try to leave town without permission, several lawyers said last week.
...
"The more aggressively defensive the city is, the more litigation oriented they are," (Stetson University professor James) Fox said, "they could weaken their negotiating position to get a more advantageous settlement."

Council member Charles Gerdes said that very juggling act is his main concern: How to balance contractual strength with negotiating possibilities.

I've covered the issue of leverage before, as well as what Mayor Bill Foster is thinking in standing behind St. Petersburg's contract.

Sure, every year that goes by diminishes the city's leverage in seeking compensation if the Rays leave, but every year that goes by also means another year of MLB in St. Petersburg, so it's basically a moot point.

The Times even pointed out Minnesota got a one-year injunction against the Twins when contraction was on the table and only one year remained on their contract.

Of course, Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan says he's moving forward with his Tampa-based Rays stadium discussions anyway...he just won't mention specific sites:

When Rays leaders travel to Tampa to speak with the County Commission, Hagan said, he’ll ask if they want to move to Hillsborough County, assuming the county attorney doesn’t stop him from asking the question. Hillsborough County should be fine as long as it doesn’t talk about specific streets and sites for a new stadium, Hagan said.

WFTS-TV also quotes Hagan as saying the Rays "(a)re not going to remain at the Trop until 2027."  Of course, the station didn't ask the commissioner what he was basing that assumption on, but there's no evidence there are any viable markets right now for the Rays to move to, nor the legal grounds for them to break their contract.

Still, Hagan said, "I don't want to see them be the Charlotte Rays, or the Las Vegas Rays, or the San Antonio Rays."

In Hagan's defense, he has always said he supports a Pinellas stadium if it means keeping the team in Florida.  But asking the team if they'd like to play in Hillsborough does neither Pinellas County, nor the taxpayers who could one day pay for a new Rays stadium, any favors.

Meanwhile, the Rays lay low in the discussion, awaiting their day in front of Hillsborough Commission.  Because saying anything more right now could disrupt the cycle of newspapers, television stations, and sports talk hosts negotiating down the region's leverage themselves.

St. Pete Threatens to Sue Hillsborough over Rays

Let the tug-of-war begin!

The Tampa Bay Times is reporting the City of St. Pete has told Hillsborough commissioners to essentially cease and desist their conversations with the Rays:

The threat came in a letter from St. Petersburg City Attorney John Wolfe to Hillsborough County attorneys. It marks an escalation of tension between the city and Hillsborough commissioners, who in August invited the Rays to appear before them to talk about baseball.

The Rays accepted the invitation, but a meeting date has not yet been set.

Hillsborough Commission Chairman Ken Hagan, who once offered to "be the boyfriend that causes the divorce'' between St. Petersburg and the Rays, consulted his attorneys before inviting the Rays to meet. His attorneys concluded that any legal threat from St. Petersburg was minimal.

On Thursday, Hagan shrugged off St. Petersburg's threat and said he was "still excited about having the Rays speak to our board.

"I am confident in the legal opinion of the county attorney's office," Hagan told the Tampa Bay Times. "I am saddened by Mr. Wolfe's attempt to prevent the Rays from remaining in the Tampa Bay region."
...
But Mayor Bill Foster had this to say:

Hillsborough County can talk to the Rays about how to draw more fans from across the bay or marketing programs to increase attendance at Tropicana Field. But, he said, "it would be improper for them to have any discussions regarding the Rays playing anywhere outside Tropicana Field.

"We're still looking for a St. Petersburg solution."

Hagan extended the invitation to the Rays after county attorneys said commissioners, as third parties, were not bound by the Trop contract.

In a written analysis, Robert Brazel, a managing attorney in the county's litigation division, wrote that the county would open itself to lawsuit only if it damaged St. Petersburg and such damages would be difficult to prove "unless a new stadium is ultimately constructed in Hillsborough County" and St. Petersburg is not compensated for the team's loss.

But his memo also was cautionary. It suggested that the commission not delve into any discussion of stadium location and simply allow the Rays to talk about their intentions, long-term plans and goals.

Yes, We Get it, There is Land for a Stadium in Downtown Tampa

It's now two straight days the Tampa Bay Times has suggested land is available for a Downtown Tampa stadium despite any real indication the people in control of the land are interested in building a stadium.

Today, the Times reported "ConAgra's flour mill is key to unlocking downtown Tampa development — and maybe baseball." 

And also, maybe not.

Maybe the land could be used for a basketball arena, or a new theme park, or "3001: Space Odyssy," the world's largest strip club.  The point is, there's been no indication anyone with any land or money downtown has taken the first step toward planning a ballpark.  And it's not like land is in high demand in Tampa (money for a stadium, however, is!)

Meanwhile, Vinik appears to be closing in on Channelside Bay Plaza, the mall-like venue due east of the Forum.  He's one of Tampa's most popular businessmen and would be praised by the city for bringing the Rays across the bay, but Vinik knows better than to wade into the Stadium Stalemate anytime soon.