This is an archived version of a Field of Schemes article. Comments on this page are closed. To find the current version of the article with updated comments, click here.
May 22, 2009
Rays say "nay" to bay play
Or in non-assonant prose: Tampa Bay Rays stadium czar Michael Kalt declared today that the team was abandoning plans for a waterfront stadium in downtown St. Petersburg, effective immediately. While that was mostly a matter of closing the barn door after the horse — the city council is expected to soon approve a rezoning of the waterfront site that would preclude a Rays stadium — Kalt added that there are "big issues with downtown St. Petersburg as a site" in general, and indicated that the team would prefer to locate farther north in Pinellas County — presumably at one of these sites.
There's been much speculation over the years that the Rays would rather be closer to the wealthier Tampa side of the bay, which a move to central Pinellas would accomplish. The big question now is what's always the big question: Where would a stadium go, and who would pay for it? Presumably the old land swap deal for the site of their current home, Tropicana Field, could still be on the table, though given the reaction it got last time, not to mention what's happened to the Florida real estate market since then, I wouldn't be holding my breath.
The best bet would be near the intersection of I4 & I75.
Posted by Chuck Welch on May 22, 2009 06:08 PM
The Rays will be playing in the Dome for the next 15 years or so. If a World Series team cannot get approval for a new Stadium, what makes anyone think they will do better when they come back to Earth in a few years?
The only baseball team that stands a chance of getting a new stadium in the next decade are the A's (The Cubs and Dodgers are likely to get major renovations, but at limited (If any) taxpayer expense).
This was a most impractical stadium project from the beginning. The wealthy New York owners decided that only a nice breeze would be needed to keep their low end paying customers comfortable in Florida's summer heat and humidity and those same folks would be willing to walk a couple miles from their parking spot to the game. But not to worry as 100% of the risk of failure was to be carried on the backs of local taxpayers.
Elected city leaders essentially abdicated their responsibilities in city planning to the team owners. Only determined local citizen opposition to the enormous proposed give-away prevented this white elephant from being constructed.
Posted by Ed on May 24, 2009 11:09 AM