The Rays have provided Hillsborough County officials with a list of specifications for their proposed new stadium, write Charlie Frago and Richard Danielson of the Tampa Bay Times (see also, Christopher O’Donnell of the Tampa Tribune). The Rays recently won a concession from the St. Petersburg government that will allow them to survey the area for a new site. A one page document details the team’s wishlist ranging from development options, site size, accessibility, and financial considerations.
The club’s lease agreement for their current home park, Tropicana Field, runs through 2027. The Rays have spent most of their tenure in St. Petersburg attempting to gain clearance for a new site in the St. Pete-Tampa Bay area. Their time at the Trop has not gone well. The Rays routinely “race” the Athletics for lowest attendance. Incidentally, the A’s are also locked in a battle to relocate.
The Rays’ one page spec sheet demanded a 20 acre site suitable for a baseball field. The surrounding area should contain development potential – either existing local businesses or the potential for new ones. The team has aspirations to create a new Camden Yards by building the first in the next generation of major league stadiums. They speak of creating a come-early and stay-late atmosphere with a next level fan experience. Their desire to integrate with external entertainment, retail, and food options dovetails with the latest trends in stadium building.
The document also refers to a need for a “public-private partnership.” That’s shorthand for tax payer money. Tax payer funding of stadiums is always a fascinating angle to evaluate. Economic analyses typically find that public funding of stadiums mostly profits club ownership at the expense of tax payers. Cities still agree to fund stadiums despite the evidence against them.
As for next steps, the Rays will begin to meet with interested parties. The city believes that the current Tropicana site and another called Toytown fit the team’s specifications. Presumably, the Rays will begin to hone in on more specific details from here.
Will TB/St Pete be a city to just say “no” to taxpayer money being spent on playgrounds for billionaires and millionaires? I don’t think TB ownership is the kind to fund it themselves though. It’ll be interesting…
They do have a strong following in television and radio. They also have a contract for another 12 years they can’t really back out of. If the taxpayers refuse they are stuck in St. Pete for another 12 unless MLB steps in.
They are years away from those ratings getting more money in a TV deal.
Count me as a huge fan of Major League Baseball. But tax supported stadiums are a rip off. Let the billionaires pay their own way.
Billionaires demanding taxpayers provide them withy a free stadium… I thought these kind of people hated welfare.
only for the poor
Cubs ownership paying 100% for Wrigley Field $500 million renovation
I’m not sure how “public-private partnership” is shorthand for tax money, the concept is ridiculous. No sports team should benefit from the local treasury. The Trop is a terrible stadium, but does the Rays ownership actually think they can sell the line “we can’t save _______ much money by 2027” to get a tax payer funded stadium?
I live in Tampa, and I don’t agree with raising taxes for a stadium either, but… and here is the but that those outside Tampa don’t know, Raymond James Stadium (Bucs stadium) did it, so I don’t see the Rays not getting it…
Taxpayer funded stadiums are BS.
There are studies that have shown that the economic aggregate “brought” by a new stadium is actually more of a phantom; the money people spend at the new stadium is simply money they would have spent somewhere else on entertainment.
A good primer is: “Public Dollars, Private Stadiums: The Battle over Building Sports Stadiums” – Kevin J. Delaney
As a resident of Polk county (adjacent to Hillsborough), not if it requires any of my tax dollars to help build that stadium and goes double if the State Fairgrounds location is out.. Most OBVIOUS In/out location in the entire Hillsborough county location for the proposed stadium.. Within qtr mile of I4, 275 and Hwy 301, the arteries on central Florida.
It seems the Rays are insisting on nothing more than their own biz greed over the good of the fans. My suggestion? Move, or fold.
I eagerly await any tax coming up on a vote here in the state for a chance to NO vote it!
You guys are so wrong it’s like a 10-20 MM one time payment to buy out the lease. They are moving way sooner than 2027.
The intersection of politics and baseball (and the rest of sports) is always unfortunate. As a fan, the billion-dollar sports cathedrals are a marvel. As a taxpayer, when you can’t get to your taxpayer-funded billion-dollar sports cathedral because you blew out the ball joints in your car driving on roads the state says they don’t have the money to resurface, it’s infuriating. L
There is no credible academic work that shows that heavily-taxpayer subsidized stadiums and infrastructure do anything but cost the public money. That money has to come from a combination of tax increases and service reductions. It’s a very simple equation. I can understand that no elected official wants to be the one who “lost the ___” but they also have an obligation to their citizens–and all of them, not just the sports fan. If more governments made a habit of saying no, eventually professional sports would have to self-fund from the profits they made. . Ooooh, wouldn’t that be unreasonable….
“That money has to come from a combination of tax increases and service reductions. It’s a very simple equation.”
No, it doesn’t. Other possible sources could be from cutting back government salaries, shifting from subsidies or grants that already exist, stopping de facto subsidies (tourism advertising), stopping the creation of special panels and studies, adding a new lottery, or simply selling bonds and paying them off with new future revenues.
I get your way is way more likely, but it is sort of lame to use phrases like “has to” and “simple as that” in such a non-definitive context.
1st thing they do when areas want to add some shiny new toy, is add this little trojan horse tax, called the extra 1c country sales tax, that will disappear within 15-20y, yet for some reason becomes permanent after that period. I’ve seen it happen right here and another temporary one added by the voters later.
I’ve also seen Income taxes come up before whenever several things were wished for by a certain spending party. Always voted down, yet they have tried to get them passed as an amendment.
Is that how to pay for these grandiose toys such as ball parks and fancy items Florida doesn’t need now, or ever?
I have a better idea.. Have spent most of my life here (except while away serving country sailing the seas). Stop spending so much on non essentials.. Like ball parks in Miami and TB, St Pete earlier and no need to raise taxes on us citizens.
If I were a resident of St. Petersburg or Tampa I would not finance one penny of a new stadium for the Rays…..I live in Orlando, and attend anywhere from 5 to 10 games a year….The only time you seem more than 9 or 10,000 fans in that building is when the Yankees or Red Sox come to town, as long as Tampa keeps playing at the bottom of the salary cap, they don’t deserve public money
vice versa?
It’s nice to see that every person commenting understands this is giving money to rich people and never worth the city’s investment. John Oliver did a great segment on this for his HBO show. I’m from St Louis and all I have to say is, good bye Rams! So happy not to be paying for your new stadium. Also, the team’s could save some cash by not paying players so freaking much. Something tells me they will still be playing for half their salaries.
i dont understand why MLB doesnt help fund a stadium…. it is their teams. they say they are committed to the team in that area then why dont they help grow it.