The Rays are in a precarious situation regarding both their long- and short-term future in the Tampa Bay area. Hurricane Milton destroyed the roof of Tropicana Field, leaving the club’s home ballpark unusable for at least the 2025 season. They’ve solved that obstacle by moving to nearby Steinbrenner Field, the Spring Training stadium of the Yankees, but that move helped to spur local officials to postpone the approval of bonds that would finance the development plan the Rays and Pinellas County had previously agreed upon that would construct a new stadium near the Trop in time for the 2028 season.
With the bond approval now postponed, the Rays’ long-term future in Tampa seems to be up in the air, with club owner Stu Sternberg having gone so far as to put the possibility of relocation back on the table. In addition to that renewed long-term instability, it now seems as though the club’s short-term future is even more up in the air than it was previously. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reported recently that while the city council of St. Pete initially voted to approve spending $24MM on repairs to the Trop, they reversed course shortly thereafter. The reversal from local officials in St. Pete comes in part thanks to the uncertainty surrounding around the previously agreed-upon stadium deal, with city councilwoman Brandi Gabbard telling Topkin that she wasn’t prepared to put tens of millions toward funding a project for “an entity we may never have a deal with again.”
That change in plans seems to have created uncertainty regarding whether the Rays would ever play at the Trop again, as Topkin adds that club president Brian Auld suggested that the Rays may be better off negotiating a settlement with the city of St. Pete regarding the final years of their lease than having the city repair the stadium because of uncertainty regarding whether the Trop would be repaired in time for Opening Day 2026. Per Auld, creating a contingency plan for the 2026 season that would only be used in the event that the Trop isn’t ready would cause more trouble for the Rays than simply ruling out a return to their home ballpark entirely.
Whether repairs for Tropicana Field will ultimately be approved and set into motion or if the sides will instead pursue a settlement remains to be seen, but the latest setback casts further doubt on the city’s ability to repair the Trop in time for the 2026 season. As Auld alludes to, reaching a settlement with the city could ultimately behoove the Rays in more ways than one. In addition to avoiding the costs associated with balancing contingency plans based on the Trop’s 2026 availability, Topkin notes that Auld added that receiving a settlement check from the city would “obviously” provide the club a financial boost amid the loss of revenue associated with the club’s temporary displacement.
While the city deciding to abandon the Trop could come with some advantages for the Rays, Topkin notes it could further jeopardize the team’s long- and short-term future in the greater Tampa area. The club’s current deal with the Yankees allowing them to use Steinbrenner Field in 2025 is expected to last for only the upcoming season, and Topkin suggests that if the club has to find a new home for the 2026 campaign as well that destination will “almost certainly” be outside of Florida as MLB looks to avoid scheduling complications caused by rainouts. A temporary move outside of Florida for the 2026 and ’27 seasons would seemingly make the threat of relocation all the more real as the club’s lease in St. Pete expires ahead of the 2028 season, though Auld suggested that the club’s “preference” would still be to remain in the greater Tampa area in a new stadium rather than explore relocation even if they were to temporarily move out of market.
So if they decide not to repair the Trop, arent they breaking the lease, leaving the Rays to do and go wherever they choose?
Correct
Yes, but they’re still in a very bad spot because they’ll have to start over negotiating with another city and potentially wait until 2029 or 2030 to have a stadium built for them. They can go wherever, but it’ll be many years before they get a new stadium.
A 2029 opening would be ambitious if they relocate. Is Sternberg going to risk losing revenues for a few years?
I agree, 2029 is probably not going to happen if they relocate. Also, I wonder the same thing about loss of revenues, which is why I still think it is 50/50 that they relocate. Stu has to see that playing in minor league stadiums for the next half decade isn’t great for his bottom line.
The Trop is not going to be repaired. The Gas Plant Stadium would not be ready in 2028 even if they voted on the bonds today. Either way the Rays will not be in a new home until 2029 at the earliest.
Rays fan will also become dispassionate with them having one foot out the door. They may have trouble packing it in Steinbrenner Field playing against non-competitive teams.
Montreal is expected to have completed their deep renovation project on their stadium in time for 2028… for whatever that’s worth
Wouldn’t be the first time Stu tried moving them to Montreal.
YBC – Seems like MLB has Stu’s back.
How else to explain Stu agreeing to play next year in Steinbrenner Field?
GASox – Just wondering, would John Henry oppose a relocation to Montreal? He does benefit from many Canadians foll0wing the Sox and coming down to see them at Fenway. Montreal is actually a little bit closer to Boston than it is to Toronto.
YBC – Fans not showing up at Steinbrenner Field was already a given.
Did I mention of the 66 scheduled Tarpons home games this year, 19 were either postponed or cancelled.
And that doesn’t include rain delays.
It was an odd year for rain in the summer of 2024. We haven’t seen that much rain in a decade or more.
Fever- I’d guess the opposite:
1) Henry can pay less for travel to Montreal than to TB. Cheap as he is that’s appealing.
2) Henry can pay less for hotels/meals in Montreal due to the exchange rate bonus. Cheap as he is that’s appealing.
3) More Montreal fans would drive to fenway for ‘The fenway experience’ during these continued times of decreasing attendance. That is also appealing.
End of the day Henry doesn’t care what team the butts in a seat at fenway roots for, he just wants to rub more nickles together and feel giddy about having baseball fans willing to attend the ballpark while he cheaps out and underspends on actual payroll.
Canadian baseball fan here — this will never happen
* stadium and advertising revenue comes in as CAD and has to go out as USD
* French-first signage and French language first in all communications
* border crossing and clearing customs not so easy for non-Canadians
* governments here do not hand over tax money to pro sports teams
9 home games, 19 total home and away, and more than half of those were due to Helene.
For this upcoming season, MLB didn’t have much of a choice. The preexisting stadium was unusable, and moving the team out of the Florida area after a hurricane would have been a horrible PR move for a team that had a stadium agreement. Once the stadium deal was torpedoed, the agreement to move to Tampa for 2025 was already committed.
brick – You’re correct on the 19 including road games, my bad.
So 3 home games were cancelled, and 8 home games were postponed out of the remaining 63 home games.
Now please explain to me how a hurricane that made landfall September 26 impacted a season that ended September 8th?
Come on man, trying to pull a fast one on me? Seriously?
Since you brought me back to this subject ….. 50% of September home games were postponed.
Add 18 games in September to bring up the home schedule to 81 for MLB, half of which would likely get postponed due to September being peak hurricane season, and you’re talking an additional 9 home postponed.
That means we can expect at least 18 home games postponed out of 81 ….. absolutely ridiculous. What a disastrous decision by MLB to have them play all season in The Stein!
Mystery, Olympic Stadium in Montreal will not be ready until 2028.
That is not what I have read on the Field of Schemes website. The quote from the publically available agreement that Neils found is the city must “reasonably assist the club in finding a substitute location for playing Home Games,”
Here is the link, if MLBTR allows me to post: fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/04/22023/st-pete-could-…
From what I read of this article, assist means giving the Rays money from the repair funds that the county received (I’m guessing from insurance or FEMA)that would’ve gone to repairing the stadium. The problem with that is the county lowered their insurance coverage, so that probably isn’t going to be a ton of money and I’m not sure how that would solve their stadium issues from now until 2028. Maybe it means the county is on the hook for paying the Yankees to use their facilities? One thing that is certain, lawyers will be involved when it is all said and done.
Yes, lots of other stuff in the article. Regardless, I do agree that lawyers will be able to submit bills for services rendered. LOL!
Bucs – Yes, hence the mention of a possible settlement referenced in the above article.
What makes me chuckle is MLB saying they won’t allow the Rays to play in Steinbrenner Field in 2026 because of the weather related delays and postponents. So it’s gonna be tropical weather in Tampa in 2026, but not in 2025? Morons, MLB’s decision they made for 2025 is a horrific one and it sounds like they have finally realized it.
Maybe the owner can use all the revenue sharing they’ve gotten. Noooo. Socialize the losses and privatize the profits.
Ok Karl Marx.
Upvote on Marx. However, “privatize the profits” is Groucho, not Karl.
@johnjms. I just described capitalism. You dopes see the word “socialize” and freak out. What else would you call tax payers paying for stadiums?
People like john are clueless when it comes to actual socialism. They just parrot what their puppet masters tell them it is. Critical thinking has disappeared for many.
@ghostifmookie. There really needs to be some sort of cognizance test in order to let people vote. Every slack-jawed moron is suddenly a doctor or political scientist when they get the tickle.
Police. Fire. Ems. Public schools, highway departmens, local sanitation, local water dept, judges, govt salaries…. All socialism – but don’t say it out loud, it’s a lot for some to handle and wildly triggering.
Don’t forget social security. Guarantee you that those who negatively throw around the word socialism forgo all those services.
Just dreaming, I know, but let’s let them move to Montreal.
We don’t even know when Olympic stadium will be repaired and renovated in time
It needs another renovation to be mlb worthy probably
Move to Charlotte.
Agreed – Charlotte, Nashville, Portland, San Antonio/Austin, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City. There are plenty of cities that would build a stadium and support a team – since Tampa/St. Pete seems unwilling to do so (similar to city of Oakland administration)
Plenty of cities being willing to be duped into giving a team a stadium reflects how warped our leaders’ priorities are.
This is certainly escalating. I do hope they work something out for 2026.
I love that old place. I know, I know, it’s old and funky and that is part of the charm. It’s covered (was) and air conditioned and local foods are a treat. Hate the Tampa traffic (lived there for 40 years) and I hate the thought of going to games at Steinbrenner in the awful heat. Probably won’t go to many,but I will relish the time we had at the Trop. Goodbye old friend.
I feel the same way. Lots of people dumped on the Trop, but it was part of my childhood and contained many good memories with family both still living and ones that have passed on.
GOAT – Yes the Trop has it’s flaws, but it’s not as bad as outsiders make it seem.
I think it’s fair to wonder if The Trop would still be repaired and kept going even if the Rays move. It’s still by far the largest indoor stadium in Florida north of Miami.
As one who now lives in the Tampa area and who’s been to many old MLB ballparks, the Trop is far from the “worst” or a “dump” as it’s been referred to by outsiders and locals alike. The now demolished dome in Minneapolis comes to mind as being way worse than the Trop, with the baggie on the right field bleachers that were used during football season.
Rays ownership should be grateful they could get bigger crowds by 2026. I truly don’t understand the desire to stay in that area. Not trying to be offensive, but clearly the fans can’t get to the games at that location, and the area government and private economy struggles to get funds or any support for them.
Here’s some places that they could get a higher average attendance in probably year 1:
San Antonio
Charlotte
Durham
Montreal
Lincoln
Oklahoma
New Orleans
Oakland
Fort Wayne
Just throw a dart at a map really.
6 of those couldn’t hold Rays 17k average attendance in 2024. Olympic Stadium is under renovations that won’t be complete until 2028. It’s not an option at all.
Yeah I didn’t articulate that too well. I meant they could pull in a better attendance year 1 *after having a reasonable/new stadium*.
Still think my underlying point that you can get higher attendance in most other areas is valid.
Portland and Vancouver would do better than those cities. But if I were shooting for the biggest money, I’d move to Monterrey and have the whole country to myself. 13th largest metro area in all of North America.
Monterrey Mexico? Palacio sultan holds 22k and its ok for a series, but not a season. It is a beautiful city, but at 1.143 million in population its really small by MLb standards.
If you are talking about Montreal, Toronto is in Canada and has a MLB team.
Gotcha. You are probably right about that.
Definitely way less than the 300k people in St. Pete. And the 5.2M in the metro area is way less than the 3.2M in Tampa Bay.
A population of 1.1M in the city proper would be larger than all but 7 cities in which MLB stadiums are otherwise located.
Salt Lake City’s AAA team is opening a new stadium in 2025;
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daybreak_Field_at_America_Fi…
I didn’t realize the Monterey metro area was so large. Maybe Monterrey would work out with a serious upgrade of the stadium.
They did do an LED lighting upgrade, so that part is done. They could expand the stadium for higher attendance by adding a third deck and maybe get to 28-30k. The biggest downfall is that it doesn’t have a roof. which would make playing there in July and August brutal.
The installation of artificial turf for the Padres/Dodgers series there in 2018 made the heat situation worse. It gets into the 100s often and sometimes into the 110s in mid-summer and playing on artificial turf would be something the MLBPA would balk at like they have in Sacramento. Certainly something they could remedy if they got a MLB team even for a couple of years.
Travel to Monterrey is easy, so that shouldn’t be an issue. Monterrey is an awesome city. Love visiting there and have been to all but one of the MLB series there.
Ok, you sold me. Get it done.
Imagine Oakland getting an mlb team right after losing their historic one
The Oakland rays sound similar enough to a’s
Trust me, when those fans realize that Stu has no intention to improve the team significantly, they will also get tired of the Rays real quick. The only bright future for the Rays is a complete selloff and restart, wherever they land.
Rays in the Bay;
LOL
That team has been more competitive over the past 10 years than anyone other than the Yankees and Dodgers – that outspend everyone else in MLB by a large margin.
Shades of what they’ve done has been copied by almost all small and mid-market teams in MLB – and this offseason their FO people have been poached by teams throught the league giving them promotions and raises. Something is surely up.
Realistically the Rays have little reason to stay in the Tampa Bay area. The only issue is that they’re in the AL East so they need to play in an eastern time zone. Nashville, Charlotte, and Montreal make the most sense. Some market is going to happily build them a new park.
Samuel
I said ‘significantly’. What was their last big FA pickups? What about their last extension?
Phil Maton
Zack Eflin
Christian Bethancourt
Corey Kluber
Mike Zunino
Travis Darnauld
Charlie Morton
Is this a list of playmakers? Nope. Let’s check out some of their notable trade acquisitions
Christopher Morel
Ryan Pepiot
Richard Palacios
Jose Caballero
Ben Rortvedt
Johnny Deluca
…
That may be it. Maybe Diaz, Ramirez, Arozarena barely make this list. Along with a list of various relievers. But in the end, none of them pushed the Rays to the end. And none of them are playmakers.
I’m tired of other fans saying ‘but look at how competitive they are.’… You NEED talent…expensive talent to win the World Series. Rangers won it after signing big FAs. Dodgers as well. Houston already had big FAs. Same with Braves. The Rays could win every game in a season, but I don’t care until they win their first World Series. With the lack of commitment by Sternberg, they have a near-0% chance of winning the World Series.
This is not only a Rays problem…it’s a league problem. Dumb money is still money. Small money players are streaky, but they never have the IT factor to push them to the end.
Your list of free agents and acquisitions reads like a wish list to me.
But what they care about is having someone other than themselves build the stadium. They take all the profits, and the city maintains the structure and pays the taxes.
LaBellaVita;
All the profits?
The owner could make more money on his investment buying fixed-income tax-free securities.
I can’t believe the aggravation Mr. Sternberg has had to put up with over the years. The park is located in an area people can’t get to, yet that’s the only place the City can give them to build an new state-of-the-art park that people won’t come to.
MLB in the state of Florida has not worked and will not work. Expanding there was a mistake. Long been time to cut the losses and move on…..and that goes for the Marlins as well.
Am not a big NYC person but if worse comes to worse stick one of the Florida teams in New Jersey.
For all the talk about MLB expansion, that fact is that there may not be another area in the continental US that can actually support an MLB team.
Fort Wayne? lol!! Talk about podunk. Indianapolis for sure, but Fort Wayne?? Minor league town all the way.
Only year 1. and you forgot Portland OR. Tampa/st pete and 1 hour drive around.is one of the largest population centers in the country.
Charles Schwab Field, Omaha. Home of the College World Series. Seats 24k. This would cause some travel headaches, but it’s ready to use and clearly better than most MiLB facilities.
For ‘26 until the franchise is relocated, of course.
A lot of those are in the west or central part of the country so that makes logistics much more difficult for teams traveling to play the Rays.
Gabbard is not very smart. Sternberg and Hines have a redevelopment deal for all the land in the Gaslight District that the city of St Pete is locked into regardless of the outcome of the new stadium. They will be dealing with that entity for 20 or more years.
Gas Plant. Autocorrect es no bueno.
The city is not locked into that deal. The deal was pending approval of the public financing which was just turned down by the county.
I hear Oakland will have an open stadium soon.
There was an exploration group looking at Nashville, maybe they can relook that prospect?
But if they move to Nashville, that’s one fewer city MLB can use as leverage to extort other cities.
Move to Durham where your triple AAA team is until they can build you an entertainment district in Charlotte or Raleigh.
I can’t believe a city can be so hostile to its mlb team
I get it the politicians vote for the people and no one goes to rays games for a bunch of reasons but the city just seems content for no new stadium and not even repairing the trop
It’s more nuanced than that. During the elections 2 of the team/stadium/development friendly counselors were replaced with a pair of anti-stadium skeptics.
It shifted the balance of power from being 5-2 pro-rays and pro-stadium to being 4-3 against.
The decision to delay the vote on the bonds happened in
October. Prior to the elections.
I don’t consider Saint Petersburg or Pinellas County as hostile to the Rays. The entire metropolitan area recently had widespread damage and destruction from 2 major hurricanes this autumn. Many who reside in the area have to rebuild, or at least perform major repairs to their property. The priorities suddenly changed last month to where constructing a new stadium or repairing damage to the existing stadium are no longer an important priority for the vast majority of the residents..
I’d hardly call the city hostile… the city has a real conundrum on their hands and it’s all directly related to contractual agreements and caveats in those contracts which allow the club some newfound flexibility. Only the dumbest fools would have believed building a new stadium next to the old one was going to work out well. There had to be many sleepless nights for the Rays owner over that decision, and then the door swings open to get out of it all and how could the city believe the club would not bail now that they can? Tampa Bay is as good as gone. I think ultimately they are going to wind up in Oakland, but we’ll see.
The Cardinals and Yankees did it in an offseason.
Huh? Before Milton, the city and county were to give the Rays more than a billion dollars in development and tax breaks.
This was a pissing contest. The county didn’t like that the deal was with Tampa (in a different county) and not with Clearwater, where the Phillies train, and which is in the same county as St. Pete.
The Phillies spring training facility is not as up to date as the Yankees facility, seats thousands less, and would have had to have $15-20 million in upgrades prior to the season that Pinellas county was unwilling to foot the bill for.
I didn’t say it made sense. It’s just what’s being reported.
Does Vegas have odds on where the Rays will play baseball each of the next five seasons?
Does Vegas have odds on where the A’s will play baseball each of the next five seasons? Did John Fisher get a loan from his mommy, or is the Vegas stadium situation still up in the air?
Its still up in the air. We will know for sure on December 5th when he must put up $100 million and present his actual financing, not just a concept of a plan.
If I owned them, we’d be making a deal with Oakland, upgrade the Colosseum, back out of the deal with the Yankees, and start play there in 2025, and commit to 100% private funding to build a new 35k seat stadium in the Howard area. That’s a huge market sitting untapped.
The issue with your plan for the Rays playing home games in Oakland in 2025 is that the schedule has been made and the travel would be a nightmare for the Rays and every other team that is playing the Rays on the road next year.
Ending up in Oakland makes sense, (the A’s should have never left), but Rays homes games in Oakland in 2025 seems like something the MLBPA would fight big time.
It would be a fight worth having.
Every Oakland fans pipe dream is to get their teams back
Unless the sale of the Colosseum to AASEG falls through, the city of Oakland will no longer own the Colosseum and wouldn’t be able to make any deal with the Rays regarding that stadium.
MLB is not going to approve a team in OAK for a decade or 2 if ever. The As and the Collisseum have been an issue for some time now.
Yeah, it took the combined efforts of Selig, Manfred, the Giants and finally Fisher 25 years to get the A’s out of Oakland and make the Bay into a one-team market they all think it should be based on population.
A’s fans won’t become giants fans
@bay There is a direct correlation between market size and profit. Population is the market size, so it is the most significant factor. Yes the demographics of the market matter as well.
Fisher has always been the issue. Not the city. Not the state. Not the area. Fisher.
Oakland is far from perfect however…
Moving the Rays to Oakland would mean putting them in the west division. That would likely move Houston back to the Central, which would likely move Cleveland to the East. There would be a ton of no votes to all of that. Cleveland won’t want to be the only small market in the east. The central teams won’t want a big market coming into the division. Simplest way to get agreement from the league is to keep the Rays in the east division, so Oakland is not an option.
Looks like St Pete has taken itself out of the picture for the Rays new home. Sternberg still gets to buy the land the Trop sat on plus a huge tract around that location and redevelop those 86 acres.
It seems the shortest and most equitable solution to both sides (and the fans) includes moving forward with the 2028 stadium and playing two seasons someplace not called Florida while the new stadium gets built. Just get on with it.
The problem with that is the delay in the bond vote has made it impossible to have the stadium completed by opening day 2028.
I’m still unsure how a 3-4 week delay in the vote caused a year delay in stadium completion. Pay some overtime, Rays.
Of course, I say this hoping the bond vote fails and the public isn’t on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in handouts to an MLB team.
I don’t get that either. While yes there are weather issues to work around in Florida it’s not like they have to deal with 4 months of freezing temperatures and snow
The timeline was tight. Its not a delay of 3-4 weeks. Its a delay from October to at least December.
Month of November is still 30 days (roughly 4 weeks) long, right?
It was delayed from October 12th to December 17th at the earliest. 2 months delay and if it is approved funds would be issued after construction was scheduled to start in January.
The logistics of moving well over 100 people and that much equipment and materials is substantial. It takes months of planning.
That is why the timeline was crucial and the county and city knew that when they delayed the vote on the bonds. They knew it would kill the deal entirely. Anyone that tries to say otherwise is lying through their teeth or far too stupid to be in public service.
Then you have to take into account that major construction projects in the Tampa Bay area grind to a halt in July to early September because the area gets 30 inches of rain in that time frame on average.
Now if they vote to approve its fund in January, groundbreaking in March, and starting the clearing and leveling of the land in June before stopping almost completely in July and not starting back up until mid-September.
Yeah, the timeline was critical.
Nashville Rays/Stars seems inevitable at this point
Mark my words, John Fisher will fail in Vegas and the Ray’s will start leveraging Vegas against Tampa/St.Pete
@MatthewStairs
We need to improve the quality of the sport by cutting back on teams. Not enough quality players in today’s game. Reduce it down to 16 teams.
Cut down to 16 teams when 8 teams in each league make the playoffs? That’s ridiculous
@The biggest tr0ll
No, you cut the playoff teams as well. Probably the top 2 advance.
Makes sense but I think 20 or 24 teams is a better number
I’d settle for cutting it to 28 teams in four divisions.
Not going to happen for many reasons. Do you know what WILL happen? Expansion. 2 teams in the next CBA.
@Pads Fans
What a disaster that would be for the league. Quality of player is down significantly already.
@Pads Fans: Yup. It’s not about what’s best for the game, it’s about what’s most remunerative to the owners. Plus, the players get 52 more MLB salaries.
On top of that, they’re probably going to reorganize the divisions geographically into four 8-team divisions, or so Manfred has hinted:
West: LAD/LAA/SEA/SF/SD/AZ/CO/SAC (LV)
Midwest: KC/STL/CHC/CHW/MIL/MIN/HOU/TEX
Mid-Atlantic; PIT/CLE/CIN/WAS/BAL/TOR/DET/EXPANSION TBA
East: NYY/NYM/PHI/BOS/ATL/MIA/TB*/EXPANSION TBA
…or something like that.
Baseball is a business so of course they are interested in profits. Manfred has been saying four 4 team divisions in each league.
No. No its not. In fact, its as high as ever. Maybe better. We have Ohtani and Judge today who are as good as anyone we saw play in the last generation. We have Cole and Skubal and Skenes who are as good as anyone we saw in the last generation.
Is any insurance on the Trop tied to fixing it, or can they apply it to demolition? Frankly Oakland or Texas (Choctaw formerly Globe Life) make sense in a 2-3 year temporary plan if Tampa is done. But a cheap owner & suddenly empowered council make this an ugly drama for Rays fans…
Choctaw was converted to football and soccer.
Move ‘em to San Bernardino. Nobody goes to games there, either.
I may be uneducated about this, but if the Rays make a settlement with the owners of the Trop, isn’t that the same as breaking the lease? How would the Rays end up with money in that situation? Wouldn’t they pay the owners of the stadium to get out of the lease early?
That’s because San Bernardino is Oakland-lite…
Move ’em to New York and call ’em the Highlanders.
New Orleans is interesting because the Superdome can be used for Baseball. The same could be said for Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte and Nissan Stadium in Nashville. All could be temporary homes for the Rays while a new stadium is built in any of those cities. If they don’t fix the Trop and don’t agree on the Gas Plant stadium than Baseball in Tampa is dead and relocation is inevitable and not as impossible as it sounds (unlike the Fisher fiasco)
I don’t pretend to understand the litigation and business process of all of this but doesn’t the commissioner and the MLB entity share a massive responsibility for this mess? Maybe I’m not understanding Manfreds job but from my point of view it looks like this entire franchises’ existence is being threatened. Will we have a 29 team league in the near future? Isn’t revenue sharing supposed to help with this? Are there also no contingency plans in case of natural disasters or “acts of God”? Is there really no standard operating procedures in place or any precedence for something like this? I have so many questions if anybody can clarify.
They do
Whatever happens with the Rays, or ultimately with the A’s, MLB has serious problems. Two MLB teams playing in minor league parks. MLB taking over the broadcasts for multiple MLB clubs. The inner core of MLB is weakening and attendance will suffer. Not sure what Manfred is doing? A hierarchy change is needed in MLB ⚾
If MLB can get the broadcast rights to most teams and make them available to stream and eliminate blackouts, that’s definitely a win for fans.
MLB wants to take over the broadcasts. Ultimately the teams make more money that way and MLB has more leverage in negotiations for national broadcasts. If you saw his 2021-2022 Winter Meetings talk about media, you know that Manfred was extremely happy about the news coming out about RSN failures and possible bankruptcies.
I wish all the numb nuts out there who keep mentioning Oakland as a potential destination for the Rays or any other franchise would give it up. Oakland will NEVER get another MLB team. Rays first priority should be to work out a deal with Tampa and forget St Pete. If that doesn’t work try Orlando, which is planning to apply for an expansion team. Nashville, which will get a team, would prefer an expansion team. New Orleans would be an interesting option for the Rays as well. If the Rays want a temporary home in a MLB caliber stadium, Atlanta has the former Turner Field. It would be easy enough to rebuild the baseball diamond there if the Rays could work out a rental deal with Georgia State University which owns the stadium now.
Focus on the Pirates, Numb Nutting.
@Steinbrenner2728 And you focus on your loser Yankees
Georgia State has made quite a few changes to the property already. Sitting on one side of the football field is still the old stadium seating, but they’ve walled off the other/visitors side kind of through part of where the field used to be… It’s definitely kind of wonky in there and I’d imagine that it’s undoable, but have no idea what the costs or timeline would be. The bigger problem could be parking. Much of the area that was once parking lots is now condos and apartments. However it’s not a bad thought. I can’t imagine it would be all that difficult to schedule two teams at either the Braves or Marlins current stadiums as early as 2026 if Steinbrenner field doesn’t work out as a temporary solution. I’d be more than happy to have access to twice as much live baseball.
Two teams in Atlanta seems untenable. Why would the Braves support this?
Fair point. The Braves don’t even appear to be very keen on Nashville or Charlotte getting a team either because it would take fans from “their territory”. So no, I do not think the Braves would support this.
Now the Braves do play in a new tax payer funded stadium. Braves games are sold out pretty regularly and I can see the city trying to recoup money by temporarily accommodating the Rays.
I find it very unlikely though.
Personally I would enjoy having access to twice as many games. But no, I do not think overall attendance would justify the inconvenience. I would probably be pretty alone at “Atlanta Rays” games. Not enough Atlanta baseball fans would go (outside of maybe when Ohtani is in town) and not enough Rays fans would travel to Atlanta to justify the inconvenience.
My main point was that Turner Field is not currently a viable baseball stadium. I do not believe any cities other than St Pete or maybe Montreal if they can speed up their renos can have a “major league stadium” ready by even 2026. It’s time to get creative.
It would be a temporary solution. No city is a two team market other than NYC, LA, and Chicago
as the stadium turns…
Rays of our lives
Play in a different Tampa spring training park the next three years ‘25 Yankees in Tampa, ‘26 Phillies in Clearwater, ‘27 Blue Jays in Dunedin. That would be fun.
Minor League sized stadiums aren’t fun for MLB
Orlando is waiting.
and the parking lot that is I-4
Relocate to Maine. That would be cool. Also wouldn’t happen but I thought I’d mention it
The Ted/ Center Parc in Atlanta as a temporary home? Or Titans stadium as a trial ballon for Nashville? Both would have major league amenities would think
Among the Lords of Baseball, there is a growing sentiment that the Rays will not be long for Tampa Bay. And the peanut gallery can forget about moving the Rays to an NFL stadium in an NFL city.
Mesdames et messieurs, nous vous présentons … les Expos de Montréal.
One solution would be for Sternberg to sell the Rays to Larry Miller in Utah, with an agreement for Sternberg to get an expansion team in Nashville.
Larry Miller passed away, but his wife has been at the forefront of the movement to get an MLB team in Salt Lake,
The fact that a lot of these issues simply exist is entirely on MLB, Manfred, and the collective ownership of MLB teams. Owners deserve well more blame than they are catching right now.
Why? Of course no one can prevent storm and hurricane damage, one can procedures in place to have alternatives ready to go. It’s as if this sorta thing never occurred to MLB and it’s leadership. I’d say it’s shameful, but it’s wholly unsurprising at this point.
This coming season (and probably several after that) there’s going to be TWO MLB teams without MLB level homes. It boggles the mind how it’s gotten to this, but poor decisions are par for the course here.
Expansion? No effing shot. Nothing is happening until these two poorly run franchises get settled. When the heck is that happening?
Manfred and MLB owners care about the bottom line over anything and everything else. Public sentiment only matters to them to the extent that it helps them get what they want money-wise. They don’t care about the fans or communities unless manipulating them helps ownership get more money.
What GBS said. 100%
Yeah, let’s blame the Commissioner of Baseball for a Category 5 hurricane that shredded the ballpark roof in St. Petersburg. That’s a reactionary attitude Fox News wouldn’t dare promote.
Category 3 – 130 MPH winds.
Its been over 100 years since a hurricane hit Tampa Bay area head on.
Rays Owners & Regional govt are screwed, no good fix for a stadium. Rays will not be playing in St. P-Tampa after ‘25 for several years. Rays will dump high end players (already started), lower payroll and rebuild outside of Florida. Where? Charlotte NC
St. Pete is not a major league city. It is AAA at best. The site where the Yankees have their minor league team is the perfect location. MLB needs to work out a deal for them to move there permanently.
If Im Nashville city leaders Im starting planning to build a stadium to attract the Rays there now
Hurricane Milton was the death blow to baseball in Tampa/St. Pete
Nobody has mentioned this yet, but MLB has already played games annually in Williamsport, PA. Move them there and attendance might actually increase, lol.
Bowman Field holds about 2500. Way too small to hold more than a once a year game.
That plus almost the entire attendance of the Little League Classic are Little League players from the LLWS and their families.
“Hi. We’re from the government and we’re here to help.”
Politics and politicians suck. They act like children except with enormous egos that require constant attention.
In my mind, I’m gone to Carolina
Can’t you see the sunshine?
Now can’t you just feel the moonshine?
And ain’t it just like a friend of mine to hit me from behind?
Yes, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind
BTW I really want a team in North Carolina. I live on the Carolina coast and it’s a long drive to Baltimore.
That would be kinda cool…where though?
The hurricane would have done the Ray’s a favor by just taking the whole stadium out
Send em to Montreal so everyone can be happy.
Oakland has a ballpark.
There are 86 prime acres of land (in the middle of a booming area – construction zone all around with every empty lot filling up with condominiums/apartment buildings) that surround Tropicana Field.
If there is a default/buyout/failure on either side, BILLIONS of dollars are in play.
THAT is the problem and the gobbledygook that is the contract for the dome and land.
(Current parking, Trop footprint and a few vacant lots- look it up on Google earth some time- 86 acres )
A contract breach is essentially giving up BILLIONS to the other side, regardless of fault..
The Rays would own the new facility, (the Trop is currently the property of the city) if built, and their share in the redevelopment of the surrounding land is staggering, even if that new facility isn’t built.
The original agreement of Tropicana Field and the division of profits of the surrounding land is hard for almost anyone to understand AND then you put the agreement for the ‘new facility’ on top of that…ugh
It’s an effing nightmare.
#RaysUp