The Rays’ long-term home is in doubt after the team pulled out of plans for a $1.3 billion new stadium in St. Petersburg. The future is unclear, as St. Petersburg and Pinellas County officials have expressed frustration with Rays owner Stuart Sternberg.
John Romano and Colleen Wright of The Tampa Bay Times report that the Rays, within the past month, have floated the idea of renovating Tropicana Field beyond the roof repair. Under that plan, the team, city and county would contribute an equal sum — reportedly $200MM each — for large-scale renovations of their longtime home park. According to the report, the Rays would have agreed to a 10-year lease extension to remain at the Trop through 2038 in that scenario.
The city and county were not immediately keen on the idea. The Rays’ lease at Tropicana Field runs through 2028. It had initially been scheduled to expire in ’27, but it was extended by a year after hurricane damage left the stadium unplayable this season. The city, as lessor, is responsible for fixing the Trop after the hurricane ripped off its roof. The Rays are hopeful those repairs will be complete in time for the 2026 season. The city estimated the repair costs at $55.7MM.
Clearly, a $600MM renovation would go far beyond that. It makes little sense for anyone involved to make that commitment for three years, so it’d necessarily be paired with a lease extension. St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch said yesterday that he “(has) no interest in working with this ownership group” after their decision to pull out of the stadium deal. Regarding the idea of a lease extension, he told The Tampa Bay Times that the city is “looking at a number of options but I don’t want to talk about, at this point, this notion of a 10- or 15-year extension at the Trop.”
Welch left the door open for reconsidering that idea in the future, saying he’d “talk with the council and with the community about the paths forward” once the Rays officially decline the current stadium deal. While the team has already made clear it’ll do so, the Rays need to sign an official termination letter on that project or wait for the bond approval to expire on March 31 (the date for the team to hit construction benchmarks to keep the public funding alive).
Rays team president Matt Silverman reiterated yesterday that the team is not for sale. He said they could reopen discussions with the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County after March 31. Silverman told Romano and Wright today that a lease extension at the Trop was also “one of many possibilities that has been discussed with the city and the county since the hurricanes.” The Rays have played at Tropicana Field since their founding in 1998. They will play this season at Tampa’s George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Just keeps running one con after another.
It’s definitely time to move out of that dump, and just start all over somewhere else. Good riddance.
Don’t they need fans? Why not move the team to a market where they can fill seats? Tampa is awful lol the whole west coast of Florida is rancid. I’m sure Tennessee or even CT would work.
You accidentally put a 1 in front of 78. The Rays don’t play in Tampa …
The Gulf side outside the panhandle is far superior to the Atlantic side.
This is so dumb
Doof – They said the same thing 23 years ago about renovating Fenway.
Why renovate a 90-year-old ballpark they said.
Well guess what, the renovations were a huge success.
Let’s see what specific improvements they are planning to make before throwing water on the idea.
Are you actually comparing Boston to Tampa and Fenway to The Trop?
He is comparing them. They’re both baseball stadiums. He isn’t necessarily equating the.m.
Fever, the difference is most loved Fenway before the improvements and put up with the bathroom, food and seat issues
Problem in my view is it’s a ballpark first and teams now look at stadiums as attractions
Fenway is also a historic site, Tropicana is not
my – No offense but that is an incredibly dumb question and as a Sox fan I’m offended you would imply that.
I am going to spread out my response to help you understand.
OBVIOUSLY I am comparing stadium situations where there needed to be an improved fan experience and higher stadium revenue.
In both situations, there are/were two choices …. renovate or build new.
You still following?
Most sports teams – not all, but MOST – who find themselves in a similar situation use one determining factor ….. do they want to change locations, or stay in the same location?
Still following?
If they want to stay in the same location and the original stadium is structurally sound and can be renovated to suit the team’s desired changes, why spend the extra money? Especially when taxpayers are involved.
Did I lose you yet?
You probably don’t even have a clue as to the number of MLB stadiums that have been renovated recently or are in the planning stages.
si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball/news/dodger-stadium-…
mlb.com/guardians/ballpark/renovations
thebaltimorebanner.com/sports/orioles-mlb/oriole-p…
mlb.com/news/rogers-centre-seating-food-upgrades-f…
That’s just FOUR off the top of my head, five if you count The Big O which could be the future home of a MLB team.
And GUESS WHERE the recently killed Rays new stadium was going to be located? RIGHT NEXT TO THEIR CURRENT STADIUM.
Finally, do you know what team you support? I’m curious if it’s the Rays, because I have heard a TON of feedback from Rays fans and they definitely don’t hate The Trop as much as you do.
So if renovations can result in a stadium the Rays want, at a much lower cost than new, why the hell not? Why force taxpayers to pay for a brand new stadium next to the current one if the current one can be renovated?
I know that’s so much new information for you that your head probably exploded. LOL!!!
So here’s the cliffnotes version: I compared SITUATIONS, I did not in any way imply or state The Trop has the same historical value as Fenway or is as beloved as Fenway. That would be absolutely asinine.
dewey – I can’t properly express how much time I spent in Fenway before the renovations, but I assure you it wasn’t nearly as popular prior to the renovations. Let’s just say it was a very uncomfortable place to watch a game.
Not a coincidence the record-breaking sellout streak began in early 2003.
And BTW there were plans for a new Fenway …. until Larry and Janet spearheaded the “Save Fenway” movement.
The Rays have had a pretty successful team since 2008, and yet their average yearly attendance is ~15K per game. The Red Sox’s average attendance even before the renovation was easily ~30K, with a smaller ballpark.
So no, I don’t need reading comprehension or adapting to “situations”. People don’t go to Rays’ games because either the location sucks, or they just don’t care about the team. Putting some lipstick in that pig of a stadium won’t solve that.
Comparing Fenway’s renovation to a potential Trop renovation is just not realistic.
To be clear, as a Blue Jays fan I f*ing hate the Red Sox, but I acknowledge they are are great team, in a great sports city, with a great fanbase.
my – Wait, what? You’re a Jays fan?
So your own team’s stadium just went through EXACTLY what is being explored for the Rays. Too funny!!!
Am I allowed to “compare” Rogers Centre and The Trop without you jumping all over me?
BTW – Did you push for Rogers Centre to be torn down too?
I have ties to the GTA and everyone I spoke to about it says the renovations are great. GTA taxpayers are also thrilled they don’t have to financially support a new stadium for the Jays.
The Rogers Centre has probably the best location in the city, the Trop is not even in Tampa. The Blue Jays have proven that when the team is successful the fans will come, the Rays have not. Again, not a valid comparison.
One is a cathedral of the sport and a historic landmark. The other is the complete opposite in almost every way.
Soco – So what are you saying, that every stadium not named Fenway or Wrigley should be torn down because it doesn’t have the historical value?
Wow …. I have no words for that.
Let’s compare the most iconic stadium in MLB history if not all of sports to a venue that’s never near capacity no matter what and in terms of actual quality of the stadium is already horrible and is on average an hour to two hours depending on traffic from the cities fanbase
cr – You’re intentionally trying to change the topic to push your own agenda.
We are talking about possibly renovating the existing stadium, or building a brand new one right next to the existing stadium.
No need to crap all over the possibility of renovations just because you want a new location.
Personally I would prefer they move to Orlando, but I’m not a Rays fan and I don’t live in the Tampa/St. Pete area so I have no right to push for a move.
to bad they did not build a new fenway next door.ive been to fenway, the seats are cramped uncomfortable.seats that were put in, back when babe ruth was playing.obstructed seats all over the place.no scenery except some old 1970s citco sign.a tarp thrown over seats for a batters eye.the concourse is tiny,dark and dingy looking.it is historical,thats the best feature.the left field wall is so close any average sized man could pop a ball over it.tropicana field is a dump.however its very comfortable great sightlines from most seats.and if a player hits a homerun its bonefied homerun.fenway more like a museam.i urge all baseball fans to go catch a game there.but in my opinion once is enough.one final thought the fans up the are constantly yelling racial slurs at the opposing team,so you might not want to bring the kids.
Jim Rice nods.
slim – Thank you!! As someone who has attended literally over a thousand games at Fenway, and over 100 at The Trop, I fully agree with your assessment (except the slurs part, I never witnessed that … perhaps you are talking pre-1980’s?).
The Trop has a lot of negatives, but it’s a lot more comfortable to attend games than at Fenway. It always amazes me when people who have never attended a game in a stadium think they know better than those who have.
Wow, you took the words out of my mouth, sight lines at the Trop are great. I Went to school in Boston, Fenway is fun when you’re a student, but as an adult it’s a cramped, packed, the social non – baseball fan is up every 5 minutes, not watching the game, sight lines suck because a 100+ year old stadium. REDOING TROP: 1) URBAN RENEWAL OF AREA NEEDED: city/ county/ Rays have to realize it’s got to be a destination area, restaurants, pubs, entertainment district as previously discussed…. 2) UPDATING TROP with additional revenue streams is needed so team can be competitive in today’s baseball economics 3) Transportation to and from needs to be addressed….. 4) If URBAN RENEWAL NOT DONE MAKING LOCAL AREA A DESTINATION AREA/ DON’T REDO TROP… both needs to get done… 5) FAN EXPERIENCE: You have to give a fan a reason to go, updated fan zone, restaurants, entertainment district, UPDATED STADIUM, hey Rays give a good / competitive product for a low revenue, non spending team. —- FENWAY is a destination, like Wrigley, …. Just have to give the fan a reason to go, not just one time……REDO TROP/ $400 million+… maybe, if the city / county follows through on updated renewal of downtown area into a fan entertainment district… They made Fenway into a pre game happening for the kids and fans…. NEED EXCITEMENT, not just the redo, only the whole thing….GO RAYS/ STAY IN ST PETE / TAMPA AREA….
Did you really just compare Fenway Park to Tropicana Field?
Judd – I’m thinking of starting my own Reading Comprehension school.
I already see two potential students here.
Seeing a game at Fenway is historic, but that’s it, when you sit in small wooden seats that is facing the outfield and you have to turn your head to see Homeplate sucks. Keep Fenway, I rather be at a new stadium.
It’s like fixing up his “van down by the river.” (I can only hear that in Chris Farley’s voice.)
As someone who lives in Nashville, I don’t want the Rays to move here. I want an expansion team in the NL, and this nonsense is holding that up.
Yep, so dumb. If this is plan B after being given $600 million to build a new stadium, it is time to sell.
The city of Tampa and MLB, and Tampa Rays fans are not happy with this ownership group.
Side note. Hal Steinbrenner said the deal with the Rays to play at his field is for 2025 only and he has no interest in extending it into 2026. Of course, we can assume there always a price where he’ll change his mind!
Well the county and Rays have both said the Trop will be ready by opening day 2026. So shouldn’t be a problem
problem is the Trop sucks
The location is the main issue. The Trop isn’t as horrible as it’s made out to be. Nothing nicer than A/C and a baseball game on a hot and humid summer day in Tampa Bay.
It isn’t a problem until it’s a problem.
They also haven’t started repairs outside of ensuring it doesn’t get worse. Any sort of reasons could cause a delay and being ready for the start of 26 is not a guarantee. Yankees should extend now for 25m, get paid now and use their bonus money to replace Cole (sarcasm intended). Funny how when Boston didn’t spend recently, Yankee fans laughed and pointed to the total payroll. Now Boston is willing to overpay short term and while Steinbrenner did more than expected this off season, fans still are unhappy.
I’d be surprised if they started repairs before next year. It’s already been 6 months and nothing had been done yet…
nick – St. Pete council members are exploring possible ways to avoid repairing The Trop. They don’t have a strict deadline, so they can drag their feet as much as they want.
A side note on your side note. If the Rays build a stadium in Tampa, they could force the Yankees to give up their minor league team in Tampa. Someone else posted that and I didn’t believe it, so I started digging and sure enough a MLB team has priority in any city over an existing minor league team. Steinbrenner should play nice if the repairs go long on the Trop or in 2029 he could be looking for a new home for the Tampa Tarpons and have an empty stadium that is just used for Spring Training.
I don’t think the Yankees would be too broke up about it. Although it is a Cadillac of a Spring Training facility. Sold out every game even though they charge twice as much for tickets compared to the 4 or 5 other teams in the Tampa area.
I think that Steinbrenner is too smart of a businessman to play hardball on the Rays extending their lease at the potential cost of moving an entire team out of Tampa.
I will preface this comment by saying I have done zero research on the subject:
But it might not really matter to Steinbrenner. The Tampa affiliate might have an independent, local owner. Historically, it hasn’t been uncommon for minor league affiliates to change cities. Florida is ripe with minor league quality stadiums. Moving probably wouldn’t be a huge deal. And I’m sure the league offers compensation to any “aggrieved” team.
The Tarpons are owned by the Yankees. They don’t get any compensation. Only a time frame to move. The biggest black eye for Hal would be that he would have to move a team that he owns from a stadium named after his father in the city where Hal himself lives year-round.
i really dont think hal would loose much sleep over that.
Websoulsurfer- I’d that’s technically true. You’d have to think it’d still not be wise to go against the ownership group of the most valuable team. There’s also a whole bunch of teams playing Spring ball in close proximity. And some are also very close to Miami on the side of the state.
Lord – I have a sneaking suspicion after this season the Rays WON’T WANT to play there again.
I was at Clover yesterday and Roger Dean today, in both instances fans gravitated to upper sections where there was some shade because they couldn’t stand the heat … and this is the most pleasant time of year in Florida.
Just wait and see what it will be like in GMS June thru September.
And there’s apparently not that much demand for tickets this year, because the prices weren’t even close to being doubled like some speculated.
Littell in exchange for a 2026 stadium renewal.
You have 9 upvotes and the city of Tampa has absolutely nothing to do with the Rays.
Who on this green(ish) Earth is asking for more years at the Trop?
The thing that baffles me about this is that… the roof already failed once. Hurricanes are not getting fewer or less powerful anytime soon. It stands to reason that any extension is risking this exact thing happening again, and the longer the more certain of that possibility.
the roof was guarenteed for 25 years,it was made to withstand 200 mph winds.the original company told them in 2015 that its life span was over and offered to replace it for 5 million $ the rays and st. pete refused.everything wears out and degrades.if you own a house you have to replace the roof every 25 to 30 years..if they put a new roof on,it will last 25 and survive all hurricanes.now its not just gonna cost for a roof,but all the damage.
Wow. I did not know that at all. Glad I came here.
I don’t think hurricanes are getting more powerful as much as they getting more moisture. IIRC, the issue now is more flooding and less wind. They stay longer in place.
Leverage
Welch is willing to have the taxpayers of St Pete pay $55.7 million plus inevitable cost overruns to repair the Trop for the Rays to play there 3 years, but not $144.3 million more for 10 years.
Wasn’t he against the deal for the stadium from the start? I know he delayed the vote on funding until after the election. He is the one person most responsible for getting St Pete into this mess in the first place.
Should have read the article linked to. With the renovation the Rays offered to extend the lease through 2038, 10 years after the current lease expires. They would play in the Trop for 13 more years starting in 2026.
Welch is willing to use $55.7 million of taxpayer dollars to fix the Trop to have the Rays play there through 2028, but not $144.3 million more to have them play there through 2038?
$55.7M is an obligation as a landlord. $144.3M is a choice.
You are right about that. Under the lease the city both has to pay for repairs and provide payment for a place for the Rays to play in 2025. The Rays have no obligations other than to play in the stadium through 2028.
Making a choice to invest $144.3 million for 3.33 times as many years of taxes coming in as the $55.7 million will buy them is the decision they have to make. A decision that would also obligate the Rays to fork over $200 million to improve a property owned by the city,
I know Welch is hurting in the behind because the Rays called his bluff, but this seems like a no-brainer. Negotiate for things like redevelopment and maybe another 2-5 years on the lease but get this done. It is a better deal for the city than building the new stadium while giving away 66 acres of land.
$55.7M is an obligation as a landlord. $144.3M is a choice.
===========================
Well, it looks to me like a marginal cost of ~ $90M, for an additional ten years. Other issues can be in play, but that looks like an easy choice.
Wrong. This is all on Stu.
And Welch didn’t delay anything; he’s the mayor of St. Peterburg. It was the Pinellas County Commission that delayed the vote because – God forbid – they needed to catch their breath after being hit by a hurricane. If you’re going to stump for Stu, at least know who you’re supposed to be picking on.
St. Pete wants to redevelop the Trop and the surrounding area, with or without the Rays. Stu gets a cut if he’s under lease when the redevelopment starts. This is Stu’s way of (a) cutting his obligation from the $700m he was supposed to put in on the new park to $200m while (b) the city and county between them save only $200m while Stu saves $500m while (c) Stu still gets his cut of the redevelopment because he’ll have a lease until 2038 while (d) Stu tries to look magnanimous.
A con. All it does is delay the inevitable: if a new park gets built in Tampa Bay, it will take a new owner to get it. Stu pulled the plug on the Ybor stadium 6 years ago; that deal wasn’t as far along as this one was, but he ended that discussion within a matter of months; think Tampa and Hillsborough County are going to throw money at him now? Think St. Pete and Pinellas will after this?
Cash out your billion-dollar profit and sell, Stu.
Sternberg is not a majority owner of the Rays, He would not get a billion profit. The most he could profit if it sold for $1.7 billion is just over $680 million. Still a nice chunk of change.
Ken Welch did delay a vote in the St Petersburg city council for funding. There was a great article about it in the Tampa Bay Times
tampabay.com/news/st-petersburg/2024/11/21/like-co…
Since you obviously don’t know anything about major building projects, let me fill you in. A 2 month delay can cost tens or even hundreds of millions and push construction back exponentially.
Let me give you an example. My company was contracted to do a 390k sq foot expansion for USPS in the LA area. Funding was delayed on the project by 3 months and we had to push back the project by a year. On a big project like that I can’t just start it the day it funds, I have planning months in advance. I have to move personnel and equipment into place. I have to line up suppliers. I cannot even start that process, one that can takes months, until the funding is in place.
When a delay happens on the buyers end, I have to then fill that funnel with another project or projects. I can’t just tell hundreds of employees, sorry, the funding was held up so you are out of a job until they get their act together. In the case of a huge one like the one I am talking about, we had to move up construction of a project that took 9 months to complete and could have taken a year depending on a large number of factors.
So when the Rays say that the delays caused by Welch delaying the vote in the St Pete city gov’t and Chris Latvala and Eggers delaying the vote in the Pinellas County Commission would cost hundreds of millions and would make it impossible to be completed by opening day 2028, they were not lying. I doubt it was the $260 million figure floated by the media, but a 10% cost increase is common on major builds when there is a delay like that.
Why should the Rays be forced to eat all of that cost when it was the politicians that caused the delay and the increased costs? I would have backed out too.
Sternberg and Hines get nothing by backing out. They lose out on the redevelopment deal. That is how bad the deal with the city was for the team and the developer. They would rather have nothing than the increased costs caused by Welch and Latvala/Eggers delaying the vote for funding.
If they sign a deal to renovate the Trop everyone saves money and they can renegotiate the redevelopment deal if necessary.
Looks like OILF already answered you pretty well. You got almost all the facts wrong. Do some research and get back to me after you do.
No matter how much you fix the trop up, it’s still going to be a terrible stadium in a bad location. There is no scenario where staying there another 10 years makes sense for the team.
Or the city. I don’t even know why they are fixing the Trop. If the city wants leverage on Sternberg, just tear it down.
Don, too late for that. The city is legally obligated to repair it once the engineers they hired said it was possible.
There are obligations and then there are obligations. Lawsuits can be drug out forever. The city could slow walk the “repairs” until Stu finally yells “uncle” and agrees to sell.
It’s dirty pool, but I doubt Sternberg would be above it if the shoe was on the other foot.
The city can slow walk repairs as much as they like. They still have to pay to have a field available for the Rays to play in for the 2026 season. The city is the ones paying for the Rays to play at Steinbrenner Field in 2025. They were angry about having to pay for the Rays to play somewhere they don’t reap any tax benefits which is part of this whole situation.
Sternberg is not going to sell. He has made that pretty clear. Unlike McCourt, he is not bankrupt and going through a nasty divorce. The other owners can apply pressure, but at the end of the day they have to play by the same rules they have set for all the other franchises in the sport. Sternberg has done nothing that could be used as a reason to force him to sell.
No city council people would allow that. You open up the city council and mayor to law suits
If the owners take away his revenue sharing like they did to John Fisher (no revenue sharing without a stadium deal by a certain date), and it’s clear Stu can’t get someone in TB to build him one, he’s left with less income, a team likely to struggle more, and a bad team playing in a bad park. His asset loses value from it’s peak. Now he’s losing money in two directions.
And it seems doubtful the owners are going to let him move; the potential sites are all smaller markets than TB, and if he couldn’t make it work there, why would he be handed an even smaller market? And why give up potential expansion money because Stu burned every bridge in TB?
Would that make him sell?
The other owners can only do that by making changes to the CBA. Not sure that the MLBPA would agree to that as a punitive measure just to force him to sell because the Rays have been spending north of $100 million every year since 2022.
The problem for the Rays has always been the location of the ballpark. It is in an industrial area. Pretty grim. Not much to do there other than go to the game, although in recent years a few more places have come in. It needs redevelopment and the city has been promising that for 40 years, but its not going to happen without a big draw like a baseball or soccer team in the area.
It’s also really hard to get to. Unless you live in central Pinellas county you are going to find its more than an hour’s drive on any weekday. If you have to cross a bridge to get there and there is a wreck, an almost daily reality, it can take 2 hours to get there.
For Angels games you can come all the way from San Diego and get here in 90 minutes. That seems to be about average for getting to a Rays game from anywhere other than Pinellas county south of Clearwater.
The ballpark they have was not really designed for baseball. It was a multi-purpose facility and it stinks for baseball.
The Rays don’t have to relocate to another state, they just need to move closer to the majority of the population in the Tampa Bay area. If you have been to a Buccaneers game you know how good of an area that would be to have a ballpark. Easy access. Multiple highways. Close to the airport. Could build right across the street from Steinbrenner Stadium where they are playing this year in the north parking lot of Raymond James then build a multi-story parking structure to the east across Hines by the Bucs training facility. Just have to be mindful of not scheduling baseball and football games on the same day in August and September. Other cities have a similarly situated stadiums and do great with that.
MLB can’t take away the Rays revenue sharing without the approval of the MLBPA. Since the beginning of the last CBA when the possibility of losing revenue sharing if teams didn’t spend their revenue sharing checks on MLB payroll, the Rays have increased spending. The MLBPA has no reason to allow any changes. What they added to the last CBA worked. The Rays, A’s, and Pirates increased spending.
According to their own publicly released figures, the Rays are losing approximately $20 million from playing at Steinbrenner Field. Between the $230 million in ticket sales he will have, plus local and national TV, and his revenue sharing I don’t think he is losing sleep over that. Would it be nice to have $20 million in extra profit? Absolutely. Will losing that for a year make him sell? Not a chance.
The Rays consistently put a good team on the field, so that is another point you got wrong.
The Rays don’t have to move out of the Tampa Bay area to have a team that draws. They just has to move out of that terrible location in St Pete.
As with your other post, you are not big on getting the facts of the situation right.
OILF, you beat me to it again. LOL.
Don – The city legally must honor the existing lease for three more years. Unless they can find a loophole, they have to fix the Trop.
Every year the repairs get delayed, the lease gets extended by a year.
I feel bad for the dozens of Rays fans having to deal with this
That many?
The Rays are usually a competitive, fun team each year. Sorry to see this team dealing with this tough situation. Hope they don’t move, but it doesn’t look good.
The only proper “renovation” is burning that dump to the ground.
The City of St Pete can’t do that until after the 2028 season. They are obligated to provide it to the Rays for 3 more seasons.
Indeeddownderelikedat!!!
Move to Jacksonville
The armpit of the universe. Rather move to Fresno than Jacksonville.
I think they are probably trying to make this untenable at this point. Montreal will have their renovations complete by the middle of 2026, they will posture, play hardball, and try to burn whatever bridge is left, hope that MLB doesn’t have enough balls to force a sale. MLB wants this settled so they can move on to expansion. I am sure they would like Montreal in the bidding for an expansion team, but Orlando may be leverage enough to move things along.
Montreal will have renovations on Olympic Stadium completed in 2028. kitchener.citynews.ca/2024/02/05/quebec-government…
montreal is also renovating olympic stadum.so why cant the rays renovate tropicana field.
slim – Exactly! Some people here just aren’t rational (to put it nicely).
I don’t think MLB will ever return to Montreal that ship has sailed .I’m also not convinced that their interested in expansion. Some fans are to be sure. Just not sure the league as a whole is..
Manfred made a statement two weeks ago that he wants to have expansion set in motion by the time he retires in 2029. He’s not going to say that without owners’ blessings.
I’m confused. the rays floated the renovations to Tampa bay mayor or st Petersburg mayor or Ybor city mayor and st Petersburg mayor chimed in and said no?
Idiots are running the show people, and MLB are in the head up their rear mode. Very bad leadership here.
I think the metaphor of lipstick on a pig fits the notion of renovating the Trop.
tiger – What in particular about The Trop do you think needs to be fixed but wouldn’t be fixable? I have yet to hear anything specific from people here, except they want a different location.
Ybor City is by far the best location of the ones proposed, but it has to happen under new ownership. Why would Tampa and Hillsborough County work with the same guy who lied repeatedly to St. Petersburg and Pinellas County?
Just to clarify for those not familiar with the Tampa Bay Area:
Because location location location is so important this means:
St Pete/Pinellas County BAD. There is one 2-lane and one 4-lane bridge going into/out of St Pete. It takes 45 minutes to get from Tampa (where people live) to St Pete at 3 AM in December, and double that amount of time on a game day. An hour and 20 minutes both ways, 81 times a year….. Pass. Some people live in St Pete but they’re all approximately 138 years old and aren’t keen on leaving the house.
Tampa/Hillsborough County GOOD. If they had decided to build it next to The University of South Florida, they would be guaranteed 25,000 fans/game during seasons they traded everyone at the Deadline, and much more than that when they are good, because it is only a 10 to 30 minute drive to the area. Ybor City and Clearwater are similar locations (they didn’t move to USF because land is more expensive there than anywhere else that’s been proposed).
“Leave the entire area” BAD idea. Tampa (not St Pete, TAMPA) would support a team, same as the Yankees or Dodgers or Rockies or Cardinals or Brewers or any other centrally located team.
“Move to Tampa” GOOD idea. Tampa (not St. PETE, but Tampa) is a great place for baseball.
St Pete is where old people with 7 kids, 40 grandkids, and 10 great-grandkids move because they suck and their entire family hates them. Ancient people of that ilk will never sell out an MLB game.
Miami is in a similar boat as the Rays and should have picked one municipality to move to instead of being equidistant from one or the other. “MLB should leave Florida” is such a brain-dead take.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
I lived in St. Pete for 11 years, 2013 to 2024. You obviously have not been there recently if you’re still perpetuating the “God’s Waiting Room” misconception of the city. The downtown is thriving with new bars, restaurants, and condo buildings going up all around the Trop, which is NOT in an “industrial area.” Young people and tech companies are moving to St. Pete in droves. You can easily walk to a multitude of nightlife spots after a game. Yes, the stadium is dated and the team should move to Tampa, but St. Pete — Florida’s fifth-largest city — is a wonderful, thriving city with one of the country’s best publicly accessible waterfronts. I’d still be there if the cost of living hadn’t skyrocketed so much over the past decade, pricing me out.
Former – Well said! When he disparaged the residents of St Pete by calling them old and saying “they suck and their entire family hates them” it became quite obvious his “opinion” is worthless because it’s fueled by hatred instead of facts.
Fever, how is a grand total of two bridges totaling six lanes (three lanes going in either direction) going into-out of St Pete and the hour and 20 minutes it takes to drive one way from anywhere in Tampa to the Trop “fueled by hatred instead of facts” when all of that is easily verifiable? Howard Frankland Bridge and Courtney Capmbell Causeway. Google it. After that, let’s get you to bed, Grandpa
Troy – Yet another ageist insult from you, how unsurprising. You think that makes you look cool, eh?
I’ve driven many times to/from The Trop to/from Clearwater and Brandon. Most of the people like you complaining about the team being in St Pete are because you selfishly want a new stadium closer to you. Maybe if you didn’t putt along 10 miles below the speed limit like a grandpa you’d get to the game a lot faster.
And if you ever stayed until the end of a night game instead of going to bed before the sun sets, you’d know there’s very little traffic at night because most of the daytime traffic is people commuting to work or the airport.
What’s especially ironic is you complaining about the drive is very much a “grandpa” thing. What else do you complain about, the graphics on the scoreboard being too small for you to read? Hahahahaha!!!!!
He is pretty close on all points.
Lets start with age demographics. 48% of people in St Pete as of 2024 are 50 or older. 19% are minors, so they are not buying tickets to games. The downtown area is even more elderly with 51% being 50 or older.
The Trop is not in downtown.
The Trop has no public transport support. The only way in or out is on clogged highways and surface street and getting there for the majority of the population means crossing bridges.
There is very little around the park. Don’t believe me. Just look at Google Maps. Yes, there are a few bars, but you are not going to the area to have a nice dinner before the game and then walking over to the park.
For most of the people in the Tampa Bay area, even north Pinellas county, you are fighting through 90 minutes of traffic to get there just in time for the game after a hard day at work and then have an hour plus drive home after the game. That is just the reality.
Former St Petersburger:
“God’s Waiting Room” would be appropriate if most of the residents weren’t going to Hell. Thanks for the laugh.
If the Tech people can get two or three more bridges going into/out of St Pete then sure, but more people moving there doesn’t solve the two bridge problem and an hour and 20 minutes from anywhere else in the Bay to Tropicana Field.
Alabama Bay won’t need two teams much longer.
Just move the team already
A lot of money to spend on 16,000 people.
Rays need to move out of St. Pete if they ever want to make a profit. Only 2 highways to bring their fan base in, always major accidents slowing traffic to a crawl. No real mass transit either. Build a stadium around or in the Fairgrounds & the place will be PACKED so long as they build it with a retractable roof. No one in their right mind wants to sit outside in Tampa from May/June through November even for night games. Between the torrential thunderstorms & the heat/humidity it’s not fun.
Sternberg sees a more profitable opportunity elsewhere—possibly a relocation bid in the future. The “not for sale” statement by Silverman could be posturing to maintain negotiating power. The Rays aren’t looking for a long-term home in St. Pete. They’re looking for the best exit strategy that maximizes leverage.
Travesty.