As the Rays continue to deal with the lasting impact of damages to Tropicana Field during Hurricane Milton, owner Stu Sternberg announced this morning that his club will no longer be moving forward with the previous tentative plans to construct a new ballpark in St. Petersburg. The team’s statement reads as follows:
“As we all recover from impacts of the hurricanes, we are incredibly grateful for the support from our fans and the wider Tampa Bay community. … After careful deliberation, we have concluded that we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this moment. A series of events beginning in October that no one could have anticipated led to this difficult decision.
Our commitment to the vitality and success of the Rays organization is unwavering. We continue to focus on finding a ballpark solution that serves the best interests of our region, Major League Baseball and our organization. The City of St. Petersburg is currently advancing plans to restore Tropicana Field for the 2026 season. We are thankful for their efforts and are excited to return to our home field next spring.”
Major League Baseball issued the following statement in the wake of the Rays’ announcement:
“Major League Baseball remains committed to finding a permanent home for the Club in the Tampa Bay region for their fans and the local community. Commissioner Manfred understands the disappointment of the St. Petersburg community from today’s announcement, but he will continue to work with elected officials, community leaders, and Rays officials to secure the club’s future in the Tampa Bay region.”
[Related: Rays Are “Not For Sale,” St. Petersburg Mayor Says “Bridge Has Been Burned”]
Last summer, the Rays reached a tentative agreement to construct a new $1.3 billion stadium — part of a larger $6.5 billion redevelopment project in the historic Gas Plant District site near the existing Tropicana Field. The closed-roof, 30,000-seat stadium was set to open in 2028, and the development plan had been agreed upon by the Rays, Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg. The city council and county commission still needed to sign off on the plan, and various benchmarks needed to be hit along the way to ensure the stadium plans would remain on track.
Mother nature, of course, had other intentions. Hurricane Milton wrought immense damage on Tropicana Field, leaving the Rays without a place to play for at least the 2025 season while they evaluated the cost of repairing Tropicana Field’s shredded roof. The Yankees agreed to allow the Rays to host their home games at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field — home of the team’s Class-A affiliate — for the upcoming 2025 campaign. That plan remains in place.
Even a short-term move to a location outside of Pinellas County rankled some on the county commission, however. The time needed to sort out logistical nightmare stemming from the hurricane damages, coupled with November election cycles that changed the composition of the boards set to approve the necessary bonds to move forward with the project, led to delays in what was already a tightly scheduled development plan for the new facility. Those delays also eventually led to a contentious back-and-forth between the Rays (Sternberg and president Matt Silverman) and Pinellas County that has played out over the offseason. Sternberg acknowledged back in November that relocation was a possible outcome in light of renewed squabbles with local government.
The abandonment of the exiting plan for the 2028 stadium and surrounding development comes against the more recent backdrop of reported pressure from not only other owners but also MLB commissioner Rob Manfred for Sternberg to sell the franchise. Evan Drellich of The Athletic wrote over the weekend that Major League Baseball hopes to keep the Rays in Florida, with a focus on either remaining in St. Petersburg or constructing a new facility in Ybor City near downtown Tampa — a location the Rays have previously explored. Orlando has also been mentioned as an alternative, per Drellich.
At this juncture, the team’s focus is clearly on returning to Tropicana Field for the 2026 campaign. That seems a short-term solution, at best, however. The Rays’ lease at their longtime home originally ran through the 2027 season, though the expiration date was pushed back one season after the Rays were rendered unable to play there in 2025.. The now-scrapped construction of their new Gas Plant District home was set to dovetail with the original expiration of their lease at Tropicana Field. Both Drellich and ESPN’s Jeff Passan have reported within the past week that there are potential buyers lining up in the event the franchise is put up for sale, but Sternberg has in the past made clear that he does not intend to sell the club.
“If it was (for sale), people would know it,” Sternberg told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times last month. “I’ve always been, and I will continue to be, pretty transparent about our intentions. And pretty — not pretty — but very honest about them. And I have been.”
Sell the team.
Tampa Bay Rays = Nashville Stars
They already have a team name, logo and potential stadium deal in Nashville. Plus, it will cut down on travel time for all AL East teams. The only question is whether or not Stu will have to sell the team in order for them to move there. It’s a perfect solution to the current issues in St Pete.
MLB/Manfred wants a new expansion team potentially there. They don’t want the Rays to relocate to TN.
I heard that too but is MLB healthy enough to expand another 2 franchises? I know the owners want it because they’ll all get paid a bunch of money from an expansion team but MLB has a real attendance problem for at least 5 current teams, if not more. The owners/MLB have to support these teams with revenue sharing and extra draft picks. I’d prefer to see them pull both franchises out of Florida and relocate them to markets that can support a team.
Just look at the Rockies. One of the worst teams in baseball, but yet they are always in the Top 5 in attendance. There are markets out there who will support their teams, win or lose. Let’s relocate some of these ‘failed’ franchises to markets who will be happy to have them and actually show up to watch the product before considering further expansion.
Not sure how enthusiastic the owners, at least some of them, are to expand. They’ll have to divide the national TV contracts with two more teams, and the same with revenue sharing. Still stunned the other owners allowed the A’s to move from Oakland to a smaller market.
Agreed that Tampa, and Tampa Bay can’t support a team in terms of attendance, but they do have fans for what it’s worth.
The region has practically no highways to move its 3 million+ people, and between the politics and the weather, it never will.
While the current stadium location is the worst possible, there are no good local options that can get 30,000 fans to a weekday night game with any regularity.
It’s not simply baseball that should relocate, but any buisness or person is better off away from the excess sulfur and rain of the region.
Correct. I’m part of a much larger fanbase that absolutely hates going to watch a game in the tincan warehouse.
TDS
They might want their share of that $2 billion expansion fee though. Expanding to 32 teams would only drop their revenues from $60 million to $56 million annually from the national TV revenue..
Genuinely curious why the St Pete location is so bad for Tampa fans? Is an hour drive in rush hour traffic really that much of a detriment to fans wanting to see their team play?
Sincerely,
A NY fan in a NY suburb 90-120 minutes from my team’s stadium…
TRS
Vegas promised the A’s all the home games will be sell-outs.
Obviously, they’ll be comping tix at all the casinos.
I love when they make the playoffs & the Trop still looks like someone called in a bomb threat. Ahahahahahaha!
There is no question that there are markets that will support their teams, win or lose. Neither Florida team has ever drawn decent crowds, never mind great ones, especially the Rays. I know about the bridge issue, but even weekend games are lucky to draw 20,000, and the Rays almost always put together a competitive team. Move both teams out of Flordia, one to Nashville and one to Montreal or Salt Lake City.
R for Reality
Have you been to Oakland? More teams equals more demand and bigger contracts for the players. This is what the Players Union will want, and they’re the ones running the game.
TDS is real
@Dorothy_Mantooth, Colorado hasn’t been top 5 in attendance since 2001.
In Vegas they will be another event that travelers can attend. And cheap flights into town will enable visiting teams to boost some attendance.
TV contracts are the big driver in revenue. Florida is a big market and if the teams leave then whose fans are watching those regional ads? Regional ads in Oakland are still covered by Giants fans, which might’ve made the A’s moving a little easier. Especially since City of Oakland hasn’t exactly been easy to work with for pro franchises.
Hex, they can’t comp tickets to sporting events at casinos in that state. Nevada gaming laws prohibit casinos from monetarily supporting any sport they take action on. No sponsorships, ads, corporate suites, or tickets.
No, basic financial and economic literacy.
I’ve lived in both Tampa Bay, and Pittsburgh. I’ve been to stadiums in Atlanta, Denver, and Jacobs Field. I had no issue with driving an hour or more to any of them, except the Trop. The difference to me is that the Trop isn’t, and now probably never will become a destination stadium. You go to a game, in an unattractive stadium. Absolutely no views. Pittsburgh and Coors are so beautiful that the game can be secondary.
Bottom line is that the drive isn’t an issue when the destination is worthy of it. The Trop has never been, even with the AC which seemingly to some, makes up for the ugliness.
You can build an appealing and fan friendly domed stadium. Check out the ballparks in Toronto, Milwaukee and Seattle.
As one who lives in northern Pinellas county, my wife and I attend more than a few games at the Trop each year. We were at the home finale in 2024 unaware it might be the last game ever at the Trop.
Takes us about thirty minutes to get to the stadium and about an hour to get home. The Trop is not the nicest stadium, but the complaints about the trip to and from the ballpark are exaggerated. I-275 runs right past the stadium.
Let me tell you, the problem is not Tampa pal, it’s St Pete where the old stadium is. You see the Lightening, Bucs all have great attendance in Tampa. St Pete is a snowbird town and is obviously empty when baseball is being played. They also have owner problems that is in the baseball business for money alone!
Besides, there isn’t enough good pitching to field a quality product by expanding. MLB could stand to drop two teams and cut the season down to 140 games. In that scenario, only the fans would win and that’ll always take a back seat to the players union and ownership groups.
What’s funny is people in Tampa like to claim they live near the beach. The same bridges are required to get to the beach.
>> Nevada gaming laws prohibit casinos from monetarily supporting any sport they take action on. No sponsorships, ads, corporate suites, or tickets.<<
Yikes. I had not heard that. Not even suites at market value? Wild.
Manfred must have some thoughts on relaxing that, or perhaps they'll just wash the money through Vegas tourism agencies. Vegas makes no sense without the big dollars the hotels and casinos wield.
Tampa can support attendance pretty easy. Getting to St Pete is a bear. 2 hours for night games. It’s like planning a vacation to go see a game.. Near Downtown Tampa is the place to build..
Silly
They want the big fat expansion fee.
Yeah, It’s pretty bad. In NYC getting home is easier, to then go to a game.. It’s 100 miles a day to get it done from Tampa to St Pete..
Let’s be honest. The NYC area could well support three teams. The other two teams are too selfish with their rights.
And I from Chicago.
Tampa has no highways? Ever heard of I-4?
So could LA. 20 million people in the greater LA area.
If NYC wasn’t such a dump anymore I could agree
They have a great highway that runs right next to Steinbrenner Field. Which is where the Rays should build their new ballpark.
Montreal Rays???
Actually, MLB breaks the economy more than Trump. Look how much Soto is getting paid. Filthy.
What about first responders, teachers, and nurses? Should we pay them to play sports all day?
mazbilleroski: So is TRS and so are inflation and a declining economy.
Sick: It’s not. I live in a beautiful area.
Sick: They don’t have the skills. And the players are just getting a share of the revenues they generate.
MLB could care less about attendance, tv viewership is all they care about.
The Rockies generally rank from 5-8 in the NL, out of 15 teams.
14 or 15 in all of MLB.
On another note I’m in awe that two hours away is a suburb. I’m a pirates fan and live about an hour and a half from the stadium. is it a distance thing or just travel time due to traffic?
MLB is healthy enough for 2 expansion teams once the Athletics and Rays are settled. Existing owners will be happy to take those expansion fees. It will help balance schedules (32 divides nicely into 8 divisions which is a lot easier to schedule). It also helps expand the game’s reach.
The problem with Oakland was that the Giants always hated them being there, and Bud Selig was calling it a mistake to move the Athletics there from the start. That’s why Fisher was approved as an owner – he has always wanted to move the team – and why the owners okayed them moving from a larger market to a smaller one.
If the Rays can stay in Tampa it’s very obvious that Nashville will be one team. The other will be either Portland or Orlando, both of which have well moneyed groups angling for a franchise. The loser becomes the stalking horse for other teams to threaten to move to (along with Montreal maybe). If the Rays move to, let’s say Orlando, then Tampa becomes that stick that threatens the Cincinatti’s of the world that their team could move if they don’t pony up that local tax money.
The reason the Rays are being treated differently than the A’s is simple – the owners want to be in Tampa. They didn’t want to be in Oakland.
Al, relax,Tru p only has 47 more months.
When I lived in Bradenton I went to a number of games at the Trop and found it fine–unpretentious and homey in its own way. And the drive over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge was not bad. I think a lot of people are repeating what they have heard about the stadium and its location, and it becomes an echo-chamber kind of situation.
The problem is that the fan base is small. People in that area did not grow up with a strong baseball culture (and many have relocated from other parts of the country of course.) Baseball is not part of what they do in the summer there. Florida is for spring training, not in-season ball. The Rays will eventually move, sadly, and eventually just got a lot sooner.
So is reality.
b.kline: Yinz goin dahntahn jagoff?
Oh brother give CNN a break and think for yourself once in a while.
Please remember that NY has extensive train service to both ballparks. Subways right to the door and suburban commuter trains a short hop away. You don’t need a car to get to a Yankee or Met game.
No way MLB can succeed with teams in Tampa/St Pete AND Orlando. It’s one or the other.
Who’s going to the beach 81 times between April and October?
A normal day is 1 hour. A wreck on any number of bridges that you have to cross to get there and its 2 hours. St Pete is on the side of the Bay where 1/3 of the people live. 2/3 live on the other side. The logical place to build a stadium is in Tampa proper. Would cut commutes to games in half for most fans.
The other problem is that until the last year or two, the Trop was in an industrial wasteland with little in the way of public transportation. Nothing to do near there. Fight through traffic for a very long time to go park in a blah parking lot in a blah neighborhood and then go into a blah stadium.
Unfortunately for the A’s, that is not possible because of Nevada Gaming laws.
Says the irrelevant.
Wrian Washman: If you’re talking to me, I don’t watch CNN or any other TV news. But I could say the same about Fox News and its bias.
I don’t know about that, there are freaking chickens running around the streets in Ybor City, it’s a freaking ghost town, literally. Ybor City is spooky.
Orlando is a much better location for the Rays. They are going to run high speed rail lines from Orlando to Tampa. Tampa fans can take the train or make the drive.
the rockies do draw well .however they havent been in the top 5 in over 15 years.there park is easier to get to.,than tropicana field.
Another relocation option would be Vancouver. A good rivalry for Seattle.
But, for sure, move the Rays to Nashville.
That’s not my point, but okay
Word salad, much?
Florida doesn’t need two teams. No one goes to games. No one wants to play there. Maybe a climate controlled stadium? I wouldn’t do Montreal since it failed once. Loved those Marquis Grissom years though.
Older crowd. Former NYers who didn’t want to deal with NY. Different mindset. And honestly, is there even one player the fans are going to see…unless that player plays for the opposing team?
The location also needs to be in a spot that has more accessibility. And not sure why the article is calling out weather as a factor. They play indoors. One hurricane in 100 years isn’t a factor.
b.kline: NYC encompasses five counties and 469 square miles compared to Pittsburgh’s 58.3 square miles.
I live in Brooklyn, which is Kings County, and the entire urban center of Pittsburgh from the area of the North Side, Mount Washington, and the Duquesne Incline south to the Homewood area would fit into a small section of Brooklyn.
It’s easily possible to travel two hours or more within NYC or from parts of the city to its suburbs.
The Rays own the Orlando market. There will either be a team in Tampa or Orlando. Not both.
MLB badly needs a west coast team. Portland is a good option if Oakland doesn’t get a team first.
Charlotte and Nashville are both good options.
He is deranged. I will give you that.
My daughter lives in Tarpon Springs. In July I wanted to take my grandson’s little league team to a Rays game. I knew on a weekday there would be tickets available. We met at Rodies Pancake House and left in a caravan of 4 cars just before 5 pm and got there and parked just after 7pm.
What is sad is that even though that game was against the Yankees, I was able to get 21 tickets at the gate that were mostly together,
The Trop is all online. There are no gate sales.
There is a perfectly good location in Tampa. There is ample parking. Unlike St. Petersburg, Tampa is a central to Lakeland and even Orlando is a reasonable drive from the East and St. Pete, Clearwater and other beach communities from the West. While Ybor City is a possibility, the far better location is where the y Rays will be playing this season. In accord with the former MLB rules, the Yankees should agree to move so that an MLB domed stadium can be built in its place. The Yankees should be justly compensated to relocate their ST grounds and FL League A facility.
Many of those 20 million are primarily soccer fans.
When the expansion fee to be split among the owners is approaching or exceeding $1 billion per team I’m comfortable in stating the owners of existing teams will live with the necessary accommodations needed to get the new franchises moving forward.
While they haven’t been top five, When you set aside the covid season when all parks were empty, the Rockies have sold at least 2 million tickets in all but two seasons of their existence. That’s pretty solid for a team that loses a helluva lot more games than it wins.
I’m fairly certain that in all states where sports gambling is legal, placing wagers on in-state teams is prohibited. If that’s the case that will immediately close off that issue.
I never understood why some folks missed the point that while the Oakland/San Francisco metro area is large, when you keep two teams there it effectively splits the market in two. When you do it in NY, LA or Chicago, no big deal — you’re still looking at each team drawing on at least 4-5 million people. When you do that for San Francisco and Oakland it cuts down the market into a pair of bases representing 2-3 million people — a much smaller pool for support.
misterb: I thought so too, but while I cannot bet on NY state teams in FanDuel, I found a site where I was able to bet on St John’s University for the upcoming NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
@mazbilleroski
Your fixation with Thaddeus D. Stevens or TDS, as some of us like to call him, is quite revealing.
Thaddeus D Stevens(April 4, 1792-August 11, 1868)
American politician and lawyer who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania during the 1860s.
@John_In_WI,
Yes.
Doesn’t seem to be an issue for the NFL or NHL
How much revenue do first responders, teachers, and nurses individually generate for their industry?
Wreckage- Coors is NorthFace Wrigley.
There are six Florida State League teams and ten spring training camps in the Rays’ market, that’s a lot of competition. That market definitely sells more tickets a year than most, but it’s split among too many stadiums.
The culture of the Tampa region is that people will cross a bridge to go to work, but not to go out at night. They deal with 1 hour commutes too and don’t want another 1 hour commute back from a game that features zero star players on the home team.
Rockies aren’t in the top 10 in attendance
But we have West Sacramento now.
That is strange since I walked up and bought 21 tickets in July.
agreed
I think that’s nice getting tickets at the gate, not having to buy at StubHub or online.
I know the White Sox won’t be selling out, should be able to get tickets at the gate. They are selling a two month pass for $125, All the home games in April and May. Upper Deck but I believe they are allowing fans to move once the game starts.
Thats the best option, Orlando is second best option. It would be nice to build a stadium that could host both the Bucs and the Rays, Raymond James is a little shabby, the Bucs will be wanting a new stadium sooner or later, should only build one stadium. The A’s and the Raiders made it work.
They each get a MASSIVE expansion fee. I’m sure the other owners are just fine with it.
Smaller ballparks for the expansion teams, that’s the solution, and more than two expansion teams, bring it up to 40 teams, 8 divisions of five teams.
Montreal would need a multi billionaire owner and a stadium plan….a tall order. They can play in the O in interim but not long term. I don’t see this happening.
Montreal will never have another team. Aside from 2 years of the franchise’s existent in the early 80’s they barely pulled 1.25 million fans a season for over 20 years.
In one of the most densely populated cities in the United States. No other city comes close to that.
Col, it can only be one of Tampa or Orlando. The Rays own the territorial rights to Orlando.
You are afraid of chickens?
Greater NY and LA have 20 million population. Chicago around 9.4 million. The Bay Area around 8 million.
You beat me to it Dorothy! We are ready for baseball here in Nashville!
mlbmusiccity.com/
I dig that logo! The 5 minute video about the history is well worth watching too.
prov356: Then it might be wise to buy yourself a subscription to mlb.tv. All the baseball you want.
Blue – I don’t know which of my comments you are responding to, but I buy an mlb.tv subscription every year. Thanks!
prov356: The one about loving baseball in Nashville.
Again, as I’ve said more times than I can count. The Rays are moving anywhere outside of the central Florida market. MLB will not move from the 11th ranked media market to the 26th. Should MLB expand, Nashville is one candidate among many. There is a franchise fee of approximately $2 billion to be shared among MLB for the expansion draft.
This has always been a ploy by Sternburg to extract money. The Trop damage gave him a perfect, to him, reason to backout. I’m sure big news is coming in the next few weeks.
The proactive choice is to move. Middle Tennessee is a rabid sports fanbase that actually supports the Titans and Predators with attendance. The Preds sellout and even the recently piss poor Titans, still generate strong season ticket sales. And just because the TV market is larger in central Florida, doesn’t mean the fanbase has more value. They don’t show up for games (on either coast), which is hardly inspiring to taxpayers asked to pony up a ton of money for a new stadium. Now, the Sternburg. element is admittedly unpredictable but will always be based on whatever makes him the most money… The stadium is a dump and is going to be a giant headache moving forward. And I don’t think the pressure from other owners and the league office to sell, is smoke and mirrors- Even if it means moving out of that market.
@alwaysgo – The size of the media market has little to do with the success of a MLB franchise or its value. Cleveland has the 19th largest media market in the US, but they can’t get fans to show up and they rely on revenue sharing from MLB to stay afloat.
Meanwhile a smaller media market like St. Louis (22nd media market) draws a ton of fans and their franchise is quite healthy. In fact, the Cardinals are valued at 2.45 billion dollars while the Cleveland Guardians are valued at 1.35 billion dollars. If it’s all about the size of the media market, how do you explain a team in a bigger media market (Cleveland) being worth nearly 45% less than a team in a smaller media market? It’s all about the fan base and their support, both in person and by television subscriptions to their local networks / streaming services.
I’m 100% for Nashville getting a team. It’ll be an expansion team. Yhe Rays aren’t moving anywhere. There are a few legitimate ownership groups ready willing and able to buy the Rays. Stu has to sell, which so far, he hasn’t been willing to do.
I’m guessing some of the Cleveland media market is in Canada, across Lake Erie. When I taught in London, Ontario, students and faculty alike were big consumers of Cleveland media, but due to Lake didn’t attend baseball, football or hockey games there (back when they had the hockey Barons).
That hurricane doesn’t hit the stadium and that deal probably goes through without a hitch. I think the storm concerns are real in Florida. It’s been damn hot down there the past two seasons, they reported that the surface temperatures in the Keys were 20 degrees above normal in April, that is what causes the storms, when the surface temperatures of the seas are warm, they season keep warming, the storms will increase in frequency and intensity. Why build a new stadium right where the other one got thrashed. Probably all kinds of insurance issues now that they’ve seen what a storm can do to the ballpark. Have to move inland.
Florida is a damn swamp, will likely be underwater in 100 years.
Again, as I’ve said more times than I can count. The Rays aren’t moving anywhere outside of the central Florida market. MLB will not move from the 11th ranked media market to the 26th. Should MLB expand, Nashville is one candidate among many. There is a franchise fee of approximately $2 billion to be shared among MLB for the expansion draft.
This has always been a ploy by Sternburg to extract money. The Trop damage gave him a perfect, to him, reason to backout. I’m sure big news is coming in the next few weeks.
Echo…. Echo… echo
> MLB will not move from the 11th ranked media market to the 26th.
A’s are in the process of moving from the 5th ranked market to the 29th.
Your argument is invalid.
always – maybe stop saying it. No one seems to be listening to you.
Oh you can bet the baby’s milk money it’s coming & it’s coming in hot! Ahahahahahaha
“A’s are in the process of moving from the 5th ranked market to the 29th.”
Difference is that the Giants remain in that Oakland market after they left, so MLB still has that market tapped. The Rays moving out of state would leave no team in that market, and MLB won’t allow that to happen. The Rays will end up in either an Ybor City location in Tampa or in Orlando.
Rays backed out of the St. Pete deal two weeks earlier than they needed as well… I would actually think we get news regarding Tampa or Orlando relatively soon… something made them back out of a done deal with St. Pete, and I’m guessing it wasn’t just because they had initial chats elsewhere. Something is up.
Oh…so EVERYONE thinks that they’re moving? Sadly for you, they’re not.
Careful, the Nashville crowd doesn’t like common sense. The only reason they have issues is the absence of available fans in that area, transportation issues, and the pitiful stadium itself.
5th? come on. Anyway they semi split the market with the Giants.
MLB loves the Vegas market. They’ll have basketball one day most likely.
For clarity, always, no one has said they are moving. Several years ago (maybe 10), there was a plan in the works for the Rays to move to Nashville. It never came to fruition, but we are hopeful that this might revive that plan.
“Only” the absence of fans who have to deal with horrendous traffic to get to an absolute dump of a stadium?? Is that all? Haha
Ybor City, nobody wants to go to Ybor City. Cluck cluck, cluck cluck, bunch of damn hens and roosters running around.
As others have said, the Rays aren’t moving out of that part of the region. They will either re-visit the Ybor City location or Orlando. Either one of those would greatly help them with attendance. Being in St. Pete was always the issue as people didn’t want to cross the bridge over there.
Nashville is more likely to get someone like the White Sox if they can’t get a new ballpark or an expansion team later on. Zero percent chance the Rays move out of that region.
Orlando is a good idea. It is already a destination city like Vegas is. You will get locals as well as a lot of out of towners that wouldn’t mind going to Orlando for a series and check out Universal.
lol You can do that now Orlando is only 70-90 minutes from Tampa/St Pete.
That isn’t working out for the NFL in Las Vegas.
Have to boot the Yankees out of Tampa, or move the Yankees to St. Petersburg. Build them a new facility where the Rays stadium is. Tampa keeps the Rays, St. Petersburg gets the Yankees.
Dream Big! The Rays are not moving there. It will NEVER happen. Not ever. Its no solution becuase the team remains in FL. You will have to wait a long time with no guarantee. You will have to fund your own stadium as well.
@Dottie,
Tennessee is most definitely out after a recent news report – ‘Memphis Man Shot By Dog’. If this isn’t a disqualifier, I don’t know what is, regardless of the dog’s political affiliation.
No one wants to be in Memphis. That dog’s only way to escape the streets was to get locked up.
Sternberg using every excuse to squeeze out every last dollar.
MLB obviously is annoyed too, hence the pressure to sell.
The Montreal split season scam eliminated any trust I might’ve had nearly 6 years ago.
Yep, time to sell. If Stu can’t build a stadium after being given $600 million by the city and county, then maybe he just isn’t rich enough to own a team.
^Relocate the team.
Why…this sounds like local politics in Pinellas County having lots to do with changing their minds as much as an owner looking for public funding just like every other owner….Nashville will probably just get an expansion team….
Because no one cares about the team and a new stadium would be a waste of money. Just like the Marlins new stadium was a waste of money.
@Rocky – Pinellas County stuck with the original deal and approved the bonds. They delayed the vote by five weeks because a hurricane rolled through town and the Rays owners complained because supposedly that raised costs significantly. There was a lot of in-fighting between county commissioners and Stu, but you can’t blame the county for changing their minds and sinking the deal. Stu agreed to cover any overage costs in the original deal, so if it wasn’t this hurricane that sunk the deal and raised costs due to delays, it would’ve been the next one.
They delayed the vote because election day brought in new board members that ran on a NO vote.
@Cleaver – okay, but those same newly elected officials still approved the original deal. True, part of the delay was because of the newly elected officials, but part of it was the hurricane. It still doesn’t change that Stu is the one that tanked the original deal.
They delayed the vote twice. First from October to November after the election. Then to January. It was the delays that raised costs and while you could expect that once construction began that the Rays would cover cost overruns, it’s not logical to expect them to cover raised costs due to delays by the city and county in voting for or against the bonds.
@baseballisthebest – if Stu couldn’t handle costs due to a delay, then why agree to a deal where they had until the end of the year to approve the bonds? Also, Stu couldn’t budget for a five week delay from now until the stadium’s completion? It is Florida, construction projects never finish on time due to the weather. If the plan was for everything to go perfectly regarding the construction deadline, then this was doomed to fail. Finally, the Rays claim that the five week delay cost them over $100 million, but they have never released any evidence that the overages have ballooned that much. Stu from the beginning has been more interested in winning the PR war rather then getting this deal done.
Read LeftField’s response. He seems to own a large construction firm and he answered that question.
The Rays never put a number on how much the delays the city and county created would cost. The media did. Whatever that cost was, since it was not caused by construction related overruns the Rays should not be solely responsible for eating those costs.
The city and county were negligent in holding a vote in a timely matter and the delays caused by that negligence caused made the cost of building higher and pushed back the timeline for opening the stadium so the RAYS should pay for the City and County’s negligence?
Interesting logic.
So mlb pressures the rays to sell the team who are doing consistently better in the standings with a better product but not the white Sox…
Because they can’t draw fans and aren’t doing anything about it. In 2023, they were a 99 win team and still finished 27th in attendance. That same year, the White Sox finished 61-101 and still finished 25th in attendance.
The better comparison would be the A’s and Fisher and the whole Las Vegas situation. The fact that both of these stadium issues having been going on for over a decade should have made MLB step in earlier.
That’s a poor comp. It’s based on a snapshot of the current situation in which the W Sox are rebuilding. The Sox had a PS appearance just 4 years ago, won a WS title in 2005, and have a ton of talent in the MiLs. The Rays have never even played in a WS game, let alone won a title.
Even in an historically bad season, 121 losses, the Sox still had better attendance than the Rays. Admittedly, the 43K difference isn’t much, but team success is based on more than the current product they put on the field. For MLB it’s more about fans supporting their team as opposed to W/L records.
Rays have been in 2 world series, 2008 and 2020.
SFGRab, Yeah you’re right. I totally forget. A lesson to me that I should check things first.
Except the White Sox aren’t very good most years and are overshadowed by the Cubs
Move to Montreal. Olympic Stadium is getting renovated as we speak besides, do you know how many players wouldn’t mind playing and living outside of the United States now?
@Al Hirschen yeah, you wanna poke fun at the USA when I see a ton of players signing big deals to play in Toronto. Lots of logic in that
Al
As much as I would like a team in Montreal, that ship has sailed. The Canadian dollar is at 70 cents, and while the Big O is being reno’d they are just putting new roof on. It is pretty ancient. Built in 1976 for cripes sake!
And even in their best days the Expos usually had attendance problems
If MLB is gonna move the Rays they should go somewhere where they might fix the attendance problems.
Monterrey, Mexico and Puerto Rico have always been rumored for potential MLB expansion and relocation.
Relocate to SLC, Portland, Lad Vegas, or? You can have the As
No, don’t sell the team, dissolve it. Selling it rewards the owner. He acted in bad faith, dissolve the team and then create a new expansion team located elsewhere.. Tired of seeing billionaires act poorly and get rewarded with taxpayer money.
Soeptical: It’s not that simple. It would have to be collectively bargained with the MLBPA.
“We go to the moon and do these other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Who cares if it isn’t that easy, we used to be a country that tried to do the right thing instead of just the easy thing. Tired of owners raking in taxpayer subsidized moneys, a.k.a. corporate welfare, and acting without regard for the taxpayers.
It is like that Ted Lasso episode where Rebecca tells a bunch of other owners that just because they own the teams, it doesn’t mean the teams belong to them. Before you run off and say that is the way capitalism is, it isn’t. There have been many forms of capitalism and ownership rights, the current one we employ is both a recent development and an extreme form.
That’s your opinion. But not everyone will agree that what you think is the right thing.
Sell the team
Who was $1.7 B that’s billions. Will be curious to see who steps up with the cash
What idiot would buy under the current conditions? Ask the Angels, Nationals and Twins how that went.
No connection whatsoever. They want a free ride on a stadiuma nd for now it is not going to happen. There will be no teams moving in MLB. Not going to happen. Sorry to break the bad news for you. If there will be two new teams it could be 10 yrs from now. If Manfred starts talking in 2028-29 It sill takes up to 5 yrs for stadiums.
Edward DeBartolo Jr is one name mentioned among others but he has the deepest pockets.
Idk but his family still owns the 49er’s and Trump pardoned him several years ago. The NBA allowed the Adelsons to buy the Mavericks so it looks like gambling is being encouraged now. According to the Athletic a few days ago there are two named groups interested in guying the Rays. DeBartolo was mentioned as being in a group led by former Yankees minority owner Joe Molloy. Tampa business Dan Doyle Jr heads up the second group. NY Post also wrote an article a few days ago about this.
Well…not surprising
Except to Gomer Pyle
What us this 1963?
Surprise surprise surprise
Shazam! Ahahahahaha!
Well, goooolllleeee!
It was a good gear up statement that should have ended off by stating: “Montreal, we are back baby!”
Sell the team $tu.
Pressure to force a better deal
Even nature could not help the Rays get a decent ballpark.
Back to playing in a circus tent…
Translation: the team is getting sold and relocated.
A black eye on the face of our beautiful game
Manfred is the biggest black eye that ever occurred in the game.
Stu wants credit for the attempt while the city puts a band-aid on the problem. I’m not sure who looks worse to the franchise rn, Stu or Wander.
Nashville Rays. Here they come or Bama Rays
anyone* fixed
I am in AL and there’s at least 4 better SE cities more worthy of a team. Nashville OR Charlotte, but not both. Just please get baseball out of FL. They don’t deserve 2 teams, and I don’t care how good an opportunity there is in Orlando with all the tourists.
The Rays AAA team is the Durham Bulls. So… Charlotte Rays
Of course if they move to Charlotte they’ll have to change the spelling to Charlotte Raes. That’s just the facts of life.
Underrated comment.
What you talkin about Willis
Yes!!
Not underrated. He’s got 9 upvotes downthread in the first hour that’s not over yet. Good job!
gen x’ers appreciate this comment
rays need to take it one day at a time as they’re movin’ on up to charlotte. happy days and good times await them in north carolina. something something barney miller…
Got that bassline going now. Thanks!
should have 1,447,330,299 by now. Id say 9 is underrated
they could build a little stadium on the prairie.
Appreciate you, Joe.
Just bring the Rays to Raleigh. Bulls are 25 miles away.
While I disagree about Charlotte, I do love The Charlotte Raes. Well played, Joe.
Some people are just bigoted towards people from Southern states. Pay them no mind.
Or anyone. Maybe Forrest Gump.
montreal would have a btter shot than alabama,lol and montreal aint happening either.
There’s no city in AL large enough to support a MLB team. Birmingham has the history (Barons) that just hosted 2024’s Rickwood Field game, but the city can’t support a team. Huntsville has become the most populated AL city, but still only 225K compared to Nasville’s 2.1M. They just got a AA-team (Trash Pandas-LAA) a few years ago in nearby Madison. While the state has popular baseball bases in Bama, Auburn and Braves, among others…there’s not enough concentration to warrant anything more than a minor league team.
And Nashville has money
Dave Dombrowski has been the head of the MLB Nashville project for years. Kid Rock is involved as is Dave Stewart. It’s when, not if.
A 60 year old man who calls himself kid rock should not be taken seriously.
It’s about money and marketing, not his age.
Do you live in Nashville?
Alabama has sand. Next silicon gulf coast
If they put a team on the Gulf Coast it will be in New Orleans. Strategically good city for major events. Draw from Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Houston would likely pitch a fit over territory rights, but that may all change with new TV structure. Houston, New Orleans, Rangers, Nashville would be a fun division.
Alabama is a great place for people to relocate to (far better than the run down and overcrowded and overpriced northern states) but definitely not a good place to move a pro sports team. Alabama is college sports crazy
No more house of horrors is good for baseball.
That’d be cool if they had Leatherface and Freddy and Jason running through the stands next season.
Couldn’t get enough free money huh?
Shan’t be cheering for him, but the fallout will be enjoyable.
Let me guess. United Kingdom.
Please move this team to a city that will support it
Oh…I know…Nashville. We love baseball here.
Potential Nashville fans ,
Obviously it would be amazing to be in a division with the Yankees and Red Sox… at first
But after the glisten wears off, how would you feel about swapping divisions with the Pittsburgh Pirates?
St Louis, Nashville, Cincinnati would all be more comfortable travel than NY, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto
And Pirates don’t make a ton of sense for NL “Central” to begin with
I’m only in it to see the Angels come to Nashville so it doesn’t matter what league to me.
I see your point, but a Nashville team will most likely be in the AL. I doubt the Reds, Cardinals and Braves would want a 4th NL team in the region.
First sign Daniel Vogelbach then move the team to Macon, Georgia and change the name to MACON BACON!
Like Tampa.
No not like Tampa. The location excuse is pathetic Ive been there and there are several stadiums farther away than the city center and/or harder to get to.
Just no. If they built next to Raymond James, that would be ideal. No long commute issues. Except for the handful of people that attended games from St Petersburg.
Its about the location. 100%
Montreal
Untill other fans start hitting the pocketbooks of their own owners, nothing will change. The rest of the the owners could oust John Fisher and Stu Sternberg. Just got to give them a reason. Stop attending games, stop watching it on TV. I think a good month of that would get the point across.
So unless ya’ll wanna do that, quit complaining and just roll with it.
We boycott games and protested outside the stadium to get rid of Frank McCourt and it worked. And now look at the Dodgers.
They staged protests and walked out of games in Baltimore years back to protest the Angelos ownership. None of it mattered. They had to wait for Voldemort to get avada kevadra-ed on his own time and a sale to happen.
New ownership has not impressed me yet in a sense of a commitment to win. They seem to be most concerned about being financially prepared to absorb a 2027 work stoppage.
The stadium is a dump just take this as a sign to sell the team
Sell the Team & move them to Orlando.
Ewwwww…
Fine, I’ll take Salt Lake City as a back up to Orlando.
More Rockies style baseball at nearly a mile high? No thank you. We don’t need another Coors Field.
I’m in Orlando and would love a move here, but that’s incredibly improbable and nobody here is holding their breath on that. I’d trade both our pro soccer teams for a minor league baseball team again though! (RIP Fire Frogs)
Isn’t Barry Larkin’s group lobbying for a team in Orlando?
The Orlando Dreamers… wish I made that up, YBC! Seemingly apt name though.
Well don’t be surprised if Montreal, Nashville, Salt Lake City become talked about. I know Portland is already building a stadium.
Here in Nashville we will welcome you to our beautiful city
Connie Britton left so I don’t know.
Yes, come here. They would do well.
mlbmusiccity.com/
Your city doesn’t want this owner.
“that no one could have anticipated”
Umm… your team is located in Florida. Hurricanes should always be anticipated in Florida.
That was the first hurricane in 100 years to hit the Tampa Bay area directly.
Except that climate change means that some seasons will have a greater number of storms, and they’ll be of greater severity. So I wouldn’t count on Tampa Bay being safe for another 100 years.
Another 80? 60?
It doesn’t work that way. It’s random. Even without climate change Tampa Bay could go 100 years without being hit by a major hurricane, and then get hit a year or two later. Climate change just increases the odds of that happening.
What used to be referred to as a 100 year storm, a 1% chance of occurring, are estimated to be more like a 30 year storm today. What used to be a 1% percent chance is now a 30% chance.
Katrina was called a 400 year storm, in 2005, and yet Laura in 2020 was even stronger, and Ida, just one year later, equaled Laura in strength. It would be foolish to assume Tampa Bay won’t have to worry about hurricanes in the near future.
A 30-year storm means you have a 3.33% chance of it hitting each year, not 30%.
Katrina was called a 400-year storm because of the combination of where it hit, New Orleans, and it’s Cat 4 strength. There have been stronger hurricanes prior to Katrina and after Katrina. What made is especially deadly was where it hit, a city below sea level that relies on levees to keep it safe. Levees that failed.
Laura made landfall in sparsely populated Cameron Parish on the Texas border, closer to Houston than New Orleans.
Ida was a beast, but not as strong as Katrina even though both were category 4.
Tampa may have to worry about hurricanes, but not at the level that the Gulf of Mexico coastal area from NE Texas to the Florida panhandle do.
I disagree about a couple things. Katrina was called a 400 year storm, not because of where it hit, but because of the amount of storm surge it generated. And everything I’ve read say Ida was equal to Laura in strength, both of which were stronger than Katrina.
Laura and Ida did less damage because the levees that did fail with Katrina, were rebuilt afterward by the Army Corps of Engineers.
@jean climate change? Good Lord….
Silas, So you’re believe that 98.7% climate scientists are wrong, but you’re right? Good Lord, is right.
“Well, do you feel lucky, punk?” Hurricanes are on the decline but their paths are no more predictable than ever.
Hurricanes are not on the decline. There may not be more than before, the data is inconclusive, but there are just as many as before.
They’re random events. There is always a swing between active seasons and quieter ones. And right now the data says there will probably be more hurricanes in the active years, and less in the quieter ones.
The problem though, is that while there may not be more storms than before, the data is conclusive that the intensity of the storms will be greater. In other words, there probably won’t be an increase in the overall number of storms, but there will be an increase in the number of more powerful storms.
Actually….they are on the decline. Statistically speaking this is indisputable. Human caused climate change is a total myth used by advocacy groups to gain political power nothing more
Wow, it’s amazing anyone can be so wrong. Hurricanes are not on the decline. Statistically, it’s inconclusive. Saying that they are is a falsehood perpetuated for political reasons.
Climatologists without any advocacy are unanimous that climate change is human caused. The only ones in disagreement have advocacy to energy concerns. They amount to only 1.3% of the total number of all climatologists.
The climate change denials are motivated, by financia concerns, those afraid of the financial impact should fossil fuels will be replaced. The denials are motivated by pure greed and they’ve been politicized to take advantage of tribal political affiliations.
Also to take advantage of brainwashed people. When scientists, the military, and the insurance companies all agree about climate change being a reality, then you can be sure that anyone that doesn’t is just an idiot.
@cman you nailed it
Another brilliant thought from the Moonbat Colony of Jean Matrac
Wow, not sure how I can respond to that fact-based, objective data you present. s/
Move out of Florida.
I have been advising everyone I know that lived there to do exactly that for 8 years now.
More pressure on Stu to sell the team. I’m betting that the Rays get a new owner before the Twins do at this point.
Sell the team.
NASHVILLE!!
And after the new Titans stadium opens, build a new baseball stadium where the old one sits. It would be Philly-esque with baseball, hockey and football all within a stone’s throw, except no need to create a nightlife draw as the entertainment district is already there and organic in Nashville.
The Yankees should double the rent to keep playing at Steinbrenner Field.
Payment accepted in dollars or starting pitching.
I’m not even sure the Trop will be repaired by next April.
The Rays should just buy the property where Steinbrenner field is now from the Yankees. It is the ideal place in the Tampa area to build and they have priority over a minor league team. They could quite literally force their current hosts to shut down their minor league team.
Would MLB allow them to force the Yankees out of Tampa? Somehow I don’t think that they would do that.
In a word: No.
US law supersedes MLB authority. The Yankees have contractural guarantees there for the next quarter century.
Actually, the franchise agreements say that a MLB team has the right to take over a market from a minor league team. The Yankees could be forced to move their minor league team out of Tampa if that is where the Rays build a new stadium.
Would Sternberg and Silverman push for that? Probably not. Even if they built across the street they would probably just make sure there were no scheduling double ups. That is unless Steinbrenner refuses to lease to them another year if there are delays in the repairs to the Trop.
They can though. The Yankees could keep their spring training facility, but the minor league team would be forced to move. That would be sad after they just poured $30 million into the Yankees portion of the building. Visiting team quarters are still ratty judging from the photos, but the Yankees section may be better than what is in most major league stadiums.
Pads, they would have to move the minor league team if the Rays asked for it. Its in the bylaws. The Yankees could keep their spring trading facility there, just not the minor league team.
For Lord, any contracts the Yankees have for the facility do not extend to the minor league team. The Yankees own the facility, not the city of Tampa or Hillsborough county, and they also own the minor league team so not sure who those contractual guarantees would be between.
I have a feeling that this is going to result in Sternberg selling the team. The commissioner and several other owners are rumored to be pressuring him to sell. This gives clarity on the stadium situation in the short term and the new owners can deal with the issues with a new stadium.
Relocation is a possibility but MLB really does not want the Rays to relocate. That takes a city away that would be ripe for expansion and ripe for paying the $2B+ expansion fee.
NEW ORLEANS!!
@realrangerfan
New Orleans is good enough for the Superbowl but doesn’t even warrant discussion for the Tampa Bay Rays?
Correct, It doesn’t. The Super Bowl is a one time event that is supported by people traveling from all over the country.
Baseball has 162 games every summer that has to be supported primarily by the local community. They had a AAA team there that moved – to Wichita! – in 2019. Since then, they haven’t even succeeded in luring a AA team to replace it.
Havana Cuba would support baseball.
You’re flailing. At American ticket prices? What about a TV contract?
What about San Jose?
Do you know the way to San Jose?
Actually I do.
New Orleans lost their AAA team because of the summer weather and not for the lack of interest in baseball, an MLB team playing in a domed or retractable roof stadium could easily succeed in NOLA. Just look at LSU baseball attendance as proof, LSU has lead college baseball in attendance for the past two decades and LSU fans travel to Omaha in the thousands. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t actually think NOLA will ever get a team but I also don’t think it should so easily be dismissed.
Dead team walking
Manfred is hellbent on keeping MLB in Florida, but the numbers just aren’t there. Move both those teams somewhere else and be done with it.
22M population says they won’t move.
22M doesn’t mean much when they’re not MLB baseball fans.
The real issue with MLB attendance in Florida has nothing to do with fan interest, it has everything to do with the two organizations in the state. If the Marlins spent money and actually tried to compete in the NL or if the Rays played in Tampa and not St. Pete, fans would go to games. I’m go ahead and be the one to admit it makes perfect since the Rays back out their stadium deal with St. Pete, mainly due to Rays ownership realizing baseball can’t succeed over the bridge. If the Rays were to move to Tampa or better yet Orlando they’d own the states 22M population.
The Marlins are just the Montreal Expos with a new stadium.
Here comes the same old posters like that constantly complaining reds fan and Samuel saying how these billionaires aren’t making enough profit and need more tax payer money to build them new stadiums.
It’s funny because the Rays can’t even fix their roof but teams like the Dodgers do massive renovations many offseasons and never take a $ from tax payers. Parks like Wrigley, Fenway and Dodgers stadium are always rated as the top experience in the game despite being older than most others. Then you have Sternberg, Reinsdorf and Fischer shaking down tax payers with the threat of relocation.
It’s kinda funny to think of Dodger Stadium in the same context as Wrigley and Fenway.
That said, yes. I visited Dodger Stadium a few years ago when I did a West Coast baseball trip. That was one of the more enjoyable stadium experiences.
Sternberg is not a billionaire.
Size of market. You’re comparing apples and oranges.
As for the Rays ‘fixing their own roof”, the county is responsible for upkeep of the stadium, and it was the county that decided to not carry the insurance and not keep up the roof.
If everyone got the same local TV money the Dodgers get, no one would be complaining about income discrepancy.
This is going to kill the sport. It is well on its way already. More than half the owners, maybe as many as two-thirds, are prepared to hold up the next CBA to fix the sport since Robby the robot has deferred to his large market masters for years now and refused to do so.
The Rays don’t own their stadium, they rent. And because it’s lousy they attract only small crowds at a discount. If you’ve ever been to Fenway you’ll know it’s a cramped experience for anyone over 5 feet tall. A fire trap to boot. Oddball stadium — Sox need a new home but history standing in their way. Wrigley was worth keeping and had space underneath to modernize. Fenway is challenging… go once and enjoy; go twice and complain.
I would think MLB would want a good team in Nashville rather than an expansion team.
IMO, the best solution is Sternberg selling the Rays to the Nashville Stars group.
There is no need to have two teams in Florida.
I agree. No need for two teams in Florida when neither one can draw crowds. Florida’s appeal will always be spring training and maybe minors ball.
They want that expansion fee!
And two other cities will gladly pay it, such as Portland, Salt Lake City, or Montreal.
The Rays have been extremely competitive. Pretty high on the list of total wins the last decade. I think they have the most wins per $$ of payroll of any team the last decade.
And the Rays in Nashville will be even more competitive with increased attendance and payroll.
third new york team NOW
I always wanted the Rays to move to Brooklyn, and if it weren’t for territorial rights, it could have happened.
Yes, it’s true that all MLB teams have territorial rights.
Dear Yankees,
You’ll always have a special place in my heart, but if Brooklyn ever got an MLB again, I’d flip the switch in a heartbeat.
As a Brooklyn original, my childhood dream ever since hearing about the Brooklyn Dodgers was always to see it happen again. I love you, forgive me.
Best,
SalZ
Coney Island! Nathan’s Stadium
^ This!
You don’t need a Cap…you have to dilute the 10 Million population centers of LA and NY.
LA and NY are almost 4 Times the population density of 3rd largest Chicago. The rest of the 24 teams are so much further off.
Dilute the large markets!!
Both Greater NYC and Greater LA are 20 million. They could both use another team.
Brooklyn has a population of 2.6 million. It could easily support a team.
San Bernardino and Riverside Counties have a combined population of over 5 million. Put a team in Upland at the site of the gravel pit north of Cable Airport.
While I agree those areas could support additional teams, I doubt that MLB wants 20% of their teams in the NYC and SoCal metro areas. If they want to grow the market, and I assume they do, limiting such a high percentage of their teams to these regions would be counter-productive.
Nor do the Mets or Yankees want a team slicing away at their fan base.
Jean, I think you just hit on the reason MLB has allowed Fisher to move the A’s. They want teams to be in more media markets to expand the total possible viewership.
Baseball, I’ve always thought that it was smart of the NBA to go into cities without competition from the other major sports. They’re the only professional game in town in Portland, San Antonio, Sacramento, OKC, Memphis, and Charlotte. They were the only team in SLC until the Coyotes moved there. I think that might also be why the NHL expanded into Columbus.
Portland has one of the highest % of capacity drawing MLS teams, but I get your point. Of the 4 major sports, none of the others are in Portland.
This is probably the best outcome. Staying in st. Pete, new ballpark or not, won’t change anything, just ask the marlins. They need to move asap.
This is why the league is pushing him to sell. He has no interest in spending money on a new stadium and probably figures since the Trop is getting renovated so to speak (new roof, replacing whatever else was damaged) why spend on a new ballpark.
Explain to me how Oakland loses their team in what was essentially a trash dump that ownership allowed to fall into disrepair but Tampa can drag their feet all they want.
The lease is not over yet.
Poor city management, have you ever been to Oakland? Really nothing good to say about the city, not exactly a diamond of a city. Just poorly run city. You can’t really blame the A’s, they lasted longer than the Raiders, Warriors in trying to make it work before they said we can’t do this anymore.
Apparently you have never been to Oakland.
Let me guess. You live in the desert because you couldn’t afford to live in Oakland.
Go take a stroll around downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt and tell me there is nothing good to say about the city. Walk through the Jack London Square area with all the $1-3 million condos,. the area they were planning to build a ballpark in, and tell me there is nothing good about Oakland.
Can always tell the guys that have never visited.
We can absolutely blame John Fisher for what happened there. After 5 years of negotiations he had an approved stadium at Howard Terminal with all the environmental impact statements complete and multiple lawsuits ruled on. There was nothing blocking him from starting construction. He had over $600 million in taxpayer dollars coming. He was being given 55 acres of prime waterfront property to develop. All that was left was for him to sign off. Instead with just weeks to go in his exclusive negotiating rights period, John Fisher asked for $350 million more taxpayer dollars, knowing full well that in California the law requires longer than that to hold public meetings regarding that money.
Everything there was 100% on John Fisher. He was responsible for the deal falling through.
3 teams exited Oakland.
Oakland isn’t willing to open up the wallet like other cities will. That’s a fine stance but the problem is that others will
J, Oakland and the state of California approved everything Fisher asked for originally at the Howard Terminal site. $642 million in public funds. Everything was approved. All that was left was for Fisher to sign off on the deal. That project was ready to put shovels in the ground when Fisher decided he needed $350 million more dollars.
@dessertdog,
Oakland has problems like any city, but your description is inaccurate. This kind of opinion usually originates from someone that lives in the middle of nowhere, or suburban sprawl on top of suburban sprawl.
So long Tampa
Dear Rays,
It’s not you. It’s me. We had a good time together, but …
Sincerely,
MLB
Come to Sacramento! Let’s make it a 2 team city!
We are witnessing the end of new similar, major developments in the state, moving forward. The cost of insuring something like that with the escalation of massive climate change events…it’s over.
LOL, or maybe just don’t build any more stadiums with trash bags for ceilings….
There’s no human caused climate change, just like there’s no global warming — the old scaremongering name. Your SUV didn’t cause the glaciers to melt 12,000 years ago. Change is normal and natural and Chaos Theory (developed to help explain weather) can’t accurately tell you whether it’ll rain next weekend, let alone the path of hurricanes. Do what smart folks do in Florida, build a round stadium that winds can’t get a grip on. But, seriously again, there’s no way to know what weather is coming and building large near a Florida coast has risks. Move the team to somewhere that wants it (e.g. Nashville, Montreal, Portland, Vancouver, Charlotte, pick one or pick another). Management has shown they know how to draft. Give them a chance to field the team somewhere nice.
You’re an idiot. Even the climate change deniers admit the temperature of the earth is warming. That data is solid and conclusive. Using the term ‘scaremongering’ is pejorative.
Let me explain it to you. Scientists have calculated the average temperature of the earth over time. When year after year that temperature increased, the trend was accurately called ‘global warming’. When the effects of that rise in the earth’s temperature became apparent through greater variance in weather events, and its impact on the climate, the term global climate change became the description for the effects of global warming.
Sure, the earth has warmed and cooled historically over time. What has never happened in the history of the earth is the incredibly short span of time over which the current warming has occurred. The amount of warming since the industrial revolution, roughly 150 years is unprecedented. Historically the comparative amount of warming that’s taken place recently took 1000s of years during previous warming cycles.
You clearly have no idea how many tons of greenhouse gases are being produced every day. 98.7% of climate scientists have concluded that the current warming cycle is caused by humans. The only ones disputing that are those in the employ of corporations, like Exxon, Shell, and coal mining concerns, that benefit from the denials. Do you really think you know more about the climate than virtually every climatologist in the world?
And as an outside check of their work just follow the lead of insurance companies. They are fleeing the places where climate change is happening fastest: flood, fire and home insurance is becoming harder to find in places that were perfectly normal market a generation ago. Drought followed by high winds leading to massive fires in CA, rising waters on the coasts and rivers, increased storm intensities all over Fl and the Gulf Coast, and the beat goes on.
Things are changing rapidly and playing games with the language around the cause in order to mess with the research and mitigation activity is spectacularly dangerous. Energy companies and political demagogues may benefit in the short term, but everyone else loses. Use your head.
It’s odd how both Florida teams struggle in terms of revenue and attendance.
Not considering how bad the ownership is with both teams.
You might get away with that argument for the Marlins, but the fact is, the Rays have been a model franchise in terms of the product on the field. And they still haven’t drawn well.
When fans don’t show up, the respective markets always blame someone or something else: the lack of a domed stadium (we heard that in Miami), poor highway access, cheap owner, etc. Sometimes, the truth is staring you in the face: Florida for whatever reason, whether it’s the fact that so many fans came from elsewhere or the market’s too small or the population is older or there are too many other attractive options…they don’t draw well.
Relocation should be on the table.
Devlsh;
B I N G O ! ! ! !
For all the narrative about Moneyball and Billy Beane being historical figures in changing MLB, it’s the Tampa Bay Rays that have been the influence for more than half the teams in MLB. In fact, look at all the FO people that were poached from the Rays organization this offseason by other MLB FO’s.
“Stu” is the one that set it up their ‘TQM/Continuous Improvement Process’. He’s the one constant that has kept it running along even when his top execs leave (where they’ve never as successful a they were in Tampa Bay).
It’s sad to see brainwashed kids come on here and slam a man that built something great out of the nothing it was when he bought the franchise. Then again, people that haven’t accomplished much in their lives and believe they’re entitled, don’t understand how difficult it is to succeed in a competitive business….especially one where the product is fielding a competitive sports team year-after-year.
The man fights!
You and Devish obviously don’t know what you’re talking about. Go read any Ray’s fan blog and you will see the local fans hate Stu for his 25+ years of being a cheapskate.
To Tampa. There are people in that market that can be reached by an owner acting with integrity.
Florida is a football state. No one cares about baseball.
Hex, if that was true the state would not be home to spring training for half of MLB and have more minor league teams than any other state.
The greater Tampa Bay area has 5 minor league teams.
Invalid argument, Baseballisthebest….
Those minor league teams average 1000 or 1500 in attendance each night. They are all owned by their parent clubs who also already own the facilities and view the expense of running the team as just part of the cost of running a major league franchise. So the orgs subsidize the cost and absorb any losses. The players paying there cost the clubs about $15,000 to $30,000 per year. None of this compares to running a major league team.
A better argument might have been to point to the success of the NBA, NHL teams.
They play Spring Training games in Florida because of the weather. Same as in Arizona! Nobody wants to play games in February in Northern States!
Geofft, none of what you said is relevant. Florida is 4th in professional baseball attendance. The reason there are so many teams is there are fans in the state.
Spring training attendees are visitors.
Hex’ statement that “no one cares about baseball” was ridiculous, if thats your only point.
But that doesn’t mean Florida can support Major League baseball. Would Florida still be 4th in attendance if all of those teams charged major league ticket prices? Are all of those fans concentrated in one or two areas to even go see the games?
TRM, about 40%. Most are Florida residents. Its different in Arizona where all the teams are so close together.
Pads, Well, 40% is still pretty damned significant.
Wtf are you talking about? St Pete can’t support MLB, but Tampa can. Nothing you said is even in the general vicinity of relevant.
Best, the Savannah Bananas just showed that people will show up for baseball…in Tampa. They packed Raymond James with a 65k sold out crowd.
cbssports.com/general/news/savannah-bananas-sell-o…
MLB needs to force this guy to sell the team. Like tomorrow.
His antics over the delay in voting on the bonds has been total amateur hour. Dude is collecting $60m a year in revenue sharing, investing peanuts back into the team and seems put out that the city will “only” pay for half of his new stadium.
Bye Stu.
Its time to just relocate the Rays too, Nashville clearly has to be the #1 destination with how fans support the Preds, Titans there, they would sellout every game for sure
Fans support the Lightning and Bucs in Tampa. The Rays are not in Tampa.
A hockey stadium holds about 19K fans. Far different though if you go to St Pete/TB the interest in the lightning can be felt. Far more bars have lightning jerseys hanging on the wall. Not so much for the Rays.
Better option but I dont think it’ll work out in TB either.
Probably good news for those hoping he sells the team. The Rays will have more value to the next owner without an agreement to keep the team in place. New owner can then bargain with multiple sites for the biggest and best taxpayer subsidy. Manfred knows this as well, and he, too, wants the biggest public giveaway. But he’s worried about the Rays leaving Florida.
Florida will always only have hardcore support for college, pro football
Leave the Gasparilla Pirate Fest alone though
honestly the marlins and rays are basically AAA teams already, just demote them and add a couple more mlb teams in Nashville/Charlotte and Portland and move on.
The Nashville-Charlotte-Portland Rays! Sorta like the Kansas City-Omaha Kings!
Florida shouldn’t have teams
Orlando makes more sense than St. Pete/Tampa since it’s a central location in the state, but it’s probably not the best option overall. I just hope they don’t decide to stay at the Trop long-term. Such a depressing ballpark.
I don’t understand why MLB teams in Florida get so little fan support…is the ownership for the Rays and Marlins that bad? The Rays always seem to be at least competitive and the Marlins just have never been able to do anything long term.
Nashville would be a great city for MLB and the people there would support them tenfold. Other cities that might be possibilities,,, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City but please not a team in Portland, Oregon…that place has turned into a garbage dump.
@3 finger split,
Like individual compost, recycling, and trash areas, or everything just mixed together?
Maybe it’s because of all of the games and different teams that play Spring Training games in Florida. A lot of Florida residents are transplants from other states and some may go to a lot of these spring games to see the teams from their former areas and when the Regular Season starts, all of their favorite teams have returned home and the local Florida baseball fans have no interest in the local Florida teams! A lot of the Regular Season attendance may be from visiting teams that have a lot of fans that travel well to away games.
Portland is a fantastic city. It is also a larger market than SLC or OKC. Plus the PDX group working to bring a team there already owns the site for a stadium. That is the area MLB needs a team most.
SLC would be another Coors Field because of the altitude. Unless you enjoy baseball at altitude, that would be a definite no.
Portland, Charlotte, Raleigh, and the Bay Area should be first on the list of possible expansion teams.
Agree on the Portland side of things… that is a market of 2.5M people Even though parts of it have become far less than ideal, the city as a whole isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. In Portland, the team would have the backing of Nike as well, and look what that has done for the Oregon Ducks already. Plus, they now supply the jerseys for MLB as well. Those new renderings on the river look amazing as well.
When I did my own proposal/thoughts on expansion and re-alignment, I actually had Portland and San Antonio as the expansion teams with the White Sox moving to Nashville if they don’t a new ballpark in Chicago (which seems to be the case at this point since Chicago wants to fund a new Bears stadium).
But they’re planning an open air stadium. I don’t know Portland. But I’d read years ago (many years ago) that the minor league team there failed largely because of the frequent afternoon rains that both left the field wet, and made fans skittish about buying tix in advance. A previous group trying to bring baseball to Portland was told they had to have a roofed stadium, and never came up with the money for that.
Its the same group working to bring a team to Portland.
The renderings are of a stadium with a retractable roof.
portlanddiamondproject.com/ballpark-concepts
Last I heard they had 5,000 deposits of $1,000 for season ticket seat licenses.
The Portland ballpark proposals have retractable roofs on them. They are a similar style to Seattle’s ballpark where it covers the stadium rather than trying to climate control it. Pretty sure every proposal the Portland Diamond Project has put out included a roof.
PEOPLE, PEOPLE, QUIT SENDING ME EMAILS!! I HAVE NOT SAID A DAMN WORD ABOUT PORTLAND!!
Eh, the altitude thing has been solved with storing the balls correctly. You don’t see .380 batting averages and 50 HR seasons in Denver anymore like you did in the early years, and it’s not just because management can’t sign decent players.
Coors Field is still the most hitter friendly park in baseball. At a 112 park factor its 5% more hitter friendly than any other park. baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/statcast-park-f…
Nashville is so obvious for next MLB team
Yes to Raleigh. Bring the Rays there. Plus, the Durham Bulls AAA Rays team is there, just 25 miles away. Even the Twins and Braves have their top farm club that far away (or less).
mlbraleigh.com/the-data/
Uh oh, Spaghettios.
That seems like that then.
MLB is going down the path of having two teams playing in minor league ballparks. That is not a good look, how long will the A’s be aloud not to even break ground in Las Vegas, they keep delaying as the cost keep going up. Tampa Bay is going back to playing in the Trop in 2026 and for how long, they don’t draw there, terrible place to watch a game. Have a deal worked out for a new venue now they don’t, playing in a minor league park that only seat 15,000 plus the weather conditions. Now it seems that a new park is at least 5 years away for both teams.
Your sources are misleading you. The site is ready for building in Las Vegas after the implosion and rubble removal. And the team wants to start building ahead of their agreement date (“A’s looking to start work on Vegas ballpark ahead of agreement with Clark County” sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/03/12/as-l…). It is to be complete for April 2028 and in Las Vegas they build fast.
Honestly, smart move by the Rays in this case. The team and stadium in St. Pete wasn’t the problem… it was the fact that it was in St. Pete. This sucks for the city, but they need to move into Tampa (Ybor City) or move to Orlando.
99 win team in 2023 that finished 27th in attendance. The location being in St. Pete was ALWAYS the issue.
Neither of the teams in Florida can draw fleas to a flea market. MLB may have poisoned Miami beyond repair. Twice they have gone to the top of the mountain and twice they have promptly dismantled those teams. Thats not the only time they had fire sales. Between Huzienga, who always sells his assets, Loria, and now Sherman…what can I say that hasn’t already been said.
Uhh… they have a permanent home already and it’s apparently being repaired.
What about a move to Orlando?
Orlando is now the 15th largest media market, larger than Minneapolis.
Orlando has the NBA as its only sports competition.
Orlando has the same favorable Florida tax laws.
Anybody have any idea about potential stadium sites and/or problems that I don’t see?
He sucks so bad, worse than Bob Nutting. I at least think Nutting would spend a bit more if he had a winning team, Rays do and still hardly spend.
The Rays have increased spending. Their 3 highest spending years in their history have been the last 3 years.
Please move them to Nashville! I could finally get to go see some MLB games in person!
I get that people like the idea of a Nashville team, but the city is not ready. Politics has turned infrastructure into a nightmare. The traffic of downtown is INSANE. There’s no parking, the city transit system is a joke, traffic accidents are as high as cities with 3 times the population. They just don’t have their act together enough to expand this fast. Speaking as a resident.
From Google:
Nashville faces infrastructure challenges stemming from rapid population growth, including traffic congestion, inadequate public transportation, and strained systems, particularly in transportation and utilities.
Here’s a more detailed look at the issues:
Transportation:
Traffic Congestion: Nashville’s growing population has led to increased traffic, with the city experiencing some of the highest traffic congestion in the nation.
Lack of Public Transportation: The city has a small public transportation system, and the lack of dedicated funding has hindered its expansion and improvement.
Inadequate Infrastructure: Freeway and arterial street networks are poorly designed and insufficient for the current growth levels, with many streets lacking sidewalks, bike lanes, and proper drainage.
Long Commutes: The combination of traffic and limited public transit results in long commute times, impacting residents’ quality of life.
Regional Transit: There’s a need for a greater emphasis on regional transit to connect Nashville with surrounding areas and ease congestion.
Funding: Nashville is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US without dedicated funding for transit, limiting its ability to compete for state and federal grants.
Other Infrastructure Issues:
Strained Systems: Nashville’s infrastructure systems, including water and wastewater, are strained by the rapid growth and require significant investments to keep pace.
Funding Shortfalls: There are significant funding gaps for infrastructure improvements, with the city facing a need for billions of dollars in investment.
Deferred Maintenance: Deferred maintenance can lead to costly repairs and disruptions in the future, highlighting the importance of proactive investment.
Aging Infrastructure: Some infrastructure, like roads and bridges, is aging and requires upgrades and repairs.
Pretty much my original point but great detail! The only thing I would add is the influx of seasonal residents ( i.e Multiple College Campuses) also adds to the strain on public systems. Tourism as well. Also an issue extreme resistance from certain local interest groups from both sides of the political extremes on where the money goes.
I’m going to continue to beat this drum until I’m blue in the face. I’ve lived it for 27 years and I was at the Inaugural game in ’98.
Baseball in Florida is tough. There are 15 teams here every Winter and minor league year round. The histories of the teams that play in this state are extremely deep and the fan bases are rabid and most have refused to support the local teams. We have tremendous NHL and NFL support, but the teams that have played here before the Rays, have the hearts of the local residents. We have mass populations from the northeast and I know I’m generalizing here, but I don’t think many would disagree that they’re stubborn when it comes to their sports teams. I am too, but when I’ve lived in other states, I support the local team and when Tampa comes in, I root for them, but that’s just not the case in the Tampa Bay area.
They’re more likely to succeed in Tampa or Orlando or somewhere in between. The growth of the youth fan base is there, even though it’s slow, but I think it will grow more rapidly if the stadium is in a new area.
How about their kids, are the kids of transplants Rays fans at all?
Some, but not enough. They stuck with the family team. I grew up surrounded by Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Blue Jays and Braves fans in school. They didn’t go to Rays games and they post photos with their kids now, where they wear those same team’s colors from childhood.
It may change if they move to Tampa, simply because there’s a larger population, but St. Pete was never worth the drive for their families to see regular games when their team wasn’t visiting.
Simply not a particularly desirable sports franchise to own. Really wouldn’t even scratch the Billionaire Vanity Project itch. Spending billions on a Florida MLB team would be akin to a Sisyphean punishment in the underworld.
I disagree. With an owner not needing the club to float other priorities, they could spend to keep talent they develop. The development infrastructure they have is phenomenal. They trade away talent when it gets near their free agency year. Retain the talent and they’ll be winning Pennants in no time.
joeflaccosunibrow;
I don’t think you comprehend why the Rays are as successful on the field as often as they have been over the years. In fact, they’re in contention more than not just other small market teams and most mid-market teams, they also outperform many of the large market teams.
Boot the owner and move the team to a better area, like Nashville.
Nashville makes a lot of sense. It is more centrally located and if the fans are truly want to support a team it will be successful. If the fans don’t want to support any team they will be a fiscal nightmare.
Move them to Nashville, realign the league in a few years with two new expansion teams and put them in the NL so they can develop rivalries with Atlanta and Cincinnati.
The billionaire was not given enough. Although any cost overrun was to be absorbed by the club, that wasn’t what worked for them. Hold the area hostage and get what you want. How’d that work in Oakland?
Ngl, as a former San Diego Charger fan, it is a bit mind blowing to see a league go out of its way to credibly indicate it does NOT want a team to move out of its current market.
Fancy that.
First and foremost, the Marlin’s owners want to move. It is the location that is unsure.
The location for the permanent home for the Rays is obvious. It’s where they are playing in 2025. Since MLB teams have priority over minor league teams, build a domed stadium right there in Tampa where the Yankees minor league facility is today.
The Rays owner’s 180 is probably due to the debt bubble. If he takes out loans now before the market reorganizes down, he’ll stand to lose an enormous amount of money. If he waits he might be able to make a whole bunch of money when the bubble bursts and the project will be more sustainable. Plus with the extreme weather and the Trop getting fixed, there is room for the sides to reconvene at a later date. This situation could also save St. Pete tax payers money too.
The selling or relocating isn’t happening. The influx of population from all over the country to Florida, and namely the Tampa region, there is no reason to leave. Moving to Nashville is unlikely as it could interfere with St.Louis, Cincinnati and Atlanta’s TV markets. I don’t think that should matter however, owners are anti-competition. The selling is not happening because the owner, although cheap, is still doing a really good putting a strong team product for the last decade.
No comment on the rest of this but the St. Pete project was always problematic to me. An interstate spur goes through a rundown area called the gas plant district — not a warm inviting name — and it’s labelled as a racist attack so they want to build a black history museum along with a monster-priced small-capacity stadium? None of it makes sense. Interstates went through city centres all over the country. Fact of life. Communities grow up and change. Sometimes an airport expands, a mall is built or closes, schools expand or contract. Local politicians trolling for identity politics votes are worse than national politicians…
Well, that stuff was a big deal for their newly elected Mayor. The big price is the new wave of MLB thinking, they are trying to own all the entertainment and living around the ballpark. I imagine it is in an attempt to extend ballpark prices to outside the park. Some sort of monopolist scheme. They’ve manage to get this project fairly deep for a few franchises, taking previously bad neighborhoods and gentrifying the whole damn thing. It makes you wonder if they only care about wringing money out of their elitist and corporate working fanbase.
ClevelandSteelEngines;
Yes, interest rates are surely heading down in coming years.
However, when Miami and Tampa Bay were given expansion franchises, the argument was that Florida was growing by leaps and bounds so the “influx of population” would support those teams. What has been shown is that if they get in the playoffs fans show up. The next season the fans stay away until they see if the team makes the playoffs again. A new park didn’t help the Marlins, doubt it’ll help the Rays…..but I’ve been wrong before.
I have relatives that moved from NYC and Chicago to Florida 40 years ago, and raised their children there. They root for the Yankees and Cubs. Show up at the park once or twice a year if their teams come in to play, otherwise watch those teams on cable and streaming services. Their children – now adults – are also Yankees and Cubs fans….although lukewarm, they don’t much care for baseball but are big fans of basketball and football.
I think my relatives there are a reflection of the overwhelming majority of transplants.
Interest rates in a debt bubble go up, not down. There are three things to curb the impact of the debt bubble: less Govt spending, higher taxes, and Fed lowers rates.
Shame about the transplants kid’s not being fans. Probable because these people don’t associate their identity with Florida or its locale. I imagine it’ll take some time. My parents moved from Chicago and luckily didn’t care about sports allegiances. It made it a lot easier to make friends in school.
Privatize the profits, socialize the losses. It’s the corporate way of doing business over the past 40 years. Vulture capitalism and grifting at it’s finest!
“I have no interest in working with this ownership group,” St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch said today, “That bridge has been burned.”
damn. harsh.
cant say i know enough about the owner to call him a liar or a thief or any other names being thrown around. wouldnt surprise me if he’s pocketing millions and doing nothing to help the tm rebuild or relocate. that being said, i lived in FL for a bit, baseball just aint popular down there, not in tampa, not in miami. they love their football and even hockey. i’ve been to the rays stadium. it stinks. definitely need a new place to play in. but seems to me like fans never really cared 1 way or the other about the team. think this might be a situation where both sides, the city/fans and the owners are to blame. just a sad situation bc rays are such a fascinating little team that always develops great players and competes.
Expansion is not the answer right now. I know the other greedy owners want the benefit of the fees.
3 clubs out of 30 (10%) have location issues – Oakland, Tampa, and Miami.
How many still have horrible ownership issues otherwise? I can say the Rockies as one. They should be thriving in a metro area as large and diverse as Denver-Aurora, in a stadium like Coors, and they’re awful. There is 10x as much Broncos chatter in mid-March when they don’t snap the ball for 6 months as there is about the Rockies’ season starting in 2.5 weeks.
It is a house of cards on a shaky foundation. You can’t expand until you have solid ownership and stadium/location situations for the existing clubs. You only exacerbate the problem if you expand first.
Thornton Mellon;
MLB expanded to 4 markets over a 2-3 year period in the late 90’s. Phoenix, Denver, Miami, and Tampa Bay were all growing areas with population migrating there. Truth be told, none of those franchises have been terribly successful, other than when the teams were in the playoffs. All have had to be careful with their player payrolls.
Now everyone’s talking up Nashville, Portland, Salt Lake City, even a return to Montreal. This is nonsense.
Those that don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
In agreement here!
Plus mid-late 90s booming dot com economy compared to todays is another reason not to think about it. Camden Yards was selling out every night back then too.
“That bridge has been burned.” – St. Pete Mayor Welch.
Oof!
It’s an elected official that has been against the plans in the past.
Sell the team. Stupid owner. F stu
Same MLB lip service just take out the “Tampa Bay Region” and put “Oakland” …nothing is going to happen
They played in a tuna fish can of a stadium that just had the lid pulled off.
They draw only 16000 a game and 75% of that is to cheer for the opposing teams and Manfred still thinks the area is a viable location for a baseball franchise.
The man has finally gone Cuckoo for cocoa puffs.
He went coo coo long ago when he stole the All Star game from Atlanta to please 5 people on twitter.
Was it the 5 people on Twitter or the 3 million emails speaking out against it that MLB said they received about keping the game in Atlanta?
Orlando
Rays ownership makes Bengals owner Mike Brown seem like Steinbrenner.
“I have no interest in working with this ownership group,” “That bridge has been burned.”
Damn if that is not the nail in the coffin I do not know what is. Either MLB will have force a sale like the NFL did with Washington or the Rays are on the relocation express. I know MLB does not want relocation but might not have a choice.
The problem has always been that the team was in St Pete. Move them to Tampa. Problem solved.
And we have people trying to push for expansion.
Do you know who wants expansion most? The other owners. Do you know whose opinion matters? You guessed it, the other owners. It will happen after they broach the subject in the new CBA.
The players union would love 80 more MLB jobs and another 200 more minor league jobs added by two new teams.
The current owners will love the $2 billion in franchise fees each of the 2 new teams would pay. That is $133.33 million going to each of the 30 existing owners.
In fairness to the team organization, they did a lot to try to lure in fans….When my kids were little it was free parking on Sundays and they could run the bases after a game….tickets were cheap….they had free parking other days for 4 or more in a car (first 100 cars)….they had 7-11 nite, Remember that? On Fridays bring your 7-11 coupon and get a ticket for 7.11….Players were accessible, kids could down to dugout area and get autographs, selfies with players, etc….
I live Pasco/Pinellas line, leave at 415 and in Steves bar on Central Ave sipping a Yuengling or tailgating by 5:15, a breeze in on weeknights….do you really think an Ybor site will be accessible or just annoy people? Think the 275/ 4 interchange as it is already, a horror….now dump thousands more cars? .I get home after a game in 40-50 minutes…
Yankee fans know the Deegan and Cross Bronx will be a disaster after a game, they deal with it as part of the scenery…here, we dont like discomfort at all, I was appalled at the playoffs vs Texas in 2023 when they didnt sell out… Really, home playoff games and the upper deck is empty? I think once the novelty of the now cancelled new stadium wore off it would be back to the usual small crowds….
I love the Rays, fun to keep track of, but the population can watch the game from their outside TV while in the pool, they dont want to be bothered driving…
Keeping two teams in Florida is like putting a bandage on a sucking chest wound. There are other venues that would be more profitable than keeping that team in Tampa/St. Pete or Orlando.
What fans?
“…the development plan had been agreed upon by the Rays, Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg. The city council and county commission still needed to sign off…
If the city “council and county commission still needed to sign off,” how can it be said that the county and city “agreed upon” the development plan? They clearly had not agreed yet, since they are the decision-making bodies for those political entities.
I looked at most of the postings on expansion.
To have a successful franchise you need to have a steady attendance. Not just in year one but for many decades to come. Location is everything but a loyal attending fan base is more important. Some smaller population areas might actually do better due to fan loyalty. Now if you decide to expand a couple of teams do you have enough players? If you look at the Tigers they have developed a deep minor league inventory of first rate players coming up. Red Sox have,too. But other teams like the Braves and Yankees are much weaker in their minors. Quite frankly Detroit has so much talent coming up I don’t know where they will play. So expansion makes sense since young guys need a spot to play.
Of course there are enough players. For two additonal teams, it’s 52 more MLB jobs filled with an expansion draft.
Progressive Field opened in 1994. Look at Cleveland’s attendance in the subsequent years when they were a winning team.
baseball-reference.com/teams/CLE/attend.shtml
It is more than 52 major league players. You have to count the minors also since you need them to fill vacancies. Probably at least 100 players total per team and many of them will be at a minor league level of play. You are correct normally put a winner on the field will increase attendance
In the 1990s, there wasn’t the income discrepancy there is now so bad example.
Cleveland still gets in the playoffs but look at attendance now versus then. Not a sellout every night.
The reason baseball is dying in flyover country is obvious to those in those cities, but apparently not to the elitists.
It will mean two 40 man rosters to fill plus another 100 or so minor league players per team to fill 5 minor league team rosters per MLB team.
Oh, it’s on now! A 3-way shootout between the town, the league and the owner. A dual: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
But which one’s Eastwood…Van Cleef…Wallach?
Bridges. Ken that is pretty much the entire problem with playing in St Pete. Also Ken, you burned the bridge when you refused to hold the vote on authorizing the funds when you promised.
The Rays could draw if they were in Tampa where most of the population of the area lives. Looks like if they are going to stay, that is what is going to happen.
Nashville, here we come.
Are you flying to Nashiville. You can MLb on TV there. There is no move to Nashville.
Charlotte rays?
Taxpayers need to step and buy sports palaces for oligarchs.
Off to Montreal.
Please, please send the team to Nashville or Charlotte. St. Pete is just not the place for baseball anymore.
Nashville and Charlotte are dumps. I have no idea why people think cities like those would be good for professional sports.
Have you been to either place?
That’s a really stupid comment.
stein – Nashville is not a dump. There are dumpy areas as in any large city. But generally, Nashville is a great town. People wouldn’t be flooding here if it was a dump.
Potential Nashville fans ,
Obviously it would be amazing to be in a division with the Yankees and Red Sox… at first
But after the glisten wears off, how would you feel about swapping divisions with the Pittsburgh Pirates?
St Louis, Nashville, Cincinnati would all be more comfortable travel than NY, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto
And Pirates don’t make a ton of sense for NL “Central” to begin with
I hear Oakland doesn’t have a team anymore
Scrapping the new build in the St. Petersburg area is actually a smart idea. Getting to STP from Tampa is a traffic nightmare, and there is also no great public transportation to the park either. If the Rays are staying in Tampa, Ybor City, or the waterfront where the Lightning’s stadium is are much better options.
I don’t like Orlando as an option, I just don’t think the team’s attendance would be that solid.
Stu selling the team, and the new owners either building in Ybor or potentially Nashville are likely the two best options.
Nashville will have to do on their own many yrs from now. Fund a stadium etc. Stadiums cost billions. Good luck.
Move to Montreal
To me that statement all but conceded the team is being sold locally.
We should cut veteran’s health care and kid’s education to give Sternberg a bigger tax cut so he has more money to afford a stadium.
Oh? Good news.
Then we should still build him a stadium with taxpayer money.
move the rays to Nashville and expand to Charlotte and Portland
The Rays are not moving to Nashville. Sorry. There is no MLB expansion currently. Manfred will talk abotu it before he leaves in 2029.
Manfred will have to get an agreement on it from the union in the new CBA that starts in 2027 or it won’t happen on his watch.
My guess is expansion has to come in the next CBA after 2026. I expect that a big part of the solution to that labor strife will be those expansion dollars. Manfred might just use that cash to buy the big money teams’ acceptance of even deeper revenue sharing, and the union will back that plan because of 52 new MLB jobs.
The MLBPA now represents minor league players as well, so its even more new jobs than that. It’s 5 new minor league teams per expansion team. Rookie, A, A+, AA, and AAA.
Should not surprise anyone.
Repairing the Trop makes little sense. Let this billionaire walk.
The city of St Pete is contractually obligated to repair it. If the stadium had been deemed not able to be repaired they would be off the hook but since they said it could be done they have to do it.
Stu I hated u since u bought the team and Vince sucked as owner too (original owner) . U crappy owners need to be put on a boat and left out in sea with no gas food or drinking water
Either he or a subsequent buyer will need permission to relocate. And he doesn’t automatically have to get that $60M subsidy every year. Nor do the taxpayers “have” to shell out for him. So, yes, Stu owns it, but smugness may only go so far.
There are many comments here that are unrealistic. TV revenues matter more than attendance. Somebody mentioned the Rockies for example. claiming they are in the top 5? What? They are #15. ITs the TV market. MLB is not getting rid of any Florida teams. Nope. Tampa will not just pick up and move either. As far as expansion, its years away before anything is even considered. Building stadiums is not easy and most local governments dont want to get stuck as bagholders. The league loves new teams or expansion dollars. But MLB rarely expands. Vegas will NOT be some incredible baseball market either. The idea that tourists will go in big numbers to MLB is questionable. Other sports have a different dynamic. Once the initial craze is over it will settle in.
Without a salary cap, MLB needs regulation to force owners to compete. Have new market teams compete in a new AAAA super minor league vying to replace the bottom 4 teams in MLB. Incentivize current owners to win or consider selling to an owner that wants to compete.
The current model allows mediocre owners and teams to be profitable without winning. We will never have 30 owners like the Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers, but there are a lot of potential owners/ownership groups who would love a chance to compete.
I get this will never happen, but if we want better owners, we need to make owning a team competitive and loss of MLB status to the minor leagues is a start.
Here’s a better idea, institute a salary cap and floor. It will take a strike and lost season to get it done but it has to happen. It’s coming 2027. There’s no way around it this time either. They either institute a salary cap or contract the league by 6-8 teams. My guess is they vote to contract the league before instituting a salary cap which the players will love, no doubt.
The patient has been circling the drain for years but I think we are close to the end of baseball in Tampa. None of this is a good look and the prognosis is poor.
Montreal Rays
This is another failure of the Commissioner of Baseball. Isn’t he supposed to help iron out all these wrinkles the smaller market and problem location teams endure? Instead, he’s all about making money off of the fans anyway he can. He is a disgrace and should be replaced. He disgraced himself in the last lock-out with the Player’s Union. I expect more of the same.
The municipality will not give billionaires what they want ($). What’s a billionaire to do? Cancel plans and move on to a more lucrative situation of course.
Team needs to relocate to Nashville.
Not as long as dogs are shooting people in Tennessee.
Having a loaded weapon in bed with you with the safety off while you are with your GF is kind of strange. It was Memphis, so I can kind of understand that, but still.
nbcnews.com/news/us-news/memphis-man-says-was-shot…
There’s no place to play in Montreal.
Olympic Stadium is undergoing renovations and won’t be finished until 2028 and why would they would want to play in the place again?
Manfred is a joke and he’s terrible for the future of baseball. Short-sighted af.
Move them to Orlando. It’s big enough and they can even keep the team name.
Nashville would be a great place for this team!
They need to consider selling the team and moving cities. Las Vegas is getting the A’s, and there’s going to be expansion for 2 more teams with Montreal, Charlotte, Nashville and Portland as possible locations. Consider moving to one of those cities.
Just move them to Nashville or Charlotte and be done with it already. You still have two cities that are available for viable expansion teams to bring the AL and NL up to 16 teams each and balanced scheduling. Charlotte, Portland, Nashville, a second team in Texas. No to a team in Montreal. They had horrible attendance numbers up there for decades and they could never secure funding for a new stadium.
yahoo.com/news/survey-7-more-possible-graves-15440…
kind of changes things no?