Tampa Bay Rays' Stadium Woes: St. Petersburg Versus Tampa

A headline last Friday in the St.Petersburg Times read like this: "Tampa and St. Petersburg join forces to explore new stadium for Tampa Bay Rays."

Sounds real peachy, doesn't it?

Well, not really.

From looking at just the headline, you'd think the two cities are working to find the best spot to build a stadium for the Rays, whether it be in Hillsborough or Pinellas County.

As we all have come to know by now, it's not really happening that way.

It's great that a committee has been put together because any progress toward getting a new stadium and getting rid of the dump that is Tropicana Field is good progress.

But are the leaders of St. Pete really wanting to find the best site for the Rays? After all, it certainly wouldn't be in St. Pete.

Enter Bill Foster, mayor of St. Petersburg, who has compared the Trop's catwalks to Wrigley's ivy and called the tilted, overgrown warehouse a "beautiful facility."

But mayor Foster can't hide the fact that Tropicana Field is anything but.

He has turned stubborn, not looking into what's really best for the Rays. While Foster would consider building a new park before the Rays' lease for the Trop is up, the stadium would have to be in Pinellas County, which completely defeats the purpose.

Rays owner Stuart Sternberg has looked—and wants to continue to look—in Tampa for a future home for his team.

"The Rays aren't going to Tampa or Hillsborough County," Foster said recently.

Oh, it really sounds like the two counties are "joining forces."

So the Rays stay in handcuffs, thanks in large part to former owner Vince Naimoli, who signed the lease to stay in the Trop till 2027. 

That's right, 2027. (!)

If the old man had known that the location of the dome was horrible, and that the Trop was practically already outdated when the Rays started playing in it, he may not have signed such a long lease.

But in any conclusion, it probably saved Naimoli some money down the line —that's all that ever really mattered to him anyway.

So we go back to the fact that St. Pete is tired of playing second fiddle to Tampa. Seeing as Tampa has the Buccaneers, Lightning, and Storm, St. Pete will always play sidekick.

They don't have Busch Gardens, Lowry Park Zoo, or USF either, although the arena in Tampa that the Lightning and Storm play in is called the St. Pete Times Forum.

But this getting away from the point a little.

The point is, the Rays CAN'T stay in St. Pete. Attendance has remained poor, and it's not going to get much better, even if the Rays won the World Series.

Foster: "If anybody in Hillsborough County wants to keep the Rays in the region, then they need to drive over here and support the team in St. Petersburg."

Much easier said than done, Billy.

Along with the disastrous location, the economy isn't too swell the last time I checked. Many Tampanians take 40, 50, or even 60 minutes to get out of town and across the Howard Franklin Bridge.

So Rays fans need to be given a break.

They buy crazy amounts of apparel and have kept up the television ratings. While getting every thing set for a ballpark in Tampa we'll take awhile, it's worth continuing to look into.

But that won't happen with St. Pete's jealousy. The Rays will be in a hole in a few years, and they won't have any choice but to threaten a move.

The Marlins held south Florida at gun-point, threatening to kill baseball in the Miami area and move to San Antonio.

It was really only a bluff —they got their stadium.

There is a difference in this situation: Leaving for San Antonio would have given the Marlins (a low-budget squad) a smaller market to play in.

What about the Rays? Well, St. Pete isn't Miami.

It's not Las Vegas or Nashville either, furthering my argument that when (not if) the Rays and Sternberg get tired of being held hostage, they may strongly consider moving.

Honestly, Foster would prefer the Rays move to Charlotte or Nashville before seeing them at the Florida State Fairgrounds or in Downtown Tampa.

The other side to this story is how Tampa will pay for their stadium: The fans that can't make the drive —due to gas and ticket payments —will instead have to pay the majority of $500 million-plus to build the stadium.

The good news is that business will boom after the move.

But then again, the Bucs are in Tampa, and how many games did they sell-out last year?

Still, the location will help tremendously, especially by the time the Rays would be in their new park, at which point the economy could be healthy again.

As for Foster, he needs to realize Tampa is the place the Rays need to be.

Thing is, he does know that. And the jealousy continues to amount.

Forget keeping them in the region —the Rays (if they can't stay in St. Pete) could go to Indianapolis, Charlotte, New Orleans, Nashville, Las Vegas, or even Timbuktu. 

Foster just doesn't want them across the bridge.