November 12, 200718 yr Author Tropicana was a new stadium when the Rays moved in and still a state of the art ballpark. If Tampa is stupid enough to spend money to buy the Rays ANOTHER stadium maybe the Marlins should move to Tampa! You didn't read the financing plan. A large chunk of the money not being given by Sternberg or the state is coming from selling the Trop. I don't think Pinellas County would even give this a serious look if they were being asked to shell out $240 million, which I think is twice as much as they paid to build the Trop originally. According to Sunday's PBP, there are drawbacks to the plan. The main one being it is only on 10 acres of land which means very little if any on site parking. Most of the financing has yet to be worked out but alot of the costs will come from the sale of Tropicana Field. It goes to a vote only because it is public land that is to be used. St Pete's mayor says the city is unlikely to supply any funding. The biggest problem is, will it even fit on the land they are asking for? This would be a good time to look at redeveloping Albert Whitted Airport again. i'm officially a rays fan if they get their deal done before we do. mostly because they're not a bunch of f***ing retards Vince Naimoli was a f***ing retard. Sternberg isn't. What's the population of St. Petersburg? 250k? Plus Tampa (350k), plus the entire Tampa-St. Pete metro area (2M+), plus the Bradenton/Sarasota area just across the bay from St. Pete (another 700k). And they are constantly courting the Orlando Area (2.5M including Lakeland).
November 12, 200718 yr Ah, sorry, I just figured that comment was ridiculous enough to be obvious. Plus I called the middle three arguments he posted reasonable, so then the bottom one would qualify as reasonable. i just missed it. my fault, it was obvious upon a second reading. i wasn't calling you out anyway, i really want someone who wants to OB site to justify to me why its better than building it in broward, etc.
November 13, 200718 yr What's the population of St. Petersburg? 250k? Plus Tampa (350k), plus the entire Tampa-St. Pete metro area (2M+), plus the Bradenton/Sarasota area just across the bay from St. Pete (another 700k). And they are constantly courting the Orlando Area (2.5M including Lakeland). You missed my point. St. Petersburg is far from the urban (and business) center of Tampa Bay. The immediate population surrounding that stadium is not great.
November 14, 200718 yr Author What's the population of St. Petersburg? 250k? Plus Tampa (350k), plus the entire Tampa-St. Pete metro area (2M+), plus the Bradenton/Sarasota area just across the bay from St. Pete (another 700k). And they are constantly courting the Orlando Area (2.5M including Lakeland). You missed my point. St. Petersburg is far from the urban (and business) center of Tampa Bay. The immediate population surrounding that stadium is not great. Didn't stop the Lightning or the Storm from drawing up to 28,000 at the Trop. The point is, if the team is good, they'll come. It doesn't matter if the team is based in St. Pete, Tampa, Bradenton, Lakeland or Orlando.
November 15, 200718 yr If we build at the Orange Bowl we won't top this. That's for sure. The Marlins should move into Tropicana. Aside from the view... -No AC -Bad parking situation (and people complain about the OB) -Downtown St. Pete is not suited to handle the traffic of 35k people in 7-8k cars -No mass transit access -It's in St. Petersburg Yep. OB can't top that! :thumbup You thought I was being serious? Considering your stance on the OB site, yes.
November 17, 200718 yr Big issue....Tropicana Field belongs to Pinellas County and the debt on it belongs to the City of St. Petersburg if memory serves me right.
November 22, 200718 yr New-look Rays want a new stadium Club to announce details of waterfront ballpark design Nov. 28 By Bill Chastain / MLB.com ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays will announce details and renderings of a new waterfront ballpark and redevelopment of Tropicana Field on Nov. 28, according to a news release by the team Wednesday. The stadium announcement will take place at 3 p.m. at Progress Energy Park, Home of Al Lang Field. While the Rays' efforts for a new 35,000-seat, $450-million ballpark on the site of Al Lang Field in downtown St. Petersburg have been widely reported, Wednesday's scheduled event will be the Rays' first official acknowledgment of a proposed stadium. Florida Governor Charlie Crist and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker are scheduled to attend, as well as Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball president and chief operating officer; Stuart Sternberg, Rays principal owner; Matt Silverman, Rays president; and Michael Kalt, senior vice president of development and business affairs. According to reports, the Rays might contribute as much as $150 million -- to cover one-third of the costs -- and the team also would seek legislative approval for $60 million of future sales tax revenues from the state of Florida to make the stadium a reality by 2012. In addition, the team wants to find a private developer to construct a large retail/residential complex where Tropicana Field sits so the team could get out of its lease. Al Lang Field has been the site of the Rays' Spring Training exhibition games throughout the team's history, but the Rays are scheduled to move from the locale on the St. Petersburg waterfront to Port Charlotte for Spring Training in 2009. Because Al Lang Field is housed on public property, voters would need to approve the new stadium. Also, the plan would depend on the city being able to sell the Al Lang site to Pinellas County, which would create a situation in which property taxes could be avoided. If the deal comes to fruition, the Rays would seek a long-term deal. Approximately $100 million is still owed by the city on Tropicana Field, which will not be paid off until 2025. St. Petersburg could recover what it owes if a private developer purchased Tropicana Field and the adjacent parking lot. Reports have said the proposed stadium will be an open-air facility, with a plan calling for an available option that would allow it to be covered with a sail-like material on a cabling system in the event of inclement weather. Under this stadium plan, the design is expected to have a retro look. Longtime fans attending games at Al Lang Field would need to get used to having the playing field face a different direction to facilitate a field that would allow home run balls hit to right field to land in the water, which would be akin to AT&T Park in San Francisco. Bill Chastain is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs
November 22, 200718 yr Based on what I've been reading and what people from Tampa/St. Pete have told me, it is virtually impossible to compare the Marlins and Rays stadium bids. This is not a "they get one, so do we" scenario. That seems to be true. Merely consider the opportunity costs and development plans of each municipality. State funding is an afterthought next to that. Frankly, the Rays' plan sounds like one of those ideas you and your buddies come up with while drinking that falls apart when soberity allows one to consider certain realities. The city/county is going to destroy a multi-purpose dome in a good location that suits its tenants and other events adequately? Especially a facility in which its tenant have a long lease? Meanwhile, letting waterfront property and Spring Training (hello revenue from visiting vacationers) go? There's no need for change. There's additional costs to make the waterfront site work. And it's not like you can't sell Tropicana later, if anything, a large downtown site should increase exponentially in value.
November 22, 200718 yr If we build at the Orange Bowl we won't top this. That's for sure. The Marlins should move into Tropicana. Aside from the view... -No AC -Bad parking situation (and people complain about the OB) -Downtown St. Pete is not suited to handle the traffic of 35k people in 7-8k cars -No mass transit access -It's in St. Petersburg Yep. OB can't top that! :thumbup OB site and area is awesome. That area of St Pete, where you can walk a block to all sorts of bars and restaurants sucks compared to what fans will be able to do around the OB site. The middle three are more reasonable. More reason for the city not to go along with the plan. The waterfront site doesn't need to be developed.
November 28, 200718 yr Author The Plan is Unveiled. It even has its own website: Major League Downtown. It looks rather spiff in the actual renderings. The big problem is the parking.
November 29, 200718 yr Looks like Rays fans and players will be seeking shelter during a thunderstorm.
November 29, 200718 yr Looks like Rays fans and players will be seeking shelter during a thunderstorm. There is a shield, looks like a clear version of olympic stadium up top. Seriously looks awesome overall and seems pretty exciting.
November 29, 200718 yr Looks like Rays fans and players will be seeking shelter during a thunderstorm. There is a shield, looks like a clear version of olympic stadium up top. Seriously looks awesome overall and seems pretty exciting. If you look at the sketches, most of the stands in LF are exposed as the roof reaches the tower. Also, when it rains in Florida it never rains straight down. One thunderstorm where it rains almost sideways and all of the stands in LF and sections of the outfield are soaked. Even during a moderate rain shower the rains will be pushed into the stadium with the air currents coming off the bay.
November 29, 200718 yr Looks like Rays fans and players will be seeking shelter during a thunderstorm. There is a shield, looks like a clear version of olympic stadium up top. Seriously looks awesome overall and seems pretty exciting. If you look at the sketches, most of the stands in LF are exposed as the roof reaches the tower. Also, when it rains in Florida it never rains straight down. One thunderstorm where it rains almost sideways and all of the stands in LF and sections of the outfield are soaked. Even during a moderate rain shower the rains will be pushed into the stadium with the air currents coming off the bay. I agree with that, but if its rather inexpensive and works most of the time itd be a success. Also, it does extend to the ground in the centerfield area it seems leaving certain other areas exposed but you cant really tell how much. It also seems like its setup to block the sideways rain coming from the water. The open area behind left field is facing the downtown area, the water is on the first base side.
November 29, 200718 yr this is awesome. Its really an innovative roof design. again the marlins building anywhere not on the water front in miami is absolutely stupid. period.
November 29, 200718 yr this is awesome. Its really an innovative roof design. again the marlins building anywhere not on the water front in miami is absolutely stupid. period. Find some land. Find some land that's not going to cost at minimum $50 million to purchase. There is a reason why not even Bicentennial Park has come up as a serious waterfront site in 4-5 years. But just try to find some land. :thumbup
November 29, 200718 yr Author You know, the more I look at this design, the more I like it. It's not retro. It's unique. This could do to park design what Kauffman Stadium did in 1973. There's a reason baseballparks.com called Kauffman the best pre-1990 ballpark that isn't Wrigley: because they were original when everybody was building cookie-cutters. Now everybody is building retro neo-jewelboxes, while the Rays will build a new monument to the game. I just wish they could put in 40k seats instead of 35k.
November 29, 200718 yr If any park deserves the recognition for breaking the retro-theme it is Nationals Ballpark.
November 29, 200718 yr Author If any park deserves the recognition for breaking the retro-theme it is Nationals Ballpark. I dunno, Nationals Ballpark looks like a faux-Yankee Stadium to me. The design for Rays Ballpark is entirely unique, in the same way that Kauffman was unique to the cookie-cutters of the 1970s.
November 29, 200718 yr this is awesome. Its really an innovative roof design. again the marlins building anywhere not on the water front in miami is absolutely stupid. period. Find some land. Find some land that's not going to cost at minimum $50 million to purchase. There is a reason why not even Bicentennial Park has come up as a serious waterfront site in 4-5 years. But just try to find some land. :thumbup if the city wanted to help the team build a stadium they could, by buying the land and then leasing it to the team or something along those lines along the idea of eminent domain.
November 29, 200718 yr If any park deserves the recognition for breaking the retro-theme it is Nationals Ballpark. I dunno, Nationals Ballpark looks like a faux-Yankee Stadium to me. The design for Rays Ballpark is entirely unique, in the same way that Kauffman was unique to the cookie-cutters of the 1970s. How does.... look like a faux of... or or ???
November 29, 200718 yr Sorry Festa, But Nationals Park looks like what happens 9 months after Yankee Stadium has a one-night stand with Citizen's Bank Park.
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