Posted January 20, 20223 yr Manfred League Baseball finally found a dose of common sense and has rejected the Rays’ split city idea. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33109350/tampa-bay-rays-say-split-season-plan-montreal-rejected-mlb ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays' proposed plan to split the season between Florida and Montreal has been rejected by Major League Baseball. Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg announced the news on Thursday. "Today's news is flat-out deflating," Sternberg said. The idea of playing in both the Tampa Bay area and Montreal has been discussed over the past several years after attempts to build a new full-time ballpark locally failed. Why this idea was entertained at all is beyond me, but I’m glad they finally woke up and made the right call. gee, I can’t get my city to build my team a stadium…..here’s an idea….let me get TWO cities to build me 2 stadiums for half the games! BRILLIANT! Moronic. Edited January 20, 20223 yr by rmc523
January 20, 20223 yr As someone that attends Rays games to see the visiting team, I'm glad this got shot down, now if MLB was serious about keeping baseball in the Tampa area they'd move them out of St. Pete over to Tampa and movie them closer to fairgrounds area so could possibly open up the market to more Orlando area fans,
January 21, 20223 yr Author Sternberg's comments are certainly interesting.... Though he made no express commitments, Sternberg made his disappointment with the Executive Council’s decision clear. When asked explicitly if he’d explore moving the franchise out of the Tampa Bay region, Sternberg neither confirmed nor denied that such an idea had entered into his plans, stating that club brass “will see how the stands look this year…to help inform us as we move forward” but that they had been “all-in on this plan” and had “completely pushed our chips in.” The owner also made a bit of news in disclosing that he’s privy to full-season proposals currently being put together by both the city of Tampa and Pinellas County (home to St. Petersburg) but expressed doubts about the long-term viability of either (it isn’t clear if Tampa’s full-season proposal involves the same Ybor City site that the split-season proposal did). Though he stated that “the region is willing to and able to and looking forward to supporting us in every way it can” and that he was “certainly going to be exploring things in the Tampa Bay region,” he also expressed doubts that the region could “handle 81 games of baseball…that just hasn’t happened to this point.” Asked directly if Tampa deserves a full-season baseball team, Sternberg responded simply that it “deserves to have baseball.” Most striking, perhaps, were Sternberg’s comments on the long-term viability of single-city teams, even as he stands alone among owners in major sports in proposing a split-city arrangement. “Partial seasons are going to be the wave of the future in professional sports,” he stated, adding that Montreal has “earned the right to have baseball back.” He really seems dead set on this split city arrangement for some reason.
January 21, 20223 yr 14 hours ago, rmc523 said: Manfred League Baseball finally found a dose of common sense and has rejected the Rays’ split city idea. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33109350/tampa-bay-rays-say-split-season-plan-montreal-rejected-mlb ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays' proposed plan to split the season between Florida and Montreal has been rejected by Major League Baseball. Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg announced the news on Thursday. "Today's news is flat-out deflating," Sternberg said. The idea of playing in both the Tampa Bay area and Montreal has been discussed over the past several years after attempts to build a new full-time ballpark locally failed. Why this idea was entertained at all is beyond me, but I’m glad they finally woke up and made the right call. gee, I can’t get my city to build my team a stadium…..here’s an idea….let me get TWO cities to build me 2 stadiums for half the games! BRILLIANT! Moronic. As Donald Trump says, "The key to success is persuasion." They weren't convincing enough to get their way and split the stadium. From my perspective - it wasn't a good plan overall. But finally they're going to stop negotiating about it, and that's the end of the matter.
January 21, 20223 yr 4 hours ago, Pokitren said: From my perspective - it wasn't a good plan overall. But finally they're going to stop negotiating about it, and that's the end of the matter. 1. Welcome to the site! 2. Agreed - not a good plan. Hard to get fans where they are now, why would they show up if they know the team's only going to be there half the year? Rays are a good team, too, so let's say they make the playoffs - which area is their home for the postseason, St. Pete or Montreal? Stick to one place, grow the team and fanbase and stuff. Move to Orlando, even!
January 21, 20223 yr I assume Tampa/St. Pete will have one more real shot to get a stadium plan done and it needs to be done really this year. If not then look for the Rays to seriously consider moving shop to Nashville or Montreal. This bullshit in the Tampa/St. Pete area has dragged on for far too long, just an absolute joke and disgrace for a team this successful to have such piss poor attendance year in and year out. Embarassing. Use any and every excuse in the book too for why attendance is such a disaster. Even weekend attendance to games of teams that are not the Yankees and Red Sox is an absolute joke. The fan base in general is apatheic, the leadership in the city is whatever. One shot, get a real proposal and have legs under it or move to a metro area that wont be a total embarassment and make excuses year in and year out.
January 21, 20223 yr Author 1 hour ago, Michael said: 1. Welcome to the site! 2. Agreed - not a good plan. Hard to get fans where they are now, why would they show up if they know the team's only going to be there half the year? Rays are a good team, too, so let's say they make the playoffs - which area is their home for the postseason, St. Pete or Montreal? Stick to one place, grow the team and fanbase and stuff. Move to Orlando, even! I guess they're trying to make the argument of "with only half the games, demand will be higher because fans can't go as often so more will come to the fewer number of games." But 81 is still a lot, relatively speaking (vs. say 8 of the NFL, or 41 of the NHL). I can't remember their proposed solution for the playoff idea - I think it was something ridiculous like one city would get one series, the other the next......or maybe it was switching mid series or something, I don't recall. They ought to just move to Montreal if demand there is so high, and then have Oakland stay in Oakland or go to Vegas. And Nashville can be an expansion team.
January 21, 20223 yr 14 minutes ago, rmc523 said: But 81 is still a lot, relatively speaking (vs. say 8 of the NFL, or 41 of the NHL). Remember, that's 81 total games that count as "home" so only about 40 or 41, if it's evenly split, would be in either city.
January 21, 20223 yr Author 15 minutes ago, Michael said: Remember, that's 81 total games that count as "home" so only about 40 or 41, if it's evenly split, would be in either city. Whoops, you're right - I can't count lol.
January 21, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, rmc523 said: Whoops, you're right - I can't count lol. Yes you can, mistakes happen. You got this, Champ!
January 21, 20223 yr Author 1 hour ago, Michael said: Yes you can, mistakes happen. You got this, Champ!
January 22, 20223 yr On 1/20/2022 at 2:19 PM, rmc523 said: Manfred League Baseball finally found a dose of common sense and has rejected the Rays’ split city idea. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33109350/tampa-bay-rays-say-split-season-plan-montreal-rejected-mlb ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays' proposed plan to split the season between Florida and Montreal has been rejected by Major League Baseball. Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg announced the news on Thursday. "Today's news is flat-out deflating," Sternberg said. The idea of playing in both the Tampa Bay area and Montreal has been discussed over the past several years after attempts to build a new full-time ballpark locally failed. Why this idea was entertained at all is beyond me, but I’m glad they finally woke up and made the right call. gee, I can’t get my city to build my team a stadium…..here’s an idea….let me get TWO cities to build me 2 stadiums for half the games! BRILLIANT! Moronic. Got a feeling Manfred was willing to let the Rays try to leverage this for a fixed roof park in Tampa, and the gag went on too long. He then pulled the plug because the Rays started to really explore it- when it really was meant to be a negotiating tactic. It also tends to dominate the news cycle, so what better time to announce its dead than the middle of a lockout.
January 22, 20223 yr On 1/21/2022 at 9:03 AM, Michael said: 1. Welcome to the site! 2. Agreed - not a good plan. Hard to get fans where they are now, why would they show up if they know the team's only going to be there half the year? Rays are a good team, too, so let's say they make the playoffs - which area is their home for the postseason, St. Pete or Montreal? Stick to one place, grow the team and fanbase and stuff. Move to Orlando, even! Supposedly it was two open air stadiums in both cities, with games split during the season in half. Montreal in the summer/fall, tampa in the spring/early summer. Postseason games were going to alternate year to year. It was a mess, but an interesting mess. If both cities already had the ballparks built and it wouldn't have cost any money- Id have wanted to see how it worked out for a year or two. Heck, try it with Puerto Rico for a season.
January 22, 20223 yr On 1/21/2022 at 10:41 AM, Das Texan said: I assume Tampa/St. Pete will have one more real shot to get a stadium plan done and it needs to be done really this year. If not then look for the Rays to seriously consider moving shop to Nashville or Montreal. This bullshit in the Tampa/St. Pete area has dragged on for far too long, just an absolute joke and disgrace for a team this successful to have such piss poor attendance year in and year out. Embarassing. Use any and every excuse in the book too for why attendance is such a disaster. Even weekend attendance to games of teams that are not the Yankees and Red Sox is an absolute joke. The fan base in general is apatheic, the leadership in the city is whatever. One shot, get a real proposal and have legs under it or move to a metro area that wont be a total embarassment and make excuses year in and year out. They can't lose them until 2027, they have no urgency and no care in the world. They'll be gone soon. What sucks is that team with the way they run it, in a market that can financially support it is going to be very very dangerous. I almost wish the Jeter was smart enough to trade for the entire front office in exchange for a yes vote on relocation.
January 23, 20223 yr 9 hours ago, Piazza31 said: They can't lose them until 2027, they have no urgency and no care in the world. They'll be gone soon. What sucks is that team with the way they run it, in a market that can financially support it is going to be very very dangerous. I almost wish the Jeter was smart enough to trade for the entire front office in exchange for a yes vote on relocation. I think they can buy out that lease in 2024. Chump change if they are serious about cashing in with a new stadium elsewhere. I dont think it would matter if they announce they are headed out come 2025 late this year and exercise said buy out. Can attendance get worse anyway?
January 23, 20223 yr Author 10 hours ago, Piazza31 said: Got a feeling Manfred was willing to let the Rays try to leverage this for a fixed roof park in Tampa, and the gag went on too long. He then pulled the plug because the Rays started to really explore it- when it really was meant to be a negotiating tactic. It also tends to dominate the news cycle, so what better time to announce its dead than the middle of a lockout. Yeah, that's probably not an unrealistic take of what happened. 10 hours ago, Piazza31 said: They can't lose them until 2027, they have no urgency and no care in the world. They'll be gone soon. What sucks is that team with the way they run it, in a market that can financially support it is going to be very very dangerous. I almost wish the Jeter was smart enough to trade for the entire front office in exchange for a yes vote on relocation. Well, 1) 2028 is "only" 6 years away now. 2) If the Rays are to have any city build a park, they usually take about 3 years to plan/construct depending on complexity, meaning they'll need to have something started by '25 to be ready for the '28 season wherever it's built, unless they play at some sort of temporary stadium, which I don't see MLB thrilled with........ 2b) nor do I see St. Pete officials being overly excited to do year by year extensions as needed if the team is ultimately leaving for another city. They'd likely want to get the Trop site redeveloped as soon as they can if they can't retain the team/build a new park there......though that type of project would need planning as well, so maybe the city would be interested in it short term trop extensions (a season or two at most) while they plan redevelopment? Thinking out loud here 3) If the region wants to retain the team, they should have SOME sort of urgency, as 3 years isn't that long relatively speaking - they have less than 3 years before the team has to really start looking elsewhere to meet that '28 opening day timeline. If they've determined that they don't want to put forth something to retain the team, then yeah, they can just collect their lease checks and say adios after '27 when the team leaves. 1 hour ago, Das Texan said: I think they can buy out that lease in 2024. Chump change if they are serious about cashing in with a new stadium elsewhere. I dont think it would matter if they announce they are headed out come 2025 late this year and exercise said buy out. Can attendance get worse anyway? I don't think there's any buy out opportunity/the St. Pete mayor has said he's going to hold the Rays to the 2027 date.
February 6, 20223 yr Author https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/02/latest-on-rays-stadium-situation.html Quote One option that has at least been discussed is building a stadium on the land currently occupied by the Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, per a report from Colleen Wright of the Tampa Bay Times. The airport is located right on the bay, just a short drive from Tropicana Field. As noted by Wright, the mayor of St. Petersburg, Ken Welch, recently addressed the situation on Twitter. “St. Pete is back in the game!,” he tweeted. “I was excited to meet yesterday with the Rays and County leadership. Together with our City Council and community partners, we have re-engaged with urgency to keep baseball in the Sunshine City.” The mayor sent a memo to city council members saying that he wants to study the airport site for “current and potential future community impact.” Wright also quotes Pinellas County Commission Chairperson Charlie Justice on the matter, who says, “The bottom line is, it’s good after every decade or 20 years to look and say, ‘OK, what’s happening. This is 100 acres of valuable land.'” Justice adds, “Does it make sense to keep doing it? Does it need to be changed? We are open to that opportunity.” The plan is somewhat complicated by the fact that the airport is also considering expanding, as detailed by Wright.
February 7, 20223 yr Author https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/02/quick-hits-rays-ballpark-rockies-bleday.html A new ballpark in the Ybor City area of Tampa would cost roughly $892MM, as per a study commissioned by the Tampa Sports Authority. According to Charlie Frago and C.T. Bowen of The Tampa Bay Times, the price tag would cover a ballpark with a 27K capacity, intended to be the Rays’ new home stadium for an entire season, rather than a split-season situation like the Rays’ now-scuttledproposal to play games in both Tampa and Montreal. The cost of the Ybor City ballpark includes a roof, which is essential for playing games in Florida during the summer. (The Rays wouldn’t be using the stadium for Spring Training games, as the team may be planning a new spring camp site in nearby Pasco County.) Public revenue for the ballpark could be raised by some increased property taxes on local developers within the “ballpark district,” though it remains to be seen how much of the total cost would be covered by the city and how much would be covered by the Rays themselves. The club previously indicated they would be willing to spend around $350MM towards construction of a new ballpark, though that was based on the concept of a stadium costing around $700MM and in use for only the non-Montreal portion of the schedule. The Rays didn’t issue a public comment on the TSA’s study.
February 7, 20223 yr Proposed 27K capacity? Shoot, I thought *we* had a small ballpark. Hopefully with the option to expand if they go that route!
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