this is not exactly an endorsement and He is pushing this split city idea that the Players Union will never approve
Rays Owner done with Tampa Bay?
- Thread starter Poolside Knight
- Start date
Translation: "Give me a taxpayer funded free stadium or we promise to leave"
MLB is looking to be a complete failure in Florida. So many bad decisions, the Marlins ballpark should have been built in Broward county
No, the Rays are nothing like the Marlins. The Rays have a team competing for 1st place in the AL East and arguably the most loaded farm system in baseball. They had 3 first round draft picks this year. They've absolutely robbed teams with trade deals and constantly acquire awesome young talent.
Operationally the Rays are run probably as good as it gets in baseball. The come apart right now is getting the stadium to Tampa and into an area where the actual viewing audience can get to the stadium nightly. The support is there, the TV viewership numbers are great, but too much of the fanbase is way up in Tampa or northern Pinellas.
If anything, a lot of this debate on a Rays stadium is due to the Marlins, using them as a cautionary tale of what not to do.
that actually makes the Rays attendance problems worse, the Marlins have been living in the NL East cellar
Not really. The stadium being untenable to reach for the majority of the fanbase is true whether they're winning or losing. Again, tons and tons of people are watching on TV especially now that they've got a good team.
Just look at the Lightning. People were 100% sure that hockey would never work in Tampa yet they eventually built a great arena in downtown Tampa and put together a good franchise, and now it's arguably one of the premier NHL franchises. The Lightning have sold out every game for like 2-3 years now.
The Lightning don't share a division with 2 of the most tradition rich franchises in American sports and play in an 18k arena. Baseball fanbases are different
lightning play in the atlantic division:
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
the lightning play with 4 of the original 6 nhl teams in their division....
Boston Bruins
Detroit Red Wings
Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
you dont know what you are talking about.
The Yankees and Red Sox are two of the biggest brands in American sports. Most of the Transplants moving to Florida will never give up allegiance to those teams which hurts the growth of the Rays fanbase. I know the Rays situation and it is not as simple of just move to Tampa and everything will be fine.
I liked the Ybor City idea except the fake turf part
the original 6 are probably the most popular teams in the nhl. the lightning are in the same division as 4 of them. you literally said the lightning didnt have the problem. they have that exact same problem. in fact there is another florida team in the division. they struggle to get fans, yet the lightning dont...
NHL and NBA don't struggle with this like MLB. My point is that I've seen way more transplants embrace the Miami Heat or Lightning but will not change their baseball allegiance. See when the Yankees or Mets play the Rays or Marlins, they are not getting season tickets. Then you add the limited corporate support and you have a problem
Lightning games are fun. People that go to them get hooked more than they do at Rays games.
the answer is winning. the lightning have been able to amass a fanbase while the panthers have not. what is different? consistent winning. weve seen that here at ucf as well. generally decent attendance but as soon as we strung a couple winning seasons together, the fans started showing up. winning cures all problems.
stop pretending that baseball is different.
you have double the home games to support compared to the NBA or NHL so yes it is different but I agree the State of Florida is a fairweather State
This. Commisioner manfred even said teams like the rays need to follow the braves model which is to put a stadium where the fans are and build up the area surrounding it
Marlins definitely should’ve built the park further north. I went to high school in Palm Beach and after the HS season we would go to 3-4 games a week when they were home but it was a pain in the ass.
If the Rays were in a better spot people would go. Team is plenty good enough to support (and have been).
If the Rays were in a better spot people would go. Team is plenty good enough to support (and have been).
I thought they would eventually agree to a deal on the Tampa side but not after Sternberg’s comments today
i think the idea is to piss off the local fans. let attendance tank even further while the team is well. owner can say look how bad the attendance is during a good year. then he can shop his team to other potential cities and try to get a sweet deal for them to build him a new stadium.
Just to go back to the hockey vs. baseball point for a minute, just consider that the Lightning are worth $445M while the Rays are worth $1B. The money in baseball absolutely dwarfs the NHL, so much so that the "poorest" MLB team is still almost on par with the net worth of the top NHL teams in Montreal and Toronto.
The fanbase is there but as 08 said above, they need a stadium that fans can actually get to.
The fanbase is there but as 08 said above, they need a stadium that fans can actually get to.
I wonder if there’s an attendance clause in the lease? If they fall under x then the Rays can break the lease kind of deal. Owners would probably be looking at a lawsuit though after today’s comments if that’s the case.
I grew up in NY, big Yankees fan (makes me an asshole I know) but I don’t even go to the games against the Rays anymore. The time it takes to get there and back is insane, I don’t get back to Orlando until after 1 if I go... no thanks.
I commented before that if they left I thought it would be for Charlotte, Nashville, or Portland. wanting to go back to Montreal surprises me
could be a play to get future candidate cities to play against each other.
Portland (other than maybe Montreal now) will be the next area of expansion if it ever happens. MLB has been looking for someone to put up there with Seattle for a while so they have a closer travel partner.
Charlotte or nashville wont work because they braves have those cities locked down (and much of florida). Portland may work but many of them pull for the mariners. Montreal or vegas would be good bets IMHO
Know what else is a good bet? Building a stadium in Tampa that Tampa fans can actually get to.
put it close to the hard rock and you might even get orlando fans
I live in Nashville and a team would work here at some point in the near future. There are a lot of Braves fans but I wouldnt say they have the city locked down. Nashville is more of a casual baseball city anyway, MLB isnt a big topic on sports radio and things of that nature. Anyone who wasnt a die hard fan of a team would probably switch to the local team pretty quick.
