Rays Abandon Plans For New St. Petersburg Ballpark
- Thread starter DaBadGuy7
- Start date
-
Pickem has been rebuilt and TWO new NHL Survivor Pools are now open- Registration closes on Saturday, March 22th - Click here to join.
HF Sportsbook has also been rebuilt and will have all March Madness events in hockey and basketball
BLNY
Registered User
Voight
#winning
Ultimately there's a high chance they end up in Orlando. The city and county have money to spend via tourism dollars (believe its mandated by law a certain amount goes towards "tourism" which this would fall under) and I'm not sure the local government in St Pete/TB have the stomach to make another stadium deal given they still need to rebuild the area.
After a decade of complaining about the location of the stadium, it makes no sense for the new stadium to be in the same location. I wonder what Tampa's situation is with the Buccaneers stadium lease coming up in a couple of years. At the very least the team would ask for some renovations.
sneakytitz
Registered User
Orlando Dreamers (the baseball group wanting a team) said over the weekend that they have an "anchor investor" ready to buy the team and build the stadium if purchasing is an option.
Group trying to bring MLB to Orlando ready to pounce after Rays new stadium deal falls through
The Orlando Dreamers — led by MLB Hall of Famer Barry Larkin — confirmed they’ve identified an anchor investor to purchase a team and fund the $1.7 billion domed stadium project on a plot of land next to Aquatica water park in Orange County.
www.clickorlando.com
Voight
#winning
Likely not, MLB does not want to lose the TV market the Rays are in. They were "ok" with losing Oakland because there was another MLB team across the bay.
Orlando Dreamers (the baseball group wanting a team) said over the weekend that they have an "anchor investor" ready to buy the team and build the stadium if purchasing is an option.
Group trying to bring MLB to Orlando ready to pounce after Rays new stadium deal falls through
The Orlando Dreamers — led by MLB Hall of Famer Barry Larkin — confirmed they’ve identified an anchor investor to purchase a team and fund the $1.7 billion domed stadium project on a plot of land next to Aquatica water park in Orange County.www.clickorlando.com
Yea thats been the rumoured location for some time now. Hoenstly they won't even really need to und it, City & County will probably pay for the whole thing. They've renovated the Citrus Bowl twice in the last decade because by law they have to spend their tourism dollars on tourist things. So they got money to burn.
Just sucks Pat Williams won't be around to see this happen (if it does happen)
Voight
#winning
They did renovate it in 2016 when it was 18 years old so I can see them asking for more renovations in a couple of years as it approaches the 30 year mark.
The 30 year mark comes up in 3 years. Usually you hear SOMETHING by now. There were 7 stadiums opened between 1995-2000
1995: Jags - having a major overhaul. Practically new
1996: Panthers - major overhaul agreed to.
1997: Washington - trying for a new stadium
1998: Ravens Lined up money for a renovation.
1998: Bucs - All quite
1999: Titans - New stadium under construction
1999: Browns - Negotiating for a new stadium
2000: Bengals - Negotiating a renovation
Even the Broncos (2001), Bears (essentially a new stadium in 2003), and the Eagles (2003) are making noise for new stadium. While the Texans (2002) have said they will have to do a major renovation in lieu of a new stadium.
LadyStanley
Registered User
St. Pete receives offer for Tropicana Field as activists rally for Gas Plant renewal
Even though the Rays only backed out of the deal to build a stadium in downtown St. Pete late last week, the battle is already underway over what will be built there next.
www.fox13news.com
Community group offers to purchase damaged stadium
Want to buy the Tampa Bay Rays? Get in line
Groups of unnamed investors have expressed interest in owning St. Petersburg’s major league team.
For those outside the local market, the news has been heating up since the Rays officially pulled out of the stadium deal with St. Pete/Pinellas County. Multiple groups of potential owners are starting to confirm their interest, and local politicians are saying that they're done working with Sternberg. He played a key role in keeping baseball here to begin with, but St. Pete is anxious to redevelop the 84 acre parcel around the ballpark and is not interested in an extension of their lease that would delay that redevelopment. The team never provided any proof that the short delay in the county vote (still within the contractually agreed upon time frame) cost them over $100M dollars in cost overruns, and there's not much trust or public sympathy given that all this is happening across the backdrop of two hurricanes and a $50M bill for the city of St. Petersburg just to fix the Trop as stipulated in the team's lease.
The best case scenario for fans in Tampa Bay is that Sternberg sells the team and a deal gets done on the other side of the bay inside the city limits of Tampa. That being said, public funds and prime real estate will be tough to come by. There's a reason that this had dragged out for almost 20 years. MLB is going to want to get this wrapped up quickly so they can turn their focus to expansion, so get your popcorn ready.
Yeah one reason Hillsborough/Tampa isn't a great option for the Rays is they probably won't offer much public money if any because they have to think ahead about keeping the Bucs and Lightning happy with their stadiums.
