Rays attracting potential buyers (upd: to finance a St. Pete ballpark)

[John Price]

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[Boss Man Hughes]

Why would mlb ever allow the team to be relocated to an expansion location???????????

 

[Cas]

Maybe they mean those cold call, Blackstone type unsolicited purchase offers.

 

[KevFu]

I don't have the athletic, does it say WHERE the group interested in relocation is from?

If MLB had three legit serious expansion bids, they can expand to the biggest two markets and allow relocation of the Rays to the third.

 

[These Are The Days]

The Rays aren't going anywhere for at least a few years. That lease in St. Pete is so f***ing ironclad we lost at least decade's worth of negotiations for a new ballpark in Tampa over it.
Probably closer to 15 years. No one is even getting into the room unless his name is Stu Sternberg

 

[KevFu]

The Rays aren't going anywhere for at least a few years. That lease in St. Pete is so f***ing ironclad we lost at least decade's worth of negotiations for a new ballpark in Tampa over it.
Probably closer to 15 years. No one is even getting into the room unless his name is Stu Sternberg

Yeah, it's absolutely ridiculous that the Rays signed a 30-year lease on a stadium that was eight years old and already outdated.

But 30 years is up after 2027. Which sounds further away than it is. It takes 2-3 years to build an MLB stadium. The temp in TB area helps, but the rain doesn't. You need to have shovels in the ground by fall of 2025, or earlier. It's usually 10 months from "Deal Done" to "construction starts." Which means deal done in Feb/March of 2025, which is 20 months from now.

 

[These Are The Days]

Yeah, it's absolutely ridiculous that the Rays signed a 30-year lease on a stadium that was eight years old and already outdated.

But 30 years is up after 2027. Which sounds further away than it is. It takes 2-3 years to build an MLB stadium. The temp in TB area helps, but the rain doesn't. You need to have shovels in the ground by fall of 2025, or earlier. It's usually 10 months from "Deal Done" to "construction starts." Which means deal done in Feb/March of 2025, which is 20 months from now.

The worst part is St. Pete threw that monstrosity together as fast as it could to get either the Giants or White Sox. Can you believe that? Karma's a bitch eh? Now recently they've done a lot to make the ballpark and experience better. And you're right about the timeline. The Bay Area needs to concede that there is a financial responsibility on their end. Our owner has like $750 million in worth and everyone's losing their shit like "oMg Y dOnT HiMb PaYz 4 it!" as if homeboy is supposed to drop his last penny into a ballpark.

So far it's been no go and I think the Bay Area is polluted with people who refuse to see this as a community investment creating thousands of permanent jobs. They just settled here from some other state during the COVID rush and are now whining, bitching and moaning about paying for it like they do everything else like the price of eggs. The Rays may move because half a million people think $200 each spread over like 3 million taxpayers and tourists over like 30 years is just too much

But thank God they all paid like $500k in cash for their homes wrecking our real estate market when they moved here from wherever

 

[KevFu]

Well, I think the "Worst part" is that they built it and then in between the time it opened and they time they got a team (or even the Marlins starting to play after they lost in expansion) CAMDEN YARDS OPENED and changed the game completely.

But yeah. The Tampa stadium ordeal has been the most blatantly transparent thing to watch...

There was no movement by politicians because they all face/faced re-election before the Rays COULD move. There's no urgency for politicians who CAN'T lose the Rays, and giving millions of taxpayer money to a baseball team is something that you'll be hit with by your opponent in the campaign. The smart move for those politicians is "Stall."

So the team has no leverage, and then has to make up stuff like "We'll split time with Montreal!" to try and get people to act before they have to.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

So, we have the A's, Rays, and now Manfred is threatening the Brewers. Is this some sort of weird MLB reboot?

 

[KevFu]

This is how it always goes, in all sports. League wants newest/best stadiums for free.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

The worst part is St. Pete threw that monstrosity together as fast as it could to get either the Giants or White Sox. Can you believe that? Karma's a bitch eh? Now recently they've done a lot to make the ballpark and experience better. And you're right about the timeline. The Bay Area needs to concede that there is a financial responsibility on their end. Our owner has like $750 million in worth and everyone's losing their shit like "oMg Y dOnT HiMb PaYz 4 it!" as if homeboy is supposed to drop his last penny into a ballpark.

So far it's been no go and I think the Bay Area is polluted with people who refuse to see this as a community investment creating thousands of permanent jobs. They just settled here from some other state during the COVID rush and are now whining, bitching and moaning about paying for it like they do everything else like the price of eggs. The Rays may move because half a million people think $200 each spread over like 3 million taxpayers and tourists over like 30 years is just too much

But thank God they all paid like $500k in cash for their homes wrecking our real estate market when they moved here from wherever

Thousands of jobs?! That's a good one. The new Texas baseball stadium had something like 1400 new construction jobs and that stadium was far bigger and more ambitious than the one that would be created in Oakland. The public could finance new houses, community centres/gyms, librairies, parks, etc for the same amount of money and create just as many construction jobs ...with the added benefit of being mostly free as opposed to having to pay for the privilege of attending.

If the A's actually left there wouldn't be any jobs lost. People just shift their disposable income elsewhere.

Fisher has to have more skin the game when it comes to the A's new stadium. How much has the value of the team increased since he bought them? Several hundreds of millions would be my guess. If a new 32,000 or so seat stadium with no roof could be built for let's say $650 million - $750 million, there's no reason he couldn't put in $100 - $200 million, plus a portion or all the stadium naming rights (worth hundreds of millions), plus a ticket tax which in itself could generate well over $100 million over 20 -25 years. In that case, I'm sure the city would play ball and put in a few hundred million or so.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

So, we have the A's, Rays, and now Manfred is threatening the Brewers. Is this some sort of weird MLB reboot?

Where the heck did they come up with that estimated renovation cost of $475 million for Milwaukee's staduim. That stadium is nearly 15 years newer than Rogers Centre in Toronto and they are spending $250 - $300 million (CDN. $ I think) on a pretty extensive renovation over 2 years. I wonder if that estimate is a little hyperbolic kinda like the estimated renovation cost of $900+ million for Nashville's football stadium.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Our long national nightmare appears to be over

Report: Rays complete deal for St. Pete stadium

The Rays are expected to announce the completion of a deal for a new stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Tuesday, according to a report by the Tampa Bay Times.

www.espn.com

 

[No Fun Shogun]

I'm all for staying teams staying put, but can't help but smirk at the fact that the Rays spent basically a decade trashing St. Pete only to announce plans for a new ballpark still in town.

 

[Dr Pepper]

So the only remaining team to play beneath a full dome, complete with artificial turf, is planning to move to a newer, but SMALLER stadium that is also beneath a full dome, complete with artificial turf?

Why is Tampa afraid of playing outdoors? Make it make sense.

Toronto's been near the bottom in most stadium rankings but their recent and ongoing changes to the ballpark are at least bringing back some very positive reviews - even if they still won't budge on the whole fake grass thing here either.

But I figured when I saw news of Tampa getting a new deal worked out, they would be finally going to a more open-air concept, joining (most of) the rest of the league with an actual, authentic ballpark.

Guess not.

 

[Cas]

Isn't Tampa a humid oven?

A smaller park isn't a surprise, either - lots of teams have moved to smaller seating capacities in recent years.

 

[These Are The Days]

They're basically building another Trop across the street for like 3 times the cost 16 years ago. This is so f***ing stupid. This isn't going to fix anything attendance-wise

 

[Voight]

Where the heck did they come up with that estimated renovation cost of $475 million for Milwaukee's staduim. That stadium is nearly 15 years newer than Rogers Centre in Toronto and they are spending $250 - $300 million (CDN. $ I think) on a pretty extensive renovation over 2 years. I wonder if that estimate is a little hyperbolic kinda like the estimated renovation cost of $900+ million for Nashville's football stadium.

It probably is.

Sports Teams PR people just throw out big numbers in an attempt to "scare" local governments into agreeing to their terms.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

They're basically building another Trop across the street for like 3 times the cost 16 years ago. This is so f***ing stupid. This isn't going to fix anything attendance-wise

This is such a cop out excuse for attendance imo. I imagine it plays a small part but there's bigger factors and a bigger picture overall of why.

Is the drive from Tampa down to St Pete really that treacherous? I've driven there from the South, Bradenton and Sarasota areas and it's a very easy, smooth drive.

I'm also used to driving to MetLife Stadium through Manhattan and NYC though...

 

[These Are The Days]

This is such a cop out excuse for attendance imo. I imagine it plays a small part but there's bigger factors and a bigger picture overall of why.

Is the drive from Tampa down to St Pete really that treacherous? I've driven there from the South, Bradenton and Sarasota areas and it's a very easy, smooth drive.

I'm also used to driving to MetLife Stadium through Manhattan and NYC though...

The drive is a 45 minute pain in the ass even for me living directly off the Veteran's Expressway. The short answer is it's in a not only in a bad location far away from the population base, it's in an area that has no more room to grow. Pinellas County hasn't experienced any meaningful population growth in 20 years because it is completely built up. 45,000 new residents versus 500,000+ in Hillsborough County since 2000. It's a ballpark completely surrounded by either water or bridges from hell that take everyone home 45 minutes away in the other direction The drive itself isn't that bad no. But now imagine doing it more than 10 times a year. This is quite literally the worst located stadium location in the big 4 sports minus probably the Senators being in Kanata and not Ottawa proper the Coyotes being in Glendale and not Phoenix proper

St. Pete had land back in the 80's and whipped up a giant tuna can as fast as they could praying they'd get the Giants or White Sox without any regard of long term consequences. You're seeing them now

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Yeah, I'm skeptical attendance will be that much better outside the first few years with the new stadium effect...unless the Tampa/St. Petersberg experiences a boom in rapid transit options. Given that would require additional bridges for buses/trains, we would be looking at tens of billions in public expenditures. I'm guessing something like that won't happen?

With that said, even if the club only averages 15 - 17,000 per game long term (similar to the present), I'm sure they will gain tens of millions in additional in-stadium revenue per year. All those new club seats and suites and loges, additional ad revenue from the larger screens and concourses.

 

[These Are The Days]

So let me come out here and say "I was wrong"

The Rays are basically building their own version of the battery district like the Braves have around their new ballpark. You aren't going to be able to keep the people away.