Tampa Rays to Finalize Deal for New Domed Stadium in St. Pete

[Vanimal46]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38430468/report-rays-complete-deal-new-stadium-st-petersburg

https://x.com/tbtimes_rays/status/1703741614324134301?s=46&t=YdnB8yC6KsAGCRK6WIUWqg

[DJL44]

If the A's get approval to move to Las Vegas then we can finally prepare for expansion.

[Vanimal46]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/09/details-from-rays-stadium-announcement.html

This doesn’t sound like a great fix long term for the team. If the location was the issue and getting to that location, it’s going to be close to the same spot as Tropicana Field…

The stadium itself will cost $1.3 billion but is part of a larger redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District site, where Tropicana Field is already located, which will cost $6.5 billion overall. Despite the announcement, the financing hasn’t quite been finalized just yet. The Rays are covering more than half of the $1.3 billion price tag for the stadium, approximately $700MM. That leaves $600MM to be covered by the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.

That structure has been agreed to by the Rays, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and Pinellas County administrator Barry Burton, but it still needs to be approved by the city council and the county commission. Assuming that comes to pass and everything gets rubber stamped, the Rays will sign a 30-year lease that starts with the 2028 season. The stadium will seat around 30,000 under a fixed roof, with artificial turf on the field and “operable walls to bring the outside in.”

[Vanimal46]

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2023/10/04/rays-rangers-wild-card-attendance-pete-fairbanks-zach-eflin-taylor-walls-sean-mcdonough/

Tuesday’s woeful, widely-panned turnout of Game 1 of this Wild Card Series (19,704) was only mildly eclipsed, when 20,198 showed up for the Rangers’ 7-1 elimination of Tampa Bay in Game 2.

They are the worst and second-worst non-pandemic postseason turnouts of the last 100 years, according to baseball-reference.com.

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So, the Rays are going to build a new stadium in the same area where they have proven to have terrible attendance numbers. I don’t get it. Why would the Rays ownership invest another penny in this particular area of St. Pete?

 

[laloesch]

On 9/18/2023 at 9:39 AM, DJL44 said:

If the A's get approval to move to Las Vegas then we can finally prepare for expansion.

yep.  Nashville probably is probably the leading candidate right now.

[Unwinder]

It's really silly that they're building in St Petersburg again, and they're building a dome again. Feels like the only thing that's changing here is that it will be new, which only works as long as it's new.

[Dave Borton]

On 10/5/2023 at 11:39 AM, Vanimal46 said:

So, the Rays are going to build a new stadium in the same area where they have proven to have terrible attendance numbers. I don’t get it. Why would the Rays ownership invest another penny in this particular area of St. Pete?

 

Lived in Tampa for 20 yrs. This whole concept is a boondoggle.

[Vanimal46]

On 10/5/2023 at 3:38 PM, Unwinder said:

It's really silly that they're building in St Petersburg again, and they're building a dome again. Feels like the only thing that's changing here is that it will be new, which only works as long as it's new.

Correct. So why would this ownership group move forward with the plan? They have plenty of info showing that the location they chose will not attract more than 20K fans in a contending season. If I were them I’d be heavily considering relocation. 

[Unwinder]

8 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Correct. So why would this ownership group move forward with the plan? They have plenty of info showing that the location they chose will not attract more than 20K fans in a contending season. If I were them I’d be heavily considering relocation. 

I assume the Rays ownership is getting what all the baseball owners want with these recent stadium deals: A big chunk of real estate adjacent to the stadium that they can profit from regardless of whether or not the team draws.

[tony&rodney]

Poor use of public money. Corporate welfare has ruled since at least the days of building canals and railroads in the 1800s. It is crazy but people love it, apparently. 

I lived in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area for a decade plus. There was a beautiful ball field on the bay that I played in - Al Lang Field. That is an amazing location. There is great high school baseball in that area. Kyle Tucker would be just one of hundreds from the metro area.

I don't think a dome is a good idea there, at least not a fixed closed roof. The summer evenings are beautiful with cooling breezes. The afternoons are hot and humid but it rains and cools off by early evening. I really doubt whether the Rays will ever draw well in that area. I guess the owner can make some money on the real estate though, so glass half full.