((ht: tampabay.com))
Oh boy. Thursday night brought a big surprise in the Tampa Bay area when the St. Petersburg, Florida City Council rejected an agreement the mayor made with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The agreement would have allowed the Rays to look for a new home in either the St. Pete or Tampa area and get the team out of the horrible stadium know as Tropicana Field.
And if the Rays were able to find said location, the city would have been reimbursed handsomely for allowing it.
The Rays are locked into a terrible stadium deal that in theory locks them to the Trop until 2027. It would cost a fortune to break that deal. Attendance is spotty at best and because of all these issues, the team is one of the lowest budget teams in Major League Baseball. Getting to the Trop is an extra 30 minutes just from Tampa, which limits the teams ability to get people who live in the region to games.
Current team owner Stewart Sternberg has already gone on record saying if he can't get an opportunity to find a new stadium, he will sell the team to the highest bidder. And that bidder likely will move the team once they are able to.
St. Pete mayor Rick Kriseman understood that and was able to get a deal that made sense. To everyone but the council who defeated it on a 3 to 5 vote. They quoted a statement from the team questioning stadium redevelopment rights. The two sides had an agreement to redevelop the Trop site should the Rays move. The money would be split 50/50. But when asked if they'd change that agreement if the team left the stadium early, the Rays said "No". That appeared to turn the tide in a vote they otherwise would have won.
The council decided it was best to discuss stadium options in a workshop saying they want the Rays to limit their search to St. Petersburg. And while hope remains the two sides can workout a deal, both sides walked away with bruised egos. We all know it takes awhile for the bruises to go away.
WTSP-TV in Tampa explains things visually:
Showing posts with label Rick Kreisman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rick Kreisman. Show all posts
Friday, December 19, 2014
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
St. Pete Mayor: Deal in Place for Tampa Bay Rays to Look for New Stadium Location
((ht: tampabay.com))
The Tampa Bay Rays have been chomping at the bit for years to get out of Tropicana Field. Attendance has always lagged at the indoor stadium, a stadium that while fitted for baseball, hardly feels like baseball.
But previous ownership signed a long-term deal with the City of St. Petersburg, some 20 miles or so from Tampa, to play in the Trop until 2027 with a crazy-expensive buyout option.
Until now.
The team, which has always struggled financially, due in part to the location and general crappiness of the Trop (we've been there), has wanted to look at locations in Tampa for years. Tampa has a much bigger population base than St. Petersburg and is much easier to get to.
But the City has held up the search....
St. Pete Mayor Rick Kreisman has a deal in hand with the team that would allow them to search for new stadium locations in the Tampa/St. Pete area and allow them to leave Tropicana Field.
Yes, there'd be compensation; $4 million a year for the 1st 3 years, $3 million the next 3 and $2 million the final three years left on the lease. And it calls for the team, should they land in Tampa, to essentially allow promotional items for St. Petersburg to be placed in the new facility.
But the deal would work for both parties though it has yet to be approved by the St. Pete City Council. Which appears likely.
Read more from TampaBay.com RIGHT HERE
The deal also specifies the Rays have until the end of 2017 to come up with a site or the agreement is nullified. We don't expect that to happen.
Tampa has more than enough population and business wise to support the baseball team. And it also makes the Rays easier to access from Orlando and points east. Very few of those people were willing to drive across I-4 and then navigate Tampa traffic to drive another half hour to St. Pete. A Tampa location would change that.
It gives the Rays a fighting chance. Long one of the lowest budgeted teams in Major League Baseball, they've managed to scrape together good teams. But anytime they had a player become a star, the Rays traded him before having to pay the price.
If they can get a new park, with new revenue, look for that to change.
WTSP-TV in Tampa/St. Pete gives us a TV explanation:
The Tampa Bay Rays have been chomping at the bit for years to get out of Tropicana Field. Attendance has always lagged at the indoor stadium, a stadium that while fitted for baseball, hardly feels like baseball.
But previous ownership signed a long-term deal with the City of St. Petersburg, some 20 miles or so from Tampa, to play in the Trop until 2027 with a crazy-expensive buyout option.
Until now.
The team, which has always struggled financially, due in part to the location and general crappiness of the Trop (we've been there), has wanted to look at locations in Tampa for years. Tampa has a much bigger population base than St. Petersburg and is much easier to get to.
But the City has held up the search....
St. Pete Mayor Rick Kreisman has a deal in hand with the team that would allow them to search for new stadium locations in the Tampa/St. Pete area and allow them to leave Tropicana Field.
Yes, there'd be compensation; $4 million a year for the 1st 3 years, $3 million the next 3 and $2 million the final three years left on the lease. And it calls for the team, should they land in Tampa, to essentially allow promotional items for St. Petersburg to be placed in the new facility.
But the deal would work for both parties though it has yet to be approved by the St. Pete City Council. Which appears likely.
Read more from TampaBay.com RIGHT HERE
The deal also specifies the Rays have until the end of 2017 to come up with a site or the agreement is nullified. We don't expect that to happen.
Tampa has more than enough population and business wise to support the baseball team. And it also makes the Rays easier to access from Orlando and points east. Very few of those people were willing to drive across I-4 and then navigate Tampa traffic to drive another half hour to St. Pete. A Tampa location would change that.
It gives the Rays a fighting chance. Long one of the lowest budgeted teams in Major League Baseball, they've managed to scrape together good teams. But anytime they had a player become a star, the Rays traded him before having to pay the price.
If they can get a new park, with new revenue, look for that to change.
WTSP-TV in Tampa/St. Pete gives us a TV explanation:
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