Tampa Bay Rays stadium deal halted after team shifts blame to county for not securing funds

[@garfieldsmith332]

All these disputes boil down to one issue. The owners want a new stadium and do not want to pay for it. They want the taxpayers to foot the bill for their lavish stadium. The owners know that there is a city/county out their where the city/county council will approve the funds to do it. Taxpayers money should be spent for the taxpayers on roads, clean water, power, policing, etc. items that benefit all taxpayers; NOT the corporate elites and their cronies.

[@bigleyfinancial]

I agree. However, ownership has been signing this song for over 10 years now. No other city or county has expressed any interest in funding Stu.

[@ericedwards3055]

Imagine if the Tampa bay area of pasco, hills, and Pinellas worked together on a light rail system instead that got people efficiently transported around the area.

[@RaWeir2]

UNDERSTATEMENT!!!!! F*ck 'Em! As is being throughout the country, taxpayers will no longer fund these extravagant stadiums. Taxpayer's money is better spent on the society (roads, hospitals, etc ...) You want it the new and fancy stadium? Fund it yourself!!!

[@billlong8385]

The billionaire owners can built their own stadiums.

[@RaWeir2]

@billlong8385 Once again, for the *billionaire owners in the BACK"... BUILD. IT. YOURSELF.

[@TeganCantEven]

I have this crazy idea where we start making billionaire team owners pay for their own stadiums.

[@LeonardCooperman]

Haha, the Rays are looking for ANY excuse to get out of Florida..

[@NicEeEe843]

Why would any local drive to a stadium that’s extremely far, in an area that the majority of Tampa residents don’t live near, it’s a nightmare to get to with tons of traffic across a crowded bridge to a separate island that takes so long to leave after game. It was never in a good area. The lighting, magic, and buccaneers are all in the top 10 attendance in their respective leagues, they are in much more practical/closer areas. The rays proposed their new stadium in an area that even if it got voted forward would never have worked because it’s also wayyyyy too far from everyone. Odd every other major Tampa team has incredibly high attendance except for the team that’s a nightmare and a half to get to the stadium, go figure 🤯

[@HawksDiesel]

​@@NicEeEe843why did they build it there. Did the owners ruse politicians s for paying for it a bit to be built in the first place?

[@bradkay]

@@NicEeEe843 The metro area has a population of about 4m. Population density in the cities is comparable. There's no place in the metro area to put a ballpark that is convenient to the majority. Several years ago the Rays looked at various other locations. They didn't consider any of the locations in Tampa or Hillsborough County superior to the Tropicana site. That's why they agree to a new stadium across the street from the Trop. The problem with the Rays looking outside St Pete is they didn't have permission to look outside the metro area. This was a huge mistake by St Pete. While it could be argued the city had an interest in keeping the Rays in St Pete, it had no interest in keeping the team in the metro area. It wouldn't matter a bit to St Pete if the team moved to Tampa or Nashville.

[@bradkay]

@@HawksDiesel Tropicana was built on speculation in an attempt to attract a MLB team.

[@bradkay]

@@NicEeEe843 " The lighting, magic, and buccaneers are all in the top 10 attendance in their respective leagues, " Orlando is irrelevant to this discussion. The Bucs were 28th last year. The Lightening was 3rd in average attendance for 2023-24 The Rays 2024 average attendance was 16,515 while the Lightening was 19.092 for 2023-24. However the Rays had almost twice as many home games as the Lightening so the Rays far outdrew the Lightening. In total, the Rays also outdrew the Bucs.

[@upsox-tk7zw]

Sick of all this businesses, small and large. Public raised revenue should be used to support the community, not some billionaire or business always looking out for them selfs and not reciprocating back to the citizens of the community who help fund their wish list.

[@bradkay]

Oh, but don't you know, it all trickles down! Why just last week I got my first dollar of trickle down from the Reagan tax cuts.

[@geoffreylee5199]

We obscenely rich people are telling you a city are to build us a new stadium! Tax hotel visitors so we don’t have to use our own money!

[@ES-hr6vg]

They’re going to move. Goodbye Florida.

[@codybaker36]

Where do you think they will go? I think Tennessee

[@bradkay]

@@codybaker36 I really wish we'd accepted the $40m there were offering circa 2013 to leave early.

[@Chris-u2c6o]

Marlins should follow

[@bwtawny]

Let them go. Biggest waste of time and $$$ from the beginning.

[@bradkay]

The Rays are complaining but this situation is the result of their own skill. In previous negotiations they didn't leave any money on the table. They extracted every last penny from the county. And now with the county being faced with unplanned expenses recovering rom two hurricanes, it just can't afford it. From the beginning for the Rays, it was all about getting enough government money to make staying preferable to leaving. The team actually wants to leave, as shown by its offer of $40m made a decade ago to St Pete to break the Tropicana lease. They should have accepted a name change but not to the city ID. Had they wanted a realistic name they would have renamed the team to Tampa Bay Melanias since it's all about getting enough money to stay.

[@Gunnar_Blackburn]

Rays really out here trying to strong arm a county recovering from 2 major hurricanes when the Rays can't even create enough of a draw to fill their seats without tarping off half the stadium

[@bradkay]

Oh, but a new stadium will increase attendance! (That's why it's designed with a lower seating capacity than the Trop.)

[@leofontanez9462]

Amen to that Gunnar! Not thinking on the people actually will attend are the ones affected by it. So they expect those taxpayers to pay for a stadium when there home are destroyed, like a stadium is more important.

[@HawksDiesel]

Owners should pay, they have enough. If not, start taxing them like we did 40 years ago

[@garfieldsmith332]

Would need to be on the east coast. Montreal 4.3 million, Charlotte 2.7 million, possibly Nashville 2 million however it is further inland. Forget the west coast, they have enough problems with teams.

[@bradkay]

What's interesting is the Tampa metro area has a greater population than all you mentioned except Montreal. However as I have mentioned many times, the geography of the Tampa Bay area makes a stadium location convenient to most impossible.

[@DuckOfRubber]

The Trop’s biggest problem by far has always been the location. Not sure why anyone thought a new stadium in the same spot would fix that. If true, the county and every local taxpayer just dodged a bullet.

[@Drummer8282]

Yes. The problem is that they’re located in Florida rather than someplace that likes baseball ⚾️

[@bradkay]

There is no good location in the Tampa Bay area.

[@Drummer8282]

Bell Canada just sold their stake in MLSE ( Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment ) for $4.7B CDN - they didn’t do that without something in mind. Montreal Expos baby! Gives Bell Canada plenty of baseball content for their TV networks as they’re currently getting killed by their competitor, Rogers’ owned networks and their Toronto Blue Jays.

[@matthewkester3677]

new vote is Dec 17th, but the Rays can see the writing on the wall, hello Nashville

[@ericedwards3055]

Or Orlando

[@Drummer8282]

Montreal. Bell Canada just sold their stake in MLSE to raise $4.7B. There’s a reason they did this.

[@leofontanez9462]

Bye 👋 Then!

[@JOELTILSON]

Rays going to Nashville.

[@katemoo9581]

Approved by the MLB owners before it’s official

[@michaelleroy9281]

No public money is available for a ballpark in Nashville after they dropped a billion for the Titans

[@JOELTILSON]

@@michaelleroy9281 Most likely the owners will sell the team.

[@benwalter4842]

Or Charlotte

[@jasoncrandall73]

Rays have all the leverage now. Many cities can step up to the plate.

[@marco27c1]

Next stop Omaha.

[@mystuffyesmystuff]

It will be somewhere on the East Coast so they can stay in the AL East. Where they move will depend on scheduling.

[@marco27c1]

@mystuffyesmystuff omaha has a ready made stadium.

[@8ballbronze]

no major league team is going to a place where the whole metro less that 1 million people.

[@mystuffyesmystuff]

@@marco27c1 Do they have a minor league team? What are ticket sales like? What is the entire metro area including suburbs? Hotels for players? It has to be worth MLB's time to mess with scheduling. Scheduling is why MLB pushed the A's to Las Vegas without a stadium.

[@michaelleroy9281]

​@@marco27c1For a minor league team and the College World Series

[@ChrisGtravels666]

It was never a good idea anyway. The Rays have been pretty consistently good the last several years, but can't even sell out a playoff game. It has to do with the location of the stadium, not just the quality of it. Put a new stadium in the actual geographic center of their fanbase, so people can get to it easier.

[@ericedwards3055]

People have been saying that for years but where? Ybor doesn't work. Not enough parking. The reason people "say" they don't go to games is the travel time. Well if there was light rail that got you from New Port Richey to the Trop in 30 min people would go.

[@GOCAPSDMV]

@@ericedwards3055 I know I’m a nationals fan, but as someone who lives in Land O Lakes I say Orlando. it attracts more visitors. It’s a rather nice place and there’s plenty of things to do…

[@bradkay]

I love it how the Rays have implied they're being betrayed by their "partners." They've never treated the city and county as partners. They've always looked at them as someone to exploit. Their arrogance was shown when they wouldn't even consider naming the team the St Pete Rays. Many people think the Rays are in Tampa. This might even include Sports illustrated. In a recent article about damage to the Trop they said Hurricane Milton made landfall 70 miles south of Tampa. Yes, Tampa. But the subject was damage to Tropicana which is about 35 miles from landfall. It isn't even 70 miles if you use the driving distance. That's 58.

[@tonygoochafanchi578]

The fault is completely at the feet of St Pete and Pinellas County for backing out of the deal by using the hurricanes as an excuse to delay the project

[@ericedwards3055]

God forbid they take care of their citizens and local small businesses first.

[@Shortwheels316]

Well St Pete shouldn't have delayed the Bonds in October!!! Don't blame the Rays blame the Dbag Commission and Milton!

[@ericedwards3055]

It's true😂

[@bradkay]

It should never have gotten to this point. Look at the change. The city is in a position of spending $400m to keep the Rays but a decade ago the Rays were willing to pay St Pete $40m to leave. One of the causes of this, former council member Wengay Newton, tried to get back on council and lost an election to an unqualified novice.

[@dancahill9585]

Let's face it, they'd be absurd to commit to St. Pete. If they want to stay in the general area, move to Tampa or if you don't, move to Charlotte or Nashville. The Rays' experience at the Trop has been a disaster, and a lot of that has to do with St. Pete and Pinellas county.

[@bradkay]

Blame us if you want. I'll take the blame if that's what it takes to get this money sucking baseball team off our payroll.

[@jamesmoses6092]

Please fix roof didn't you have insurance or was it someone else's?

[@danielbrazeau1680]

Now, it’s time to bring back the Expos!! They just removed the olympique stadium’s roof last summer. It’s possible to play there 3 years while they build a new stadium downtown ⚾️🍺🌭

[@MJC7283]

I love how they blame the team, but the city is the one that precipitated this. I hope Tampa comes in and steps up and makes St. Pete eat crow

[@funes4355]

we should blame the team, they want to advantage of taxpayer moneys to fund their stadium. st pete and tampa are suffering from these hurricanes that have ravaged the reason. i hope those snakes leave the state entirely, nobody cares about baseball in florida

[@bigleyfinancial]

Guess you've forgotten the great "Ybor City" plan that went nowhere

[@MJC7283]

@@bigleyfinancial new mayor in Tampa since they last tried to deal, possibly an opportunity for the rays since they are playing there for the foreseeable future.

[@JeffBezosIsSanta]

@@MJC7283actually castor was in there for the last one, but things could be different now. It will have to be private money in Tampa regardless.. doesn’t matter who mayor is.

[@MJC7283]

@ it was actually buckhorn who was in there when they couldn’t get a deal done with Tampa the last time.

[@irwinsaltzman979]

I am going to build a million dollar house . I will put down 100K and have the state and county float 900K of bonds. (NOT) If I was a billionaire and needed 1 billion dollar project the state and county would help me out using tax money.

[@JOELTILSON]

Idiots.

[@marko813FL]

they need to be on the tampa side- everybody knows this. lol the new stadium and plans in pinellas is a snooze fest

[@bradkay]

Not the people in Tampa who would have to spend the money. They had a chance and declined.

[@fldave612]

Trust there will be some 11th hour Hail Mary that will save day, there always is, get everyone in a panic then whoops, false alarm.

[@theblackhood4812]

Seems more like ownership wants out of St. Pete. I hope for Rays fans the team stays in Florida or actually moves to Tampa Bay.

[@bigleyfinancial]

Isn't St. Pete part of Tampa Bay???

[@ericedwards3055]

​@bigleyfinancial yup

[@bradkay]

I don't care where they go. I just want them to go. I'm a huge baseball fan. I live close enough to the Trop to walk there. The most games I've been to in a year is two. The average per year is 0.31. During the same time my average for spring training games is 1.38

[@ericedwards3055]

I say let them go. The bottom line is stu doesn't have the money to pay his share of the new stadium and fix the trop. I think they should move to orlando. They have the infrastructure to get people to and from the stadium. Stu has been searching for years for someone that will pay a lot of money to build him a new stadium and the opportunity was there. Milton crashed the party and the Rays are not being forthcoming. Aside from the owner I like the Rays.

[@bradkay]

"They have the infrastructure to get people to and from the stadium. " You've never driven in Orlando I guess.

[@ericedwards3055]

@bradkay yes i have all the time. I was just there over veterans day weekend. Yes traffic there is bad, but they're working on it. I enjoy the express lanes on i4. They have sunrail and brightline and they will connect soon. I don't think they'll move to Orlando because Orlando doesn't have a stadium built that works for the rays.

[@MIKELIN8]

Nashville Rays? Or change the team name?

[@bradkay]

In honor of the Tennessee whiskey industry they could name the team the Nashville Distillers. But distillers is too close to what the hometown fans call their football team in Pittsburgh.

[@jamiesweitzer8469]

i say sell the team to a Charlotte Baseball ownership group, headed up by Michael Jordan & relocate them to Charlotte under the renamed Charlotte Knights, in Truist Field in Uptown Charlotte!

[@jamesmay5860]

The Rays need to leave the Tampa area they do not support baseball there.

[@fldave612]

No, we just don't support subsidizing multi-billionaires with our tax dollars.