where will the rays shine brightest?
A couple of months ago, the Tampa Tribune revealed a wishful-thinking stadium design for the Devil Rays baseball team… Little did we know that, at the time, the franchise was secretly in talks with the city of St. Petersburg about getting out of Tropicana Field and into a new waterfront ballpark. That little news item leaked out on November 9th…
Today, the Devil Rays officially go public with their plans to replace Tropicana Field with a $450 Million ballpark on the St. Petersburg waterfront… But of course with all this new stadium talk, old rivalries get renewed and old questions get rehashed.
St. Pete or Tampa for instance. Or somewhere in between (another new stadium, another suggestion to float it in the bay).
Oh, there’s a lot more to talk about with regards to the new stadium than that silly little rivalry. Such as local officials conveniently withholding information about negotiations with the Rays until after the city council elections.
But for the sake of asking, where would you want the Rays to play?
Loading ...UPDATE — Renderings are up everywhere around the web but I will give you a link to one stop shopping of renderings of this new ballpark. I’m really left awestruck and dumbstruck by things.
Tags: baseball, city, government, marketing, moving, pinellas, sports, st pete
November 28th, 2007 at 11:49 am
By the way — I hope to keep this post updated today with information about the proposed new stadium and quotes from those who will be at the unveiling this afternoon.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
I enjoy going to St. Pete to see the Rays and I think many people who say it’s too far are just making excuses not to go. I used to leave from USF (Tampa campus) to go to games and the worst part of the drive to Tropicana Field is from downtown Tampa to the airport. It would take about an hour to get to the game, with 40 minutes of it spent on the east side of the bridge.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Perhaps the recent anemic voter turnout would have been a tad more robust had this issue been on the ballot, or at least discussed in the Sunshine, since millions in public dollars are at stake.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:10 am
Baseball BLOWS. I would love this stadium idea if it were any other sport…. even crickett.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Baseball Blows. I would love this idea if it were any other sport.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:12 am
What could possibly be more important than a new taxpayer-subsidized ballpark in St Petersburg?? Everything else is great, so why not?
November 29th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
We should ahve done long ago what other cities already have…built ALL of our sports complexes in a general area, easily accessible at crossroads in a region…ideal would have been where Ford Ampitheater is now. You have that, the fair, Hard Rock, etc, nestled between I-4, I-75, and US 301. Look at the Meadowlands, Cincy, Charlotte, etc.
Its ridiculous that our stadium, arena, and ball park are miles apart from one another, and not easy to get to (Dale Mabry traffic, downtown/Channelside small roads, and St. Pete’s 20+ mile trip from Tampa)
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I am glad you are raising the issue of location for the new stadium. Tampa or Orlando will have more support than Pinellas ever could have.
My favorite option would be to move major league regular season games to Disney World and keep spring training right where it is on Tampa Bay at Al Lang Field.
Find a new use for Tropicana but don’t tear it down before looking at every option for recycling the “old” building.