Tampa Bay Rays not moving forward with new stadium plans

[Mike Honcho 5,089]

 

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The Tampa Bay Rays, citing hurricanes and costly delays, will not proceed with the development of a $1.3 billion baseball stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, principal owner Stuart Sternberg said Thursday.

The proposal to build the 30,000-seat stadium to replace outdated Tropicana Field as the signature piece in a $6.5 billion revitalization of the Historic Gas Plant District was met with excitement last summer when the team and public officials announced the deal.

Local government agencies had approved the sale of bonds to pay their share, but the Rays had until March 31 to meet specific conditions to gain public financing, including showing proof that they could meet their minimum $700 million obligation -- not including likely cost overruns -- toward the project.

 

So-what city is going to get a baseball team? 

[Maximum Overkill 1,739]

Probably because they only have 3 fans 

[Tree of Knowledge 1,697]

1 hour ago, Mike Honcho said:

 

So-what city is going to get a baseball team? 

Nashville or Portland.  

[TBayXXXVII 2,481]

In reading the whole article, it matches what I heard on the radio.  There's rumblings about that indicate the Rays ownership might be selling the team.  It's my guess that the current ownership doesn't want to spend any more money than they have to before they sell the team.

[Tree of Knowledge 1,697]

2 minutes ago, TBayXXXVII said:

In reading the whole article, it matches what I heard on the radio.  There's rumblings about that indicate the Rays ownership might be selling the team.  It's my guess that the current ownership doesn't want to spend any more money than they have to before they sell the team.

Fixing the old dome not going to happen?

[TBayXXXVII 2,481]

1 minute ago, Tree of Knowledge said:

Fixing the old dome not going to happen?

I think the issue was in reference to a new stadium.  I believe insurance is fixing the old one, so I don't think there's any money out of pocket on that front for the team or the city.

[Voltaire 5,181]

Wasn't it their stadium that received heavy damage in the hurricanes last year? One of those central Florida sports team got smashed, I could have sworn it was them.

[Mark Davis 338]

6 hours ago, Tree of Knowledge said:

Nashville or Portland.  

Nashville is dying for a team.  They've come a long way from the old days of Greer Stadium.  They used to be owned by a guy named Larry Schmittou who wanted to bring MLB to Nashville.  He used to get MLB teams to play games in Nashville on their way north from FL Spring Training.  He and the mayor had a long running feud so the city let Greer get into bad disrepair and appear much older than it really was.  Moving out of Greer and going back  to Sulphur Dell has made a big difference.

[seafoam1 2,799]

The Devil Rays have literally been drawing up plans for a new stadium since like 2004. I lived in St. Pete at the time. 

Get over it. Tropicana Field is the best place for that team in that volatile weather in the summer. Storms like mad at about 4-5pm daily with massive lightening, and then stays hot and turns into a sauna in subsequent hours. 

Daily occurrence in like July/August.  Plus, Tropicana Field is like the easiest in/out stadium in the big leagues. Oh no!! Ten minutes of traffic on 275? Whatever will I do??  Walk 15 minutes to downtown St. Pete and you'll be at 1st and 1st. 

Fans have been whining for years about nothing.