But here the team negotiated with the city an almost ironclad lease that lasts until 2027. From a baseball perspective it’s a dump, and it hurts attendance in what is already a marginal market.

But so what? The city has every right to insist on what they legally bargained for. The city holds all the cards here, at least for the next decade or so. So it would be crazy for St. Pete to accommodate the Rays desire to move unless the Sternberg can make the city financially whole, which he isn’t willing to do.

So… Stu had no idea about this “miserable stadium situation” before he bought the team? So far the main folks thinking it is a “miserable stadium situation” are Uncle Bud Selig, Stu and the Rays management and now – Craig Calcaterra is on the band wagon too. I think Stu intended to try and railroad the Tampa Bay area into giving him a new stadium all along; thing is, tax payers here – Hillsborough or Pinellas county – are not ready to give it up for MLB just because Uncle Bud Selig, Stu and now Craig think we should.

Evidence – look no further than the new “Blow Hole” that was built in Miami. Then there is the lingering feeling from the last stadium built here when billionaire Glazers “held up” the Tampa taxpayers to build Jesse James Stadium for the Bucs. There’s a new arena too – whatever the name of it is this week – that the Tampa tax payers are on the hook for too.

I love the Rays and the Trop, to me there is no need for a new baseball stadium when the existing one is working just fine. Putting a new stadium in Tampa or any where else will not guarantee the fans will show up. It will guarantee that the traffic to get to the games, especially during the week in Tampa, will be worse than the current drive to the Trop. Looking at Miami’s new “Blow Hole” experiment, all that happened down there is a greedy baseball owner and crooked baseball commissioner got together and took the Miami tax payers to the cleaners. Now they have a new ball park that has no where to park, is hard to get to and will have a triple A product on the field this year. It has not made a difference! Still, no one – like when the Blow Fish played at whatever Joe Robbie Stadium is named this week – goes to the Blow Fish games EVEN THOUGH it’s a brand new stadium.

If Stu wants a new stadium in the Tampa area – he should get it the old fashioned way – use his own money (along with Uncle Bud’s and Craig’s) to BUILD IT HIMSELF!

http://www.builditdowntowntampa.org/