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Well the Rays Franchise was awarded in 95 and took the field in 98 so they probably could have built a stadium in that span of time if the funding was lined up prior to the franchise being awarded. Raymond James was built in less than 2 years (broke ground October 96 opened september 98). Also, the old Tampa stadium didn't get torn down until 99, so they could have carved up space for a baseball field for a year.Originally Posted by PeteU
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That was kind of my original thought because clearly arizona got a stadium built in time, but I didn't know if az started construction before or after they knew they would get a team.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.
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St. Pete is not an hour away from Tampa. Please stop lying to these people. St. Pete is 15 minutes away from Tampa.
Thank you.
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Sorry from north Tampa its an hour away, I appologize.
Edit: I just did a google map from my address in New Tampa and I go this message:
Directions to Tropicana Field
1 Tropicana Dr, St. Petersburg, FL 33705-1703 - (888) 326-7297
43.5 mi – about 51 mins
That is without gameday traffic.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.
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They started in November of 95. In places like AZ and Tampa the construction time is shorter because you don't have winter delays. St Pete built theirs in advance because they figured they would have to have something ready in case someone relocated. Not sure why Tampa Stadium couldn't have been converted for 2-3 years if someone like the Giants did in fact move
According to this article the bonds stood at $80 million in 09 and decline $12 million a year there after which points to 2015-2016 as when they are paid off.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politic...to-say/1037488
After that depending on what the economy does it may be better for the city if the team left and they could redevelop the land.
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Does it really take 6-8 years to get a stadium together? I don't remember taking as long as that article says? I did notice they didn't get the Tampa Mayor's opinion, that's probably because last I heard he wanted to make bringing the rays to Tampa one of his top priorities. That is a lot of money to spend to break it though, so I hope they work it out!
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.
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Horse crap lol It takes me two hours to get to a game and i live 45mins from the Airport in Tampa. Tropicana is at the end of 275 in St.Pete.
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That doesn't look like Tropicana Today. its missing the huge Scoreboard in Right Field.I posted this picture on another thread, but I think it deserves its own. I came across a picture of the Florida Suncoast Dome, which was renamed Tropicana Field in 1998 when the Rays started their franchise.
I'm not sure of the date of this picture, but it is definitely long before the Rays started play, and most likely before the Tampa Bay Lightning played there for several years as well. This set up is probably what the Tampa Bay Giants would have played in 1993 if the move from San Francisco wasn't blocked. If you look carefully, you can see the spots where the dirt cutout sliding pits would be on the field--note that when the Rays came to town, they went with the traditional dirt base path infield.
Now take a look at how Tropicana Field looks today:
Besides the added billaboards and scoreboards, there is also the Beach deck in left field which was added on in 1998. There is also the centerfield restaraunt where presumably that space was empty previously. Also note that there are more infield seats, which makes the foul territory a lot smaller. And the assymetrical field dimensions probably wouldn't have existed had the Giants moved there in 1993.
I think no matter what criticisms you may have about the Trop, it still is a lot nicer and livelier than what it could have been.
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Game three of the ALDS in 2011 Went with a buddy of mine.
Hang Wiff'um
From June of 2010 vs. Blue Jays
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If you live 45 minutes from TIA then I'm guessing you don't live within Tampa city limits. Folks living in South Tampa can actually get to Tropicana Field just as fast if not faster by taking the Gandy to 4th street. Also, I-275 terminates in Bradenton, so no Tropicana Field is not at the end of I-275.
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No i live in Pasco county
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That's not really the point, the point is the location of hte trop is too far from a large majority of people who would go to games on a regular basis and spend money.
My parents who are upper middle class people who have money to spend at the park live in the old carrollwood northdale area, a place that has about 4 high schools of 2,000 plus students about 10-15 minutes away from their house in each direction (showing how big of an area they live in) are 40 minutes away on google maps without game day traiffic. My parents love baseball, my brother played all the way up to college, and they watch the rays on tv all the time; but say they won't go to the game because of the hastle of the drive and lack of on site parking or local businesses willing to let you park.
Until St. Pete stops making excuses about why this stadium can work when clearly it isn't then nothing will change. Find a realitic mass transit idea to make up for the lack of parking, add more parking, or don't expect people to come any more often then they already do.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.
Come see what's Brewin'
So if Tampa fans can't drive an hour to St. Pete, how can Cub fans drive 90 minutes to Milwaukee?
"Shake it off. That's part of the game, you know. Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and a shot in the mask." - Bob Uecker.
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The same reason I have driven to Miami and Atlanta for the weekend to go see games there. Its fun to go to an away game if your a big fan.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.
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This back and forth started with some guy saying that Tampa is over an hour from St Pete. The matter of population centers in the Bay Area wasn't the root of these comments. If the stadium were in Tampa and Pinellas residents didn't pull their weight, attendance would still be poor. Its a community effort.
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I personally belief that a lot if not most people in Tampa live an hour away from the stadium in game day traffic and sell out game traffic makes that journey even longer.
I don't think the swing would be the same, if Tampa had a stadium you would see more people over all go to games even if Pinellas numbers drop. That's just my personal opinion based on watching years of sell outs for the bucs as a kid and seeing years of fans going to Tampa Yankee games because its closer.
My personal issue is that St. Pete does nothing to fix the problem, they obviously realize there is an attendance issue but yet they do nothing to help it, so why does a town who wont help their own cause deserve the baseball stadium?
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.
lol sup yo
Aside from the fact that Miller Park is a WAY nicer park than the Trop?
Personally if the Rays played in a stadium like Miller, I would make more of an effort to go.
"Obviously, no one wants to fail. But who's to say that failure's not a good thing masked in the wisdom that you can't see at that point? I just try to look at the positive." - Khalil Greene
Good Grief.
Because they aren't doing it 81 times a year.
8 17 14 31 37 41 42
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Ding. We have a winner.
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My personal belief is that the ideal stadium location is being occupied by the New York Yankees. Shows how much Tampa loves the Rays.
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I like downtown better for the atmosphere since most baseball games are at night and you have the restaurants and bars close by. I think the legends field area is just better for being in the middle for everyone, but its a very bland area.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.
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I hope if they build a stadium downtown they use that unique concrete and glass that you see in some of the stuff in that area like:
channelside.jpg
The Aquarium
towers.jpg
The new condos built downtown
southtransplaza1.jpg
The Trolly Stations
channelside4marriott.jpg
The Marriot
channelside4icepalace.jpg
and of course the Ice Palace that would be across the street from it.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.
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My parents bought me Season tickets for Christmas this year i am so excited.
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Reading between the lines from your editorial here it would seem that you feel that St Pete should let the Rays walk away in order to "fix the problem". That makes no sense whatsoever. As for "deserving" a team, go ask Major League Baseball. They awarded a franchise to St Pete, something Tampa failed to achieve in their unilateral efforts to land a franchise in the 80s. Bill Foster isn't the perfect Mayor by any stretch but he's certainly taking his job more seriously than Carlos Alvarez did in Miami. Alvarez's behavior got him ousted as Mayor.
Re: years of sellouts for the Bucs, do you not think that Pinellas County residents were at those games? I think you are grossly understating the importance of Pinellas County to the fabric of the community. You're also missing the points that those sellouts didn't start until 1998 (when Raymond James opened and the Glazers required a ten year seat deposit committment). Not coincidentally those sellouts ended in 2008 when people refused to recommitt another ten years
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