The Rays spent money on the ABC Coalition? Maybe I'm wrong but I think they had nothing to do with that.
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The Rays spent money on the ABC Coalition? Maybe I'm wrong but I think they had nothing to do with that.
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Sorry you are right. I just remember them saying what I assume the owners wanted to hear.
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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the ulmerton rd. location is a shot in the dark, not much to it.
rayz want the eastern side of the bay hoping, praying that maybe they can draw more from orlando - fannies in the seats and more importantly - corporate $$$'s. individuals don't rent suites and "party" areas. the only area for the rayz possible financial growth is from that area.
even at the end of the howard, those east of tampa won't come and spend.
the rayz want off the peninsula, but there's that darn lease...
Last edited by Paul W; 08-19-2012 at 10:49 PM.
the turd in the punchbowl
reality really sucks.
enjoy the game more...
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I live in Ocala fl.....Iam from NY 6 years ago. Watching the cheap politicians in Fla, which by the way are good at lining their own pockets...I have come to the conclusion watching the Yankees playing in the trop in front of a half empty ballpark...which by the way causes my YES network broadcast to be blocked out..................that MLB should tell St Pete good bye.....move the Rays out of Fla....no loss to me.....Florida is too cheap to support MLB.........JUST LEAVE.......Las Vegas? whatever....enough with these cheap cheesy people down here....and they wonder why their economy suks.................
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Half the population in St Pete is in bed by 8pm....all they care about is holding the Rays there so their cheap cheesy tax rate stays low.........just leave them........let the trop rot...............
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Stay in Ocala, chief. What's in Ocala besides boiled peanuts on the side of the road?? Enjoy three varieties of boiled nuts pal.
Look. It's past 8. And the Rays are are making the Yankees look as crappy as the Trop. The roof will be glowing orange by the end of the night, just like every Rays win since '98!
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17000 attendance in a pennant race...lol....what a joke.......
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Originally Posted by knight
You know the Interstate runs both ways.
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The rays aren't trying to appeal to transplants who think they know everything while sitting at home, they are trying to get home grown fans that will make generations of fans.
As for the low attendence there is a big fact we need to look and find a real solution if we want the rays attendence to go up. The lightning in the same situation (playoff push team) average 18,468 in an areana that seas 19,204 making it 96.2% full on average in a city that hasn't seen snow in 30 years while the rays sit at 20,020 on average or 58.8% full in a stadium that sits 34,078 in a city famous for baseball stars. Is it downtown location, is it a young franchise, is it hearbreaks from the previous owners, is it baseball is too long of a seson, what is 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.
Good Grief.
Is the team making money?
You bet.
So what's the problem?
8 17 14 31 37 41 42
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I love this line.
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I just don't understand why the Rays would be talking $600-$700 million. I doesn't seem like it needs to be that high in this market. We're only talking 35,000 seats. Look what Omaha built for $130 million for the College World Series.
Park.jpg
CreightonNUGame.jpg
It has 24,500 seats and 30 luxury suites, which seems like the deal of the century compared to some of the other parks that have been built. It seems like the Rays could get into something pretty decent for a $250-300 million range. If the Rays are willing to chip in $150 million, and the sale of the Trop site is valued at another $50 million, that would get them most of the way there.
19.jpg
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Two things. The rays wnt a retractable roof. Land is more expensive in Florida than the places you mentioned.
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I love that Omaha stadium by the way. So good thinking on your part
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I love Omaha so much and I really think if they wanted too they could find a way to get a good overhang like a European soccer stadium so that people are not directly in the sun. The problem is Tampa is like Houston its muggy and humid more so than it is hot, so I think as Nick says the owners really want retracting.
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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there's a lot more to mlb mallparks than the bare-bones setup in omaha. movable roofs add $200-300M to cost.
what you show wouldn't fit in the space available at al lang and the existing parking shown wouldn't be able to accommodate even the luxury-boxers. btw - the field angle shown would be murder for day games.
the turd in the punchbowl
reality really sucks.
enjoy the game more...
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How many rainouts would Tampa/St. Pete get with an open air park? I know Tampa has a lot of summer rain. The original Al Lang site proposal had a retractable fabric roof to prevent rainouts but it was still open air, so no A/C. The Rangers are 3rd in MLB attendance in an open air stadium during a year when it was hot as hell. Field angle is center field northeast of home plate as the MLB code suggests. I just can't see a retractable roof being worth the investment in Tampa Bay unless maybe it just rains so much that you'd never be able to play in June-August.
Other reasonably priced stadiums more recently constructed ( in 2012 $ )-
Camden Yards - $171 million 48,000 seats
Cardinal Stadium (Louisville Football) - $89 million 42,000 seats
Brighthouse Networks Stadium (UCF Football) - $47 million 45,000 seats
Stanford Stadium (Football) $90 million 50,000 seats
Gerald R. Ford Stadium (SMU Football) $56 million 32,000 seats
Louisville's Stadium is pretty nice; UCF and Stanford's Stadiums are pretty bare bones. I couldn't believe Camden Yards was only $105 million when it was built. University of Minnesota (50,000 seats) and California-Berkeley (63,000 seats) have big, brand new football stadiums in at around $300 million, with lots of club seating and suites in both buildings. I know that the Rays want a nice, big, expensive, shiny ballpark, but looking at some of the other newer college stadiums, they could have 90% of what they want for 50% of the price. The ballpark I drew up would have just one main concourse, one club/suite level, etc.
New Rays Stadium
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Shultze. I think you bring some excellent points to the table. The number of rainouts would not be extraordinary. But, it isn't just the rainouts that the roof guards against. It also guards against the threat of rain. The Marlins dealt with this in Joe Robbie. People in South Dade would see the threat of rain, and opt out of driving to the county line for a game. The Rays would be victims to this sort of thing without a roof. For those of us born and raised in this state we are good at anticipating brief showers. But this is a transient state, and when thunderstorms loom it drives away the newer people. There have been many a Marlins game I attended at Joe Robbie when at 5 pm I looked out the office window at ominous thunderstorms and stayed the course to the stadium, where I found a clear sky for first pitch. Texas has the heat as you pointed out. But heat doesn't delay games. The Rangers do a good job with letting people bring a cooler into the stadium to deal with the heat.
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The rain goes like this:
http://www.rssweather.com/climate/Florida/Tampa/
I don't mind the rain because it is usually a 5 to 15 min rainstorm every day in the summer and its usually at between 4-6 P.M. so its not a huge threat for rainouts. It does cause humidity, and the fear of excess sweat from people might be the difference between no roof and a retractable roof.
I have not been to all of the stadiums schulzte named, but I can tell you I have been to UCF's football stadium and the cheap price shows. The entire stadium shakes from lack of reenforcement and it is all one section no upper concourses, let alone no open concourses. I don't doubt that we could build a cheap stadium like the bucs and lightining did, but it might be tough these days.
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.
it's the Juggernaut B****
There is, and here's the license plate of the future Rays owners and players:
http://www.customlicenseplates.com/c...bec2larger.jpg
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hahahahahaha, good one,....... I wish
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I would love it. But for reasons amply explained on several threads on this board, there is zero chance of it happening.
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A lot of people forget how hard it is to relocate a team this day and age. St Pete knows this better than anyone.
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How true. Ask the Florida White Sox, expansion Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Giants.
Last edited by The Old Ballpark; 09-15-2012 at 06:45 PM.
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Ask BC Canada who built a major league ready stadium when the Canadian boom was going on and got nothing. Has anyone else ever gone through with a major league ready park but got nothing on it? I know I have seen ideas for Portland and Va, but neither was built.
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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