TAMPA BAY RAYS STADIUM UPDATE! Get ready to watch some fighting!

4 comments

1. The Rays should be forced to stay in Tampa because that will solve the funding gap. Either you cease to be a team or you figure it out.

2. If the Rays needed any bigger of a sign that the need to leave St Pete then I don't know what to tell them.

   I'm no fan of municipal funding of billion dollar stadiums. But the fact remains that as long as there are locations willing to spend money to attract someone else's franchise then the local and state governments are going to need to "partner with" their existing franchises.

   In short, if you don't want to make your franchise happy then don't expect them to stay when somewhere else is willing to make them happy.

   And the saga with the Rays, St Pete, and the Trop is nothing new. This has been going on for DECADES (yes, plural). The location is bad and the facility is bad. Building a new stadium in a bad location doesn't fix the problem. And St Pete / Pinellas County getting pissy because the Rays needed to cross the Bay back into Tampa to find a semi-suitable temporary home.

   It's hard to have sympathy for a multi-billion dollar sports franchise, but I am actually on the Rays' side.

3. How can Baseball expand when some teams can’t even find a stadium to play in? This is ridiculous. All of these debacles fall squarely on the shoulders of MLB. All of the owners have been vetted to make sure they have the money to keep the team running. You can’t blame the customers if the restaurant closes and moves.

4. I hope they stay in St. Pete or go to Tampa. Don't become the east coast Oakland A's.