St. Advancements Stadium Case Study

Michael Allen Op-ed

St. Petersburg offers false hope in Ray’s stadium saga

The Tampa Bay Rays stadium took an unexpected twist on October 22nd when the St. Petersburg city council finally voted to allow the Rays to look for a new stadium site outside of Pinellas County.

The proposed deal on the table states if the Rays build a new ballpark inside city limits they pay no penalties, if they move elsewhere in Pinellas they would pay the city of St. Pete $18.5 million and if they head to the neighboring Hillsborough County the fee would double to $37 million. The Rays will most likely rejected the expensive proposal, prolonging the stadium saga.

The Rays have being trying for more than five years to look at potential stadium sites outside the …show more content…
(SB Nation)

The city of St. Petersburg’s has clung on to the Tampa Bay Rays forcing them to play in a poor location and stadium and if this continues the Ray’s owner Stuart Steinbrenner has publically stated he will sell the team and they will leave the Tampa Bay region.

The results of the proposed deal are only going to be further alienation of the Rays baseball and the delaying of redevelopment opportunities on the 85 acres of land Tropicana field currently resides on. Study after study shows that stadiums actually have very little impact on the local economy due in large part that they sit empty for a significant portion of the year. Tropicana Field was financed with a revenue bond that has since been completely paid off by a 1-penny tourist tax.

So the question is why is St. Petersburg being so difficult in letting the Rays look for nearby stadium sites if they have received their economic investment back in generated revenue and the attendance is struggling due to the stadiums location. If St. Petersburg truly has the Ray’s best interest at heart they would let them move to Hillsborough County without making them pay an exit

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