Will the Rays Stay in Tampa Past 2014?

[DColts]

http://blogs.forbes.com/mikeozanian/...mpa-bay-rays/#

The hell?

[Ramp]

lol nope

[Todd]

They would be moved before contraction.

Not many cities left to move to though(Oklahoma City, Louisville, Nashville, Las Vegas, Memphis, Portland, Norfolk?).

[CrimsonCane]

- Louisville encroaches on St. Louis and Cincinnati markets.
- Nashville is Braves territory.
- Memphis and OKC are too small.
- Norfolk is way too close to DC (which is a nascent franchise). You'd largely disrupt any attempt at building a Nationals fan base.
- Portland is the only city that might be possible demographically, but they're less than a 3 hr drive from Seattle. I can't imagine Mariners ownership would be too thrilled.
- I doubt old-timey MLB is going to be the first professional sports league to put a franchise in Las Vegas.

[Beef]

I think Seattle has the largest geographical market in all of baseball

[CrimsonCane]

Yea. It's huge.

[Todd]

No market will be perfect. Any new team or relocated one will have to be shoehorned in somewhere.

Evansville gets St. Louis, both Chicago teams, and Cincinnati games. Kind of a baseball nexus of the universe.

[DColts]

I think Raleigh would be a good city for the Rays.

[Todd]

I forgot about Charlotte.

[Party]

IF contraction is one the table it would be Tampa Bay and Oakland. The committee Selig appointed to study the viability of a move to San Jose has been 'studying' the issue for over 2 years. That is code for 'ain't gonna happen.' Paying off the Giants + privately financing a ballpark + land has made that not viable. With that said, we are a long way from contraction. The Athletics are going to figure something out in the Bay Area and Tampa isn't losing the league millions of dollars.

There really isn't that slam dunk market out there at this point.

San Antonio will probably be the next ML city. Texas is big enough for another team without seriously encroaching on Rangers/Astros territory. The biggest question mark is whether San Antonio has enough $$$ concentrated in its metro area to sustain a team.

The Mariners would take issue, but that isn't going to stop MLB from putting a team in Portland eventually. Right now there is no real movement on the ground to a) finance a ballpark, b) move a team to Portland. Most importantly, at this point is moving a team to Portland really an upgrade? At best it's a lateral move for at least another decade.

Riverside has been talked about before, but it would take a huge chunk out of what little territory the Padres already have.

New Jersey/Brooklyn is a possibility but the pay-off to the Yankees and Mets would be enormous. I think baseball would be crazy not to put another team in there eventually. It is such a great baseball market and there is already a historical division between Brooklyn and NYC (not just in terms of baseball).

Las Vegas can't get it's funding straight on an arena. All the casinos on the strip are lobbying to amend the state constitution in order to ban tax districts Caesar's Ent. has proposed to pay for an arena. I don't think MLB is going to shy away from Las Vegas if it makes sense. We're in the age of Bud Selig. But there are a ton of questions about what kind of support the team will receive.

Montreal has the disposable income, but that isn't going to happen for another 10 years at least-- ground is still scorched.

In the end, I think MLB will stay in Tampa. It's a mid market and while there is not the disposable income to support 3 pro-teams, a ballpark in downtown Tampa easily makes the Rays the #2 team and crowds out the Lightning in the long run.

[Chewford]

I don't see the excuse they have in Tampa for not going to the games. They have a stadium with a roof, reasonable ticket prices (more affordable than a Marlins game, and there's offsite places to park for cheap), and a pretty exciting, talented team. If they aren't coming to the games now, I don't see that changing unless Mon Venus opens up a second location at the Trop.

[Party]

No one lives in St. Pete and Tampa is a considerable distance away.
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Scratch that, no one willing to drop $5,000 on season tickets lives in St. Pete.

[Chewford]

I suppose the drive from Tampa to St. Pete seemed shorter since I was just passing Tampa on the way from Orlando, but it does appear to be around 20 miles, and the traffic down 275 can be a nightmare so I see the validity of that argument.

[Fritz]

Tampa has pretty awesome ratings. I think if they put a stadium in the Channelside area or by the 1-800-Ask-Gary Ampitheater right off I-4, the team would probably draw 3-4,000 more per night. St. Pete is a bad area for a myriad of reasons, I hope the FO just tells St. Pete to go pound sand and just get a deal done with Tampa.

[Chewford]

It's really stupid they let the name be the 1-800-Ask-Gary Ampitheater. That location would be convenient for inland folk since one wouldn't have to drive through Tampa on 275 and across the bay etc., but a stadium more inside the city would be more successful.