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Don't Forget Downtown In Search For Rays' Digs

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 14, 2009

The future of the Tampa Bay Rays depends on more than skilled players. The team needs a new ballpark to replace the antiquated Tropicana Field. Selecting the right location is critical to the team's success.

Since the Rays reluctantly withdrew plans for a waterfront facility in downtown St. Petersburg a few months ago, a group headed by Progress Energy CEO Jeff Lyash has been scouting for locations.

The group, Baseball Community Coalition, recently received a big assist from the team with a detailed report that identified six other potential sites in addition to Al Lang Field, where the team had proposed building a 34,000-seat, open-air park with a huge sail-like roof that would act like a giant umbrella. That proposal sparked a lot of opposition from St. Pete residents.

Some people say the team should remain in Tropicana Field. That's not going to happen. The cavernous dome is considered one of the worst ballparks in the Major Leagues.

All the new sites either are in or close to St. Petersburg, which is of immense importance. St. Petersburg and Pinellas County officials worked very hard to land the Major League team nearly 14 years ago, and every effort should be made to keep the team there.

And of the seven sites identified in the report, four already are publicly owned, which would help taxpayers avoid paying exorbitant prices to private interests.

A 15-acre site in the Carillon Town Center development is especially appealing, even though it is privately owned. Located in the thriving Gateway Area within the city, the land, just off Interstate 275 and the Howard Frankland Bridge, is closer to Tampa than Tropicana Field. This bodes well for Hillsborough fans. The team needs to better tap that market.

But the strongest aspect of the Carillon property is that, according to the study, 1.2 million people live within a 30-minute drive - the largest number of people of any of the sites studied and twice as many as those that distance from Tropicana Field and Al Lang. The "Toytown" site owned by Pinellas County, another promising possibility, is next closest, with 1.7 million people.

The Carillon site has the capacity for more than 19,000 parking spaces, another big plus. Parking was identified as a stumbling block to the downtown ballpark

The report also lauds the site's "superior" access via major roads - another huge factor - and points to development potential that could result in a "mixed-use stadium community," further enhancing the experience for fans.

So decision-makers have some solid choices. But as the process continues, the community coalition and city and county officials shouldn't hesitate to reconsider Al Lang, which is owned by the city.

The Rays performed a detailed study of turning this 12-acre site into a $450 million ballpark with cooling features and spectacular views of the water, so they're ahead in the game as far as planning goes. Despite previous opposition and legitimate concerns about the heat, among other questions, the site should remain in the hunt for the economic benefit of the city.

Residents might come to appreciate the project's potential to turn downtown St. Petersburg into a vibrant destination, especially considering the proposal to raze Tropicana Field and convert it into a major mixed-use development. New ballparks have helped reenergize cities across the country, and a downtown park in St. Petersburg could bolster the economy, which is hurting because of the financial difficulties of the BayWalk entertainment complex.

The downtown location, it seems to us, is the most exciting. But public opposition and its distance from Hillsborough may make it unfeasible. That would be unfortunate but not a disaster.

The report answers the big question of whether other appropriate sites are available in a virtually built-out county. Now the community needs to settle on a site, work out the financial details and commit to a new ballpark - unless it doesn't mind waving goodbye to their pennant-winning team.

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