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Rays must pay to play on Tampa side of the Bay

Tribune file photo by JULIE BUSCH

St. Pete mayor Rick Baker has threatened legal action should the Rays move out of the city limits.

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 17, 2009

If Stu Sternberg wants a new stadium for his Tampa Bay Rays in Hillsborough County – and I suspect he does, although he'll never say it out loud – I say three things:

Welcome to Tampa, it's about time, and get out your wallet.

A modern, retractable-roof stadium will cost at least $600 million (probably much more) and the Rays should be prepared to pay most, if not all, of that cost. The public trough has been sucked dry here by sports owners and it won't be refilled. In my opinion, any attempt to float a tax increase of any kind to build a stadium will be met with ridicule and small-arms fire.

We're getting just a little ahead of things, though. It's interesting that an advisory committee of Bay area leaders is considering three Hillsborough sites and two in Pinellas as a future home for the Rays – all centrally located for the majority of area fans. The committee's overall message is that a new stadium needs to be in the center of the marketplace.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what we said 23 years ago when the St. Petersburg City Council and Pinellas County Commission rammed what is now Tropicana Field down the collective throat of its citizens? At least Raymond James Stadium in Tampa passed a voter referendum (although, to be fair, the Forum and the Yankees' spring training home were both products of political largesse).

In the days leading to the decision to build its stadium to attract a baseball team, Pinellas pols were told twice by high-ranking MLB officials not to proceed. George Steinbrenner, who said he was speaking for then-Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, gave a strong warning against building and was promptly dismissed as a Tampa puppet. A day later, Ueberroth reiterated that Steinbrenner indeed was speaking for him, but Pinellas ignored that, too.

That's how we ended up with an antiquated piece of junk, covered by Teflon and catwalks and built on a shoestring at the extreme end of the marketplace. That's why the Rays face a great dilemma now on how to draw consistent crowds despite having one of the best young teams in baseball.

But we digress …

I fully expect St. Pete officials to fight hard to keep the Rays within the city limits, but repeating a mistake would be dumber than the original decision to build there. It would be better to stay at Tropicana Field for another 10 years, if that's what it takes to get this thing done right, than to build in St. Pete again.

Sternberg said recently it will take the entire region to get this done, and he is correct. It must start with those same St. Pete politicians dropping any opposition to building in a better location. Mayor Rick Baker has rattled sabers whenever the idea is mentioned about the Rays moving out of the city limits. I suppose the notion of area-wide cooperation depends on who is being cooperated with.

The Rays have been playing ball since 1998 and every year someone in Pinellas complains that Hillsborough fans aren't showing up in large enough numbers. Ever notice how the weekend crowds at the Trop are just fine, though? That's because there's adequate time to get there and back. During the week, the thought of 40 miles of clogged, evening rush-hour roads from New Tampa, Brandon or Plant City is enough to drive fans to the high-def TV in their living room.

I love how Pinellas supporters ridicule that point. I've lost count of how many times I've heard how Pinellas fans drive to Ray-Jay (eight times a year, on Sunday afternoon), or how they must not be real baseball fans in Hillsborough because distance is not a problem in Boston or Chicago.

Well, it is a problem here and this is where the Rays call home. To deny the obvious is to guarantee another stadium screw-up. The fans have spoken and everyone needs to hear them. St. Petersburg residents surely showed how they felt by effectively killing a plan for a new downtown stadium there. It's time to move on.

A new home for the Rays won't happen quickly. I'd guess at least five years before anything will be finalized – much longer if the Rays come asking for tax dollars. Those who say the Trop is just fine should realize it will be a dilapidated dump by the time a new stadium is open for business.

It's time to talk about all this stuff now, while the Trop is still (sort of) viable. And talk we shall – probably until everyone is sick of it, and then we'll talk some more. At least the advisory committee has answered the most important question, outside of how to pay for all this. Build it where the people are.

Or don't build it at all.

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