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Report: Tampa Bay Rays to display “Tampa Bay/Montreal” sign in outfield during MLB playoffs indicating plans for two home cities (UP: MLB kills plan)
- Thread starter ElectricBlanketFire
- Start date
they have a lease on that dump and agreement with the city until 2027
So dumb.
That being said, Tropicana Field is a shithole. And good on the city/region refusing to pay for a new arena when the owner could probably fund it himself.
That being said, Tropicana Field is a shithole. And good on the city/region refusing to pay for a new arena when the owner could probably fund it himself.
Granted, I guess given that they are doing so well and Tampa seems to be on the up as far as sports team performance, it's weird.
I have to think they will eventually move to Montreal for good eventually. Tampa Bay has an awful fanbase despite a decade of excellence.
Because they play in an absolute shithole and nobody wants to pay for a new stadium. The fact that they can't draw crowds despite perennially working magic with their roster is also a likely factor.
It seems like they want to start the season in Tampa when weather's still awful in Canada and then play the rest of the season in Montreal.
I'm from Tampa but haven't lived there in quite a few years. When I was there, the owner constantly complained about attendance in their St. Pete stadium and was trying to get out of the Rays' lease so they can move across the bay to Tampa where they think they'll do better attendance numbers. It was a real turnoff to hear that owner's constant whining and I'd imagine a lot of folks still in Tampa feel the same way.
On the other hand, people loved the Tampa Bay Lightning owner even before they won back-to-back Stanley Cups because he never complains and put his own money into improving the arena that they play in.
On the other hand, people loved the Tampa Bay Lightning owner even before they won back-to-back Stanley Cups because he never complains and put his own money into improving the arena that they play in.
I think the more direct cause is the owners can't get the city of St. Pete (where they currently play) or Tampa to buy a new stadium for them.
I wouldn't attend a game at the Trop either.
Ya, are players supposed to keep two apartments in two cities? Feels like a nightmare scenario. If you want to leave, leave.
Hopefully MLB (or the Rays) will be taking care of the tax hit to players, who are now going to lose a large chunk of games played in a state with no income taxes.
Maybe they need time to build a new stadium? Is Olympic Stadium still open?
Their current stadium is a dump and St Pete is a terrible location for fans to get to. Also plans for a new ballpark in Tampa have stalled for years.
Nor should they. Cities need to stop financing arenas for billionaires.
Pretty sure there is data that shows states without income taxes don't really come out ahead vs other states/areas. It's a great marketing tactic, but those taxes eventually come out in ways that aren't as obvious.
Also, nobody is going to be starving if they start taking a Canadian professional baseball salary. MLB shouldn't also have to subsidize an idiotic proposal by a cheap owner that doesn't want to invest in critical infrastructure for their team.
Are they going to be playing in the old Olympic Stadium?
They're trying to escape a dump of a ballpark by moving to an even older dump?
They're trying to escape a dump of a ballpark by moving to an even older dump?
As a new resident of Tampa, Tropicana field always looks like an abandoned stadium every time I pass it by on the way to the beach.
It can be both.
In 2019 the last year before covid. A year they finished with 96 wins they were second to last in attendance. https://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2019
Stu is a piece of shit carpetbagger who has zero interest in investing any of his own money in the team or the area, and never wanted to own the Rays in the first place. He wanted to buy the Mets but couldn't afford it, so he bought TB for dirt cheap. He doesn't live in the area, has Mets season tickets, and is in the bottom five of payroll in the league, which basically says it all. The Rays continue to win in spite of this piece of shit. It's basically the plot of Major League, except attendance doesn't go up when the team wins because they play in retirement home St. Petersburg. The retirees that do go to the games usually only go to support the visiting team from where they moved from, and the rest of the crowd is made up of people who are willing to fight up to two hours of traffic to cross the Bay from the Tampa side…which ain't a lot. That's the real problem, and always has been: the Trop's location. Nobody wants to sit in traffic, probably miss the first few innings, and watch the team live when they can just watch on tv and avoid the headache. You move that team to the Tampa side and there's no more attendance issue, period. But Stu refuses to spend any of his own money to have a new stadium built on the Tampa side, and wants the tax payers to take it all. So since the people refused, his alternative plan is to have two new stadiums built in St. Pete and Montreal so they can share? Literally go fuck yourself with a Brillo pad. Fuck you. Fuck off.
Well, they both have an A in their name and they're both about to home to the same baseball team.
Grew up the number 1 Expos fan in the Midwest, so anything that gets close to that would have me rooting for that team, no question.
94 still burns my soul every time I think about what could have been
94 still burns my soul every time I think about what could have been
Sure. But they were still playing in a dump. Also, if the fanbase is truly in Tampa, then traversing to St. Pete would normally be a traffic nightmare.
This is ultimately an owner that is throwing a fit because local government won't pay for a new stadium. Same old story as many other owners and potential relocations throughout sports.
OP
OP
They have wanted a new stadium for decades, but ownership wants the city to pay for it. These past few years they've been threatening to move to Montreal if they don't get a new stadium. In 2019 there were plans to maybe build a new ballpark in the Ybor area over in Tampa, but that fell through when, again, ownership didn't want to pay for it.
I've been a Rays fan since the beginning, but honestly fuck Sternberg. I'd rather they not leave, but I have no interest in my tax money going into a new stadium. If they end up bouncing then oh well.
Why does Montréal even want a baseball team still? Nobody except for old people watch baseball in Québec.
Peak Jeff Bagwell and the Astros would like a word.
This duel city thing is an attempt to play both cities off of each other to try and bait either city to build one.