The Tampa Bay Rays have been a successful small market team playing in the worst multipurpose stadium. Ownership has been trying to get a new public stadium deal for a long time. Talks between the sides has stalled, and commissioner Bud Selig is not happy about it.
But the Rays are stuck with a current lease that runs through 2027. The Rays have a hard time drawing fans and have the increasing expense of upkeeping a stadium built in 1990.
At the recent owners meeting Selig said he is considering
assigning someone from his office to become directly involved with the negotiations to build a new ballpark for the
Tampa Bay Rays.
The problem is that the city of St. Petersburg, the landlord for Tropicana Field, does not want to spend millions of dollars on a new stadium for a single purpose tenant like the Rays. And the city does not have to because it has an ironclad lease, and the threat of litigation if any other local city wants to try to lure the Rays to their town.
Every city in America should be skittish about funding new professional sports stadiums. The Miami Marlins got a sweetheart deal for their new digs, complete with all the new revenue streams owners salivate for, but the taxpayers got burned - - - and the team imploded into futility.
The Rays are a better run franchise. The Rays, with the
fourth-best record in the American League at 67-51, are last
in AL home attendance and next to last among the 30 Major League teams,
averaging 18,330 per game through their first 60 home games. That is a consistent problem throughout Florida: professional sports teams do not draw well, and not includes the championship Miami Heat.
But MLB puffs out its chest to help strong arm a new, favorable deal for its team owners. MLB believes that there is some god-given right for professional sports teams to have taxpayer paid first class facilities for their private business enterprise. There have been numerous economic studies done in regard to the impact of publicly financed stadiums in U.S. cities. The common result and finding is that taxpayers do not reap any benefits from these deals, while the pro sports teams have a major windfall.
When baseball was struggling after the last strike, there were calls against expansion. There was even talk of contraction (the elimination of teams). Ownership solved the small market problem by instituting revenue sharing, luxury taxes on large payroll teams, and league loan programs. But at some point, even small market teams have to make it on their own.
The Rays may be a model franchise in quality drafting, excellent development of talent, and keen trades of players too expensive to keep in exchange for more promising prospects. The Rays are competitive in the most competitive division in baseball, the AL East. But the road to a new, ownership friendly baseball stadium is going to be harder than beating the Yankees or Red Sox.
