Since their inception, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have sucked ass. But now that the team has some talent, the smart fans realize the Rays have followed the business model set by the Bucs and Lightning; be absolutely terrible, get high draft picks, and then have a rich guy by the team. This model won the Bucs a Super Bowl and the Lightning a Stanley Cup. But Rays owner Stuart Sternberg doesn’t have a new stadium like those teams had, so now he’s hinting that he wants one.
The Rays aren’t moving to Orlando; they can barely support the Magic–and Tampa Bay is a much bigger market than Portland or Las Vegas. Of course, people here don’t get it. Sternberg wants to move the team to Tampa, not just to get out of that warehouse in dingy St. Pete, but for the health of the franchise.
Little League and high school baseball is huge in Tampa Bay. But the team is located at the bottom of the region, farthest away from the growing suburbs in north Tampa and east of the city. Tigers fans would never see the team play in Windsor and Indians fans wouldn’t go to Akron, so why the hell would we travel an hour on a Tuesday to St. Pete?
The barrier to a new stadium is taxes. Taxes built the Florida Suncoast Dome in 1990, which is now called Tropicana Field, and two different taxes built Raymond James Stadium and The Forum. In five–maybe ten–years Sternberg will ask Tampa to raise their taxes again, and we’ll do it. You know why? Because we want another championship, and they’ll get it in Tampa.
Posted by thesportingorange 