Sports

Should Foster Let Rays Look in Tampa?

In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Mayor Bill Foster said it might be time to let the Rays look in Tampa for a new stadium.

In an candid interview with the Tampa Bay Times editorial board this week, Mayor Bill Foster said the Tampa Bay Rays should be allowed to look at stadium options outside of Pinellas County and in Hillsborough County. 

Citing continued poor attendance despite being one of the hottest teams in baseball, Foster said it is time for the Rays to look in Tampa so the area does not risk losing the team altogether. 

"If your goal is keeping the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa Bay until 2050, you have to let them look in Tampa," Foster told the Times.

In the past, Foster and city staff have held their ground in talks with the Rays about keeping the team in St. Petersburg at least until the team's lease is up at Tropicana Field in 2027. 

Foster's change in stance during his interview with the Times is a dramatic change from when he sent a letter to Rays ownership in October 2012:

"In light of the Rays obligation to the people of St. Petersburg to play 15 more major league seasons at Tropicana Field, I respectfully disagree that our exploration into this viable site in St. Petersburg would be 'incomplete and inconclusive.' There are reams of regional studies, transportation analysis and demographic data to provide you with all of the information necessary to evaluate the sustainability of a Gateway site. ...

At this point the only way to adequately preserve the interests of the people of St. Petersburg is to leave the use, management and operation agreement in tact, and the city will not agree, by affirmative act or acquiescence, to any stadium exercise outside of St. Petersburg or Pinellas Gateway."  

Last September, the city gave the Rays permission to look at a stadium proposal in the Gateway area of Pinellas, just west of the Howard Franklin Bridge. 

The Rays Park at Carillion was unveiled but not much happened after the presentation. Rays officials said they would to consider stadium options in St. Pete until they could look in Hillsborough. 

The Attendance

As of Aug. 5 games, the Tampa Bay Rays rank 29th out of 30 in average in attendance in Major League Baseball. Only the Miami Marlins average fewer fans per home game.

The Rays are averaging 18,476 fans a game. The Rays are one of only four teams in MLB to average fewer than 20,000 a game. 

During the past two All-Star breaks, the Rays attendance has come under fire from MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. 

"To study the attendance figures every day and see that they're 29th in attendance, it's inexcusable," Selig said in July 2012. "Nobody can defend that. This is a very competitive baseball team."

At this year's All-Star festivities, according to the Times, Selig echoed his own comments from the previous season. 

"There's no question there's a stadium problem," Selig said. "There's no debate about it. The question is what to do about it and when to do it and where, and those are conversations Mr. Sternberg and I will have.

"I have a very high level of frustration," Selig told the Times. "I think my patience is running as thin as his, if not more so."

We want to here from you, St. Petersburg! Do you think Foster should let the Rays look stadium options in Tampa? Do you think the Rays will be in the Tampa Bay area after 2027? 

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