Tampa Bay Rays: Pros and Cons of a Sister-City – How we got Here

With Tampa Bay Rays ownership’s search for a solution in the news, we take a look at what is wrong with Tropicana Field and why a sister-city proposal is a viable option.

The Tampa Bay Rays are on an island when it comes to dollars-paid-per-win. Their front office executives are being poached by big-market teams around the league. You could make an argument that the Rays are the smartest team in baseball. They consistently put forth a competitive team in one of the most difficult divisions in the league. Despite being a contender, and doing well with television ratings, the fans just aren’t showing up to the ballpark.

Why won’t the fans come out to the ballpark? There are plenty of excuses, but one definitely has to do with the location of the stadium. While they may be on an island when it comes to analytics and front-office acumen, their stadium might as well be located on an island.

Here’s what Matt Trueblood of Bleacher Report had to say about Tropicana Field back in January of 2012.

Unfortunately, the Rays have the worst home park in MLB to which to draw those folks. It’s an absolute dump. It’s horribly located, poorly lit, utterly lacking in both charm and intelligent design.

In April of 2016, USA Today ran a piece ranking every stadium in Major League Baseball. Tropicana Field earned the 30th spot on the list. In a story titled, Tropicana Field: All Dome and Gloom, Joe Mock points out that despite budgetary constraints, the Rays are able to put forth a winning ballclub in the AL East, and yet…they have the worst attendance in the league. Where are the fans? Is this not America? Do we not show up for baseball, let alone a competitive baseball team?

The article discusses what many fans reading this already know, the stadium is in a terrible location. First of all, it’s about 20 miles away from the most populated segment of the Tampa Bay area. Three bridges separate Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, and it’s asking a lot for the bulk of the fans to make the trek on a weekday. It can easily equate to two hours (or more) of round-trip travel time to see a three-hour baseball game.

Like other densely populated cities, traffic can be bad. It can take a while to navigate whether you are in Houston, Atlanta, New York City, or (insert name of city). What makes St. Pete different? There is no mass transit infrastructure and the population is separated by water and bridges.

In June of 2011, John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times reported at the Tampa Bay Sports Commission’s inaugural Sneaker Soiree, Rays’ owner, Stu Sternberg was asked to discuss something he learned that he was unaware of when he purchased the franchise.

“Water is a big divide.”

Lesson learned.

As we know, the Rays appear to be deadset on moving half of the team’s home games to Montreal. Ideally, Rays’ fans would like to see them just move closer to the center of their fanbase’s population, like in Tampa Bay…

As the tension grows between the city of St. Petersburg and Rays’ owner, Stuart Sternberg, it seems very unlikely the Rays will have anything to do with the St. Pete in 2028. However, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor met with Rays’ officials on Monday to discuss a plan to move the Rays to Tampa.

Mayor Castor is open to the idea of letting the Rays play half of their games in Montreal. It’s a concession the Rays are forcing upon the city under the threat of “share or you don’t get any.” 

Why Sister-City Plan Makes Sense for the Rays

Rays President Brian Auld said after the meeting with Tampa officials,

“We’ve come up with a way to nearly double our revenue streams by bringing in another market.”

Here’s how the Sister-City plan should increase revenue:

1. The 2019 Nielsen DMA ratings reveal that Tampa Bay is the 11th largest designated market area in the country, just behind Atlanta and Boston.
2. Montreal’s TV market will give the Rays two massive tv deals.
3. Split home games should – in theory – increase demand and give attendance a bump in both places, thus raising overall attendance numbers.

The illogicality of sharing Rays with Canada

1. Veteran Free Agents are not going to live in two countries during the season. Star players from across the league spoke out against the idea during last year’s all-star break.
2. The Players’ Union should have something to say about the Rays forcing all of their $500,000/year players to finance two homes in two countries. Not every major leaguer is able to parlay their league-minimum salary into a multi-million dollar contract. These kids need to save every dollar they can. It would be a distinct disadvantage for a player matriculating through the Rays’ system compared to other organizations.
3. The disruption. One of the main points brought up by the players is the disruption of moving your family to another country and all that goes into moving, all while you are attempting to focus on playing baseball at the most elite level in the world.

It should be interesting to follow the developments in this story. The Rays will either move to Tampa full time, move to another city full time, or go forward with the split-city idea. For now, it’s time to focus on the actual playing of baseball, but Rays’ fans will be keeping their eyes peeled for more news regarding the future of their team.

Rays’ ownership appears to have their eyes focused on reaping the revenue that will come from two TV contracts. The only thing they have to lose is fans.

Pitchers and catchers report tomorrow.