An Open Letter to John Romano and the Tampa Bay Times About the Rays Stadium Situation (In Addendum)

“Noting that the Rays are the first team to win 90 games and be last in attendance. John Romano looks anew at stadium issue.”

-Topkin

Marc Topkin’s tweet (above) was a glaring segue into a piece in the Times titled, If we accept reality, there might be a win-win in Tampa Bay Rays stadium saga.

I’ve gotta hand it to the Times, they never cease to bang the drum for a new facility in Tampa which, apparently, is the only logical solution to the Rays attendance problem.

I think most people would agree the Rays deserve a new stadium. The Trop has seen better days. However, I’m just still not convinced that downtown Tampa is any better than downtown St. Pete. And to be fair, I think everyone should be questioning this assumption. The question begs, is there another location in the area that would be suitable? I’d say yes.

Consider that the Lightning sold-out half their games last season (granted they have a 19,000 seat facility) and the Bucs have had a hard time filling RayJa to even 85% capacity. Mind you, it’s far easier to fill a smaller facility, (the Times Forum) so perhaps the Lightning aren’t the best example. However, what excuses can be made for the Bucs not being able to fill their facility?

There are only eight home games at RayJa, and it wasn’t even half filled yesterday. The Bucs haven’t sold out a game this season, including their home opener. Consider too, attendance at RayJa has steadily dropped since 2008; from 64,511 per game to 52,074. The Bucs are now dead last in attendance, and have consistently been toward the very bottom in attendance since 2008. That is not very convincing evidence that Tampa would be any better suited to house another professional franchise, much less one that whose schedule bleeds into both football and hockey season. Rather, it’s fairly damming evidence to say the least. If Tampa can’t fully support a professional football team that only plays eight home games in a season, how can they also support a baseball team that hosts 81 games? I don’t know the answer to that either!

I also don’t know what to make of Sternberg’s request for a clause in their current contract with the city, I’m still working that out. Though in the end, he has a right to request whatever may be best for his team. Part of me feels that there has to be some common ground between the city and the Rays organization, and the cities wanton desire to haggle over the terms of his request is reasonable. After all, how else can that common ground be found. But before the reporters at the Times wholly throw their support toward the idea, that there is one (and only one) solution to the stadium situation, perhaps they should look at things objectively. You know, seek out the same common ground that was mentioned above.

Again the Rays undoubtedly deserve better. But it seems unreasonable for Romano and the Times to err in the direction of one plan, while discounting something that could be better or more feasible.

I for one am tired of being tagged by the unofficial mouthpiece of the Rays organization, (ahem, the Times) and any other local or national media outlet, as being a bunch of yokels that are standing between the Rays and progress. I think it’s fair to criticize the arguments for a facility in any area, not just downtown Tampa. And yes, including Carilon. See, that’s how large scale projects work.

If anyone from the Times may be reading this, please know that there is a huge faction of us that realize the Trop is inadequate. We too want more for the Rays. But don’t shove the idea that there is one (and only one) solution to the problem down our collective throats. Because you are sadly mistaken.