Where to relocate Tampa Bay Rays to?

[Painmantle]

Originally Posted by Kobie

The difference between Tampa and St. Petersburg is quite like the difference between chicken salad and chicken crap.

Exactly!

[Tram2Whitaker]

I would like to chime in on this Tampa/St. Pete debate. Having attended Rays games, I can tell you, that although it is not a bad neighborhood, getting to the Trop is a hell of a drive, and the site of the proposed waterfront stadium is worse; on the other hand, Raymond James is a straight shot, coming from Bradenton (where I lived), St. Pete, Tampa, Pasco County, or Orlando and Polk County, making it a better location overall. And there is Legends Field (Steinbrenner Stadium) in the middle of it all. A much better location IMO than Channel Side (Where TBT forum is), that all the local radio jocks suggest.

That being said, I think it's kind of sad when baseball "fans" don't attend games, because the stadium is 15 minutes out of the way. I think it would serve the Bay area right to lose their team; but Orlando is out of the question! First, you'll have pretty much the same problem (They don't even have a minor league team anymore). Second, an open air stadium would be hellish; 95 degrees with 95% humidity, and not even the slightest gulf breeze for relief? blah!

Also, I don't think it should go to Brooklyn. On one hand you're competing with the Mets and Yankees for fanbase. On the other, if fans in New York can't get enough from the Mets or Yankees, then screw them! There are entire regions that don't have major league or even minor league ball.

When I relocate teams, I have a list of cities that deserve a MLB franchise.
1. Portland - Now I know you want to keep them in the East, but really, Houston, and to a lesser extent Texas are really Central division teams, and Detroit is an Eastern division team
2. San Antonio
3. Nashville - The entire south is considered to be Atlanta Braves territory, and while this argument holds true for Charlotte, I lean towards Nashville due to its proximity to other moderately large cities (Knoxville and Chattanooga), and corporate base. More importantly, Nashville's football and Hockey teams are thriving as opposed to Charlotte losing the Hornets, and murmurs of them also losing the Bobcats, and the Panthers being mired in mediocrity due to the owners lack of investment.
4. Charlotte - in case things don't work out in Nashville
5. Vancouver - This is along the lines of Portland, but it never usually gets this far. From a rivalry standpoint, Seattle is 800 miles from its closest neighbor (Oakland), and so Portland @ 175 is better, Vancouver @ 140 is even better.

[r0nster]

I know the difference between Tampa and St Petersburg hence I live in Florida and I know the layout of each city. Its no big deal.

In all seriousness and in real life I gotta wonder where would two new teams come from for the BIGs??? From what I heard Portland was a solid choice but MLB has stated a few years back they don't want to infringe on minor league attendance. They also Suggested San Antonio as well. MLB even toyed one year with the thought of having a team in Las Vegas. However they turned that down when the local minor league team renovated their new park.

I would love to see 2 new teams come to the forefront. It will be interesting to say the least as to what happens and who they choose IF any.

[elfsutton]

You should move them to Puerto Rico and call them the Rum Runners, would be a great place to play. Think of the marketing, could get a lot of visitors there and make lots of money with that move

[Kronos]

Originally Posted by r0nster

I know the difference between Tampa and St Petersburg hence I live in Florida and I know the layout of each city. Its no big deal.

In all seriousness and in real life I gotta wonder where would two new teams come from for the BIGs??? From what I heard Portland was a solid choice but MLB has stated a few years back they don't want to infringe on minor league attendance. They also Suggested San Antonio as well. MLB even toyed one year with the thought of having a team in Las Vegas. However they turned that down when the local minor league team renovated their new park.

I would love to see 2 new teams come to the forefront. It will be interesting to say the least as to what happens and who they choose IF any.

That won't be a problem for Portland anymore, they lost their minor league team yet again.

[BCStone]

Relocate to Memphis and name them the Chicks.

[BCStone]

Or the Memphis Tams who were owned by Charlie Finley..
To accentuate the "new" direction of the team, Finley held a special contest to find a better team nickname. Over 20,000 postcards were received during the course of the contest. The winner collected a $2,500 prize for coming up with the dubious nickname, "TAMS." Finley thought the new nickname was appropriate because the Memphis franchise supposedly had fans in [T]ennessee, [A]rkansas, and [M]ississippi. Finley wasted no time in making the Tams the most "colorful" team in the league. The logo of the team became a strange green, white, and gold tam-o-shanter (above). The colors were meant to mimic the colors of the Oakland A's (and the NHL Golden Seals) - Finley wanted a consistent image for his sports "empire," even though the Tams were several thousand miles away from his California teams.

[rpriske]

Wherever you move them, keep them as the Rays!

History matters!

[Honorable_Pawn]

Originally Posted by EKomrska15

Florida doesn't deserve any sports teams with how pathetic their fan bases are....


My vote is for Brooklyn

You don't know what you're talking about. The Rays consistently have very good television ratings. I mean we were breaking ratings records in our market the last couple of seasons. Rays fans are strong and support this team with great vigor.

It is not our fault that Florida's economy was hit hardest during the recession. And it's not our fault that Rays mangement didn't get a better TV deal.

You want the Rays...take 'em. We're really getting sick of MLB's propaganda to try and get a new stadium built on our dime!!! There's nothing wrong with the Trop. It's very comfortable, clean, and fun. We don't need an open-air stadium in 95 degree 95% humidity (feels like 120). The reason people didn't attend games was because of the economy. We were devasted as a community. The reason we don't attend now is because we are not going to be bitch-slapped like the citizens of Miami were by MLB in that debacle. What for? So a bunch of billionaires and spolied millionaire ballplayers can rip us off some more...as if a $9 20-oz beer isn't bad enough.

You want a new stadium...buy it yourself.

You really don't know the situation.

To the OP: Abstained

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by r0nster

From what I heard Portland was a solid choice but MLB has stated a few years back they don't want to infringe on minor league attendance.

That's never stopped them before. If MLB decides it wants a territory, it simply takes it, perhaps paying some compensation if necessary to affected minor league team.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Honorable_Pawn

You don't know what you're talking about. The Rays consistently have very good television ratings. I mean we were breaking ratings records in our market the last couple of seasons. Rays fans are strong and support this team with great vigor.

Were it not for revenue sharing, the Rays would have gone bankrupt or relocated somewhere else years ago. They continue to exist largely as a result of the largesse of other major league teams. (In fairness this is true of several other MLB clubs as well.)

Rays attendance, outside of its first few seasons, has never been good, well below the Major League average. Florida as a state just doesn't seem to be a good baseball market - even at the minor league level attendance lags behind comparable minor leagues situated elsewhere.

[iggyhood]

I appreciate all the replies and votes. I certainly am not maligning the Rays and their current ballpark issues - I guess the beauty of OOTP is we can make it the game we want.

[Tram2Whitaker]

Originally Posted by Honorable_Pawn

You don't know what you're talking about. The Rays consistently have very good television ratings. I mean we were breaking ratings records in our market the last couple of seasons. Rays fans are strong and support this team with great vigor.

It is not our fault that Florida's economy was hit hardest during the recession. And it's not our fault that Rays mangement didn't get a better TV deal.

You want the Rays...take 'em. We're really getting sick of MLB's propaganda to try and get a new stadium built on our dime!!! There's nothing wrong with the Trop. It's very comfortable, clean, and fun. We don't need an open-air stadium in 95 degree 95% humidity (feels like 120). The reason people didn't attend games was because of the economy. We were devasted as a community. The reason we don't attend now is because we are not going to be bitch-slapped like the citizens of Miami were by MLB in that debacle. What for? So a bunch of billionaires and spolied millionaire ballplayers can rip us off some more...as if a $9 20-oz beer isn't bad enough.

You want a new stadium...buy it yourself.

You really don't know the situation.

To the OP: Abstained

To your point that the billionaire owners and millionaire players are trying to rip us off, I totally agree. What happened in Miami, and in Minneapolis amounts to legally sanctioned extortion.

That being said, it would figure that the Rays would wait until 2008 (the start of the great recession) to not suck, so that the local fans couldn't afford World Series tickets. In all honesty the fans said "build a winning team" and they did; they said, "invest in the team" and they did. Still, the Rays are at the bottom in attendance. The waterfront deal was going to use only private funds (just public land) and it got blocked. Now they want to be on the right side of the bay, and there's a ton of opposition, but still nobody in the Trop. Every time I've been there, we've been outnumbered by Yankee fans, Red Sox fans (I would say Tigers fans, but when I went to those games, I was there to see the Tigers). The last time I was there, I nearly broke my neck; the steps in the outfield bleachers are uneven and unsafe. Even so, if you want them to quit with the relocation talk, fill the seats. I don't care if it was an outdated facility, even before it was opened. If I hadn't moved, I'd still be attending games.

[r0nster]

I agree much with what Tram said. Would add one minor point. State and Local govt would have their hand in the cookie jar too and they know they would get lots of revenue in this as well. Thats why Owners and state fight over how much each gets. Tiger stadium the way it was handled $1 per ticket was charged to the person buying the ticket. That went to the city of Detroit. With Comerica Park obviously the price is MUCH higher due to city and state want a bigger piece of the pie.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Honorable_Pawn

You don't know what you're talking about. The Rays consistently have very good television ratings. I mean we were breaking ratings records in our market the last couple of seasons. Rays fans are strong and support this team with great vigor.

Just to follow up on this, here is the annual attendance for the Rays since their inception in 1998. The club's record that season is shown in parentheses.

1998: 2,261,158 (63-99)
1999: 1,750,117 (69-93)
2000: 1,549,592 (69-92)
2001: 1,298,365 (62-100)
2002: 1,065,742 (55-106)
2003: 1,058,695 (63-99)
2004: 1,275,011 (70-91)
2005: 1,141,639 (67-95)
2006: 1,371,963 (61-101)
2007: 1,387,603 (66-96)
2008: 1,811,982 (97-65)
2009: 1,874,962 (84-78)
2010: 1,843,445 (96-66)
2011: 1,529,188 (91-71)
2012: 1,559,681 (90-72)

The Rays best season for attendance was their inaugural one; they haven't been close to matching that total ever since. Their second-best season for attendance was 2009, the club's twelfth, and that figure was only 83% of what it had recorded in its first season. Even the Rays' inaugural season was not that good compared to other expansion clubs. Here's how each of the last five other expansion teams have fared in their inaugural seasons:

Rockies, 4,483,350 (1993)
Diamondbacks, 3,600,412 (1998)
Marlins, 3,064,847 (1993)
Blue Jays, 1,701,052 (1977)
Mariners, 1,338,511 (1977)

It should be noted the Blue Jays and Mariners recorded their first seasons back in 1977, a time when major league average attendance was some 36% lower than it was in 1998.

[cory]

Montreal. One of the great cities in North America.

[JMDurron]

Brooklyn.

The NYC market is so huge that it can (and probably should, actually) have 3 teams. 2 teams in Chicago or "Los Angeles" is != 2 teams in NYC. A Brooklyn team that could build an identify within that community, given their history, wouldn't struggle to gain market share, IMO.

If (when) the Mets fail, you can move them to Montreal and say you've kept the AL and NL Eastern divisions intact.

[SunDevil]

Montreal

[RchW]

I've changed my mind. Move them to Montreal.

[kenyan_cheena]

I once had a fictional league with the following teams in it:

Oklahoma City Seminoles
Charlotte Cougars
Portland Panthers
Carson City Rattlesnakes

That was a fun league. Oh, I vote Brooklyn, by the way. The font on that logo looks A LOT LIKE the Brooklyn Nets logo, though. Unless that was intentional...