Rays new stadium saga

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pioneer98
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Rays new stadium saga

Post by pioneer98 »

Figured this deserved a thread. They are expected to announce Ybor City as the preferred site. Cost is $800 million.

http://www.fox13news.com/sports/rays/co ... or-stadium
TAMPA (FOX 13) - Commissioner Ken Hagan surprised the Rays, fellow commissioners, and the cities of St. Pete and Tampa by announcing Thursday what the team hoped to say on Friday.

"Stu Sternberg, the principal owner of the Rays, will (at) the press conference," said Hagan. "He is expected to state for the first time publicly that Ybor City is the team's preferred site."

Hagan also detailed for the first time how the team plans to raise a big portion of the projected $800 million for the stadium.

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misterManager
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Re: Rays new stadium saga

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Seems a bit like the Marlins situation all over again potentially. New stadium, new players for a broken down franchise, disgruntled city factions and the rest. I like the Rays and hope they can bounce back but I've never been too sold that a new stadium is the universal cure for poor performance on the field.

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lukethedrifter
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Re: Rays new stadium saga

Post by lukethedrifter »

misterManager wrote:Seems a bit like the Marlins situation all over again potentially. New stadium, new players for a broken down franchise, disgruntled city factions and the rest. I like the Rays and hope they can bounce back but I've never been too sold that a new stadium is the universal cure for poor performance on the field.

It’s not about poor performance on the field.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/team ... tend.shtml

It may not be about stadium locale (or maybe it is) but don’t see how you pin it on poor baseball.

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misterManager
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Re: Rays new stadium saga

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^ I mean looking at the coming years. They've sold their franchise image of the past ten years with Longoria, the huge wave of pitching has never materialized after Shields and Price left, etc. Just looking forward I see the situation as rocky and not likely to be solved by investing 800 million in the building itself. But I could be wrong there as I've got no idea of the merits of the other side of the bay in that part of Florida.

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Secret Weapon
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Re: Rays new stadium saga

Post by Secret Weapon »

It's crazy how much stadium costs have sky rocketed. Busch 3 was 365 million and that wasn't too long ago, now it seems like a billion is the average.

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thrill
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Re: Rays new stadium saga

Post by thrill »

Ybor is the best location. St. Pete is one of the worst. Ybor is way easier to get to and like the only spot in Tampa Bay with any character and could be a cool ballpark village vibe. Problem is that they have no fans and that Ybor is culturally more important remaining Ybor rather than the Rays ballpark village. That said, no tax payer should pay a single dollar for this team.

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Famous Mortimer
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Re: Rays new stadium saga

Post by Famous Mortimer »

Secret Weapon wrote:It's crazy how much stadium costs have sky rocketed. Busch 3 was 365 million and that wasn't too long ago, now it seems like a billion is the average.
I think now teams have realised they can just steal the money from taxpayers, they don't care about making them cost-effective.

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Re: Rays new stadium saga

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misterManager wrote:Seems a bit like the Marlins situation all over again potentially. New stadium, new players for a broken down franchise, disgruntled city factions and the rest. I like the Rays and hope they can bounce back but I've never been too sold that a new stadium is the universal cure for poor performance on the field.
Yup, neither city should have a team. Relocate to Nashville and Portland.

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pioneer98
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Re: Rays new stadium saga

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Secret Weapon wrote:It's crazy how much stadium costs have sky rocketed. Busch 3 was 365 million and that wasn't too long ago, now it seems like a billion is the average.
It really is nuts. I don't know why the cost nearly tripled in 12 years. I have not seen the plans or anything but I wonder if it won't be a retractable dome.

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JL21
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Re: Rays new stadium saga

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misterManager wrote:I've never been too sold that a new stadium is the universal cure for poor performance on the field.
Well..... yes and no.

Going back to the opening of the Skydome, omitting the Nats because there are too many variables with them (coming from Montreal/San Juan, spending time at RFK first), and also omitting the Rockies (also spent time at a football stadium first, the new ballpark wasn't "new" for the franchise so much as the franchise was new to the market)...

Anyway, with all of those qualifiers, the average bump for a team in a new ballpark since the Skydome opened is .003 pythag in their first 3 years compared to their last 3 years in their old park. It's .006 pythag across 5 years. In both cases, it's less than a win per season. Over 5 years, it's .972 of a win per season.

But here's the kicker. Back in the 90s, there was real ground to be made with a new ballpark. From 1990 to 2000, the average bump in the 3 year window was .034 and it was .038 over 5 years. That's 5.5 wins per season in the 3 year window, and 6.1 in the 5 year window. Cleveland, the Giants, the Mariners, the O's, and the White Sox were all huge success stories with anywhere from 8 to 26 more wins per year in their 3 year window compared to the old ballpark, and 6 to 19 in the 5 year window. Even the Braves- who had just won a World Series the year before moving into their new ballpark- got a light bump.

From 2001 on... different story. Only 3 teams (out of 10 with new ballparks) have seen a better pythag in either their 3 OR 5 year window... including the Cardinals, who got tons worse. The Cardinals had the worst 3 and 5 year window of any team post-new ballpark since 1990, and it's not even close. The average team since 2001 actually LOSES ground- 4.5 wins in the 3 year window and 4 in the 5 year window.

Now, obviously a lot of this is anecdotal. And the economics of the game have changed drastically since Baywatch filled the airwaves and Planet Hollywood reached its icy fingers across the country. So I don't mean to imply that "YES! Actually teams DO win more with a new ballpark!" But I do think it's fair to say that they used to win more with a new ballpark.

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