The Rays attendance problem continues to worsen. They are now
last in league attendance with even the usually high draw games seriously
lacking. As I have often quoted Bud
Selig, "St. Petersburg is not a major league baseball market."
It remains unclear to me
why it is so difficult for the politicians to accept the fact Selig was right.
The Kriseman administration has put together another version of
the now famous Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which addresses the development
rights issue that seemed to be the reason the last MOU went down the toilet.
Payout money for an early
move was also a big issue.
Kriseman has been playing it a bit coy with Council saying he
does not want to bring his latest MOU forward until he has enough committed
votes for it to pass. Not exactly the way a representative government works.
What he is really saying is he does not want another embarrassing
discussion where he gets a bunch of questions he does not want to answer.
Kriseman has refused to conduct the economic impact study Council
member Kornell asked for the major reason likely being the only really serious
economic benefit has probably been for Fergs Sports Bar.
It's time for a Mayor and the City Council to just fess up to the
fact major league baseball will not work here. Selig was right.
For now, if the money portion of the MOU is still the issue with
Council, how about a counter to the Mayor's most recent "offer": Rays
give up all development rights, construction can begin any time, City agrees to
keep 1,500 parking spots on the site, payout to move is set at $50 Million this
year, reduces $4 million every year with the payout portion of the MOU sun
setting in 2026.
It is time to let the Rays look any where they want because unless
there is someone in Tampa with a big ego and really deep pockets I don't think
there will be a Tampa stadium deal.
With two major league sports teams in Tampa, rising ticket and
concession prices and the history of baseball in the bay area, it is hard to
imagine a new stadium will simply make all of that go away.
E-mail Doc at mail
to:dr.gwebb@yahoo.com or send me
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