New stadium for the Rays. Man it looks sweet. Its going to cost $450 million and hopefully completed by 2012 thats a long time to wait, but it looks like the Rays aren't looking to leave Tampa anytime soon.The Rays have been playing out of probably the sorriest excuse for a ballpark in the entire league, Tropicana Field. If I was Tropicana I wouldn't have put my name on it, its that bad. Everything about it is lame. First its enclosed, not that that is a bad idea in Florida, especially with our humidity and rain, but the building from the inside is actually uglier then the outside. Second, the turf is so sad. Yeah its astroturf but the stuff I see at other stadiums looks way better then the green carpet they have there.
To be honest you could make a long list of reasons why Tropicana Field is not up to snuff, but they all have to do basically with one thing. That stadium, is not a real baseball field. The new proposed one above is.
3 comments:
Wow ... you know what's funny about this? The Rays have a few procedural hurdles left to clear before this plan is finalized, of course, but nothing major. If all goes as planned, they'll break ground in 2009. All in all, looks like it took them about a year, maybe two, of putting heads together to figure out the financing and whatnot.
The Marlins, on the other hand, have struggled for TEN YEARS to get their new stadium deal done, gone through 3-4 different sites, countless financing plans, and almost routine disappointment to the point where most folks in South Florida thought the team would've moved by now.
I'm sorry, but the Rays are a sorrier franchise than the Marlins. At least the Marlins have two World Series championships in their short existence, while the Rays haven't finished above fourth in the AL East since they came into the league. But they can get their stadium deal done this quickly, and the Marlins deal, which STILL isn't a foregone conclusion (city and county commissioners vote on the proposal this afternoon), takes a decade. Amazing.
This is all true. However I find it comforting that this might turn this sub par team into a team that can do something. Tampa Bay will never command the big budgets the dynasty teams do (New York, Boston, Chicago, etc) however maybe they can get away from bottom of the barrel?
I dunno I just think this is good news.
Oh it's good news for them, certainly--they can look forward to a time when their stadium isn't the butt of the league's jokes. Hopefully the new stadium will have the luxury suites and amenities that will draw more season ticket holders and more money, which will allow them to put a better product on the field. The Marlins are hoping for the same thing.
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