The Tampa Bay Rays are in search of a new ballpark that will support their vision for baseball in the Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg region of Florida. Their aim is to attract casual fans with no real baseball allegiance in addition to your hardcore baseball loving fans. Rays management indicated a new ballpark will not only support baseball but will be an entertainment venue, as well. Tampa Bay presently plays their home games on Tropicana Field, which was converted from hockey to baseball.
Although Tropicana Field does have fan-friendly amenities and is a dome stadium, it simply does not draw a large enough crowd for major league baseball purposes. Among American League teams, Tampa Bay consistently ranks statistically in the low half of fan attendance. In fact, their largest crowd since their inception came in 2009 at 1.9 million fans. Note that 2009 was the first season removed from Tampa Bay’s stunning World Series berth.
One of the major issues plaguing Rays ownership is their inability to retain elite talent due to weak revenue. Other teams that have successfully moved into new stadiums and enjoyed recent success after doing so include the Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, and Philadelphia Phillies. Stadiums play an integral role in attracting patrons and talent to your team. Tropicana Field simply does not attract fans but rather alienates them, which is something baseball stadiums are not supposed to do.
Tropicana Field is located twenty miles from Tampa in St. Petersburg, Florida. Traveling twenty miles to attend a major-league game for your hometown team and another twenty miles back after doing so naturally disenfranchises loyal fans. Tropicana Field stadium features are naturally unaesthetic to the human eye, including catwalks that interfere with live baseballs and an ugly indoor setting that is definitely not appeasing to baseball players or fans.
Tampa Bay deserves a new stadium but financing and location may be hindering any potential deals. Tampa Bay comparatively is the same size as a St. Louis and Pittsburgh market, so the fan base is already there. In addition, Tampa Bay’s television ratings are solid and a new stadium could potentially accelerate fan attendance and improve ratings for fans who feel disenfranchised while attracting casual fans who may have previously had little or no interest in baseball yet alone the Rays. Until Rob Manfred and the rest of the owners can find a solution to this issue, Tampa Bay will continue to suffer faulty fan attendance numbers and average television ratings, which are not good for the health of baseball.
