Rays president talks baseball

Read Aaron Sharockman's interview with Matt Silverman from Sunday's newspaper.

Comments

[get-smart]

I Blew It My Way.

As sung by Mikey & Matt (aka m&m)
-----------------------
And now, the end is near;
The crack of the bat, the final inning.
My team, Ill say it clear,
To hit the ball, it was so thrilling.

Ive lied about the plan.
Ive traveled each and every bribe-way;
And more, much more than this,
I blew it my way.

Regrets, Ive had a few;
But then again, the stupid mayor.
I did what I had to do
And the council saw it through with little exemption.

I planned each pretty picture;
Each careful hue along Tampa Bayway,
But more, much more than this,
I blew it my way.

Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, and there was POWW,
They ate me up and spit me out.
I backed away and I blamed you all;
And I blew it my way.

Cheers!

-

[Rays Mike]

You are a moron.

[The Grader]

congrats to "not so smart" ... this thread officially lands you in summer school

I certainly hope you didn't waste too much time on that one.

you get an F for creativity, humor and imagination

[Demetrios]

get-smart

What, no cheap shots at his ethnic background tough guy? That's easy pickings for you since you are the "man" hiding behind that computer of yours. When's the cookout?

[Ray F]

hahahaha... the cookout!!!

Yeah get-smart... how was the barbeque at Al Lang this weekend???

Did you get Denny's to cater???

Probably not. If you did, you would've had to lock down some overflow space at the Mahaffey to handle all the blue hairs.

actually, it would've been outside and I know it was over 83 degrees so I think the attendees would've preferred roaming the trailer park clubhouse instead. Would've been a wash anyway because they were running a 18 hour Matlock marathon on Bravo.

[Demetrios]

Too busy "watching" The Golden Girls. Takes a lot longer than it used to....
if you know what I mean.

[Mal]

Get Smart, One little song and you got the anti senior crowd chirping away. Well done.

[Mike]

To the loser with the cute poem (I'll call you "get-lost"):

Sooooooooo lame. If it was funny or rooted in truth (as satire should be to be effective) then I'd give you props. But that was weak bro!

Besides, the owners have been nothing but cool and humble since changing course. They made a proposal, and the public didn't like it (or, especially, its timetable). So they redacted and are trying to include more community leaders in the process, over a longer time. How can you tee off on that?

Go away. You try too hard to be cute but bring NOTHING to the debate that will allow us to move forward as a community. You are a nobody. So ... get lost!

[Mal]

Mike, Uh that was a take off on a song not a poem. But maybe your to young to remember old blue eyes.

[Mike]

Semantics, pal. I know the song. Poem or song, it doesn't change the fact that that was a really lame attempt to heap on the ownership of the Rays.

[Rick K]

I think this latest strategic decision by the Rays was brilliant. They are now in the drivers seat and will get to criticize/veto all proposals that they find unsatisfactory.

The biggest loser in all this just might be the people of St. Pete. It would be a shame, after all the community has endured to get the Rays, to lose them to some county location not in the City, or someplace even more removed.

[Thomas]

Of course you think it was brilliant.

Just like you thought the "paired redevelopment projects" were brilliant.

Just like you thought the new stadium financing was brilliant.

Say Rick, how did those "brilliant" ideas turn out?

Opps!

BOOM - Outta Here!

[Jon McPhee]

Hey, Aaron -- I looked pretty hard through the text of the Silverman interview, which was headlined "Rays president talks baseball." I'm sure all the anti-antis will show me in their best Limbaugh style where I'm wrong, but there was at best some minuscule collateral reference to "baseball," as in the game played on fields of all types all across the country and even the world. The rest was about the business of putting a new stadium on some piece of ground.

Do we now assume that "baseball" is no more than what the MLB has become -- just another grasping business out to fleece the taxable public?

And remember, all you folks who question the wisdom of mortgaging this area for another load of corporate welfare. People who are driven simply by monetary considerations (known as "greed") and can ally themselves with other parts of the power elite have a whole lot more ultimate clout, and staying power, than people who are motivated by emotion-driven, sad little notions like "the general welfare."

[Bored by dopes]

Jon and Thomas....keep singing to yourselves.... at least that way you'll have an appreciative audience....What nonsense you fill these spaces with, really!

[Will Ferrell]

The poem at the very least needed some more Cowbell.

[Susie Q]

I seem to remember that the Rays picked this upcoming election to seal the deal for their new waterfront stadium because it would be a national election. More voters who might just vote for anything was the Ray's mantra.

Now POWW comes out of the gate like greased lighting and informs the masses as to the issue and all of the sorted details. Next thing you know the Rays are running for cover until they have to pull the plug. Seems to me that this was just another fiasco by the Rays. They could not plan a dry picnic if it were inside the Trop.

Just what makes The Fans for A Waterfront Stadium, Rick K. and all of the other supporters believe that they are following leaders. Seems to me they all haven't got a clue. The Rays only turned it back over to the Mayor because they simply do not know what the heck to do. I mean, Kalt was their guru, their genius. Not so smart looking now.

When a grass roots organization like POWW can come together in a flash and mobilize an entire city and much of the county to an outcome of their desire, it says something. It says that the Mayor, the Chamber and all of the other suits, CEO's and the like are not really running anything. They answer, in the end, to us. The voter.

End of story.

What we want is what will happen.

They should remember that.

[Next Round]

I think the Rays will be in a much stronger position after making the playoffs and increasing attendance numbers. Seems like a good move to wait until the Rays run builds more momentum.
All you see right now is Tampa Bay recognized on national news and ESPN. ESPN's game on Wed will have ads for the beaches, Clearwater and St. Petersburg and the whole country will be watching.

The Bucs attendance was 522,530 in 2007 and the Rays will be over 1.5 million this year. I think there is more than a bit of economic development there.
If the Rays leave Downtown we'll thank POWW for the vacuum that is created.

[Next Round]

Article for the Rays haters who think this area can't support Baseball.
__________________________________

Rays' Attendance- Are the Critics Wrong?
Craig Castille. 2nd June, 2008 - 11:12 am

In a word, yes.

The typical reaction of the baseball pundits is to jump on the bandwagon of whatever link they have read recently.

Sure, have a strong opinion, but at least look at the overall picture of the current situation and, at minimum, find a comparison to base that opinion on.

The new hot topic in baseball is the rapid success of the Tampa Bay Rays. The media talking heads are heaping praise, and it is deserved. They are, however, offering criticisms of the support (or lack of) that has followed this team. That too is also deserved but with some reservation.

Attendance has been low given the circumstances of the Rays' fast start. But why?

There are several reasons for the lack of support, but these are not excuses. Just reality.

The core fan base

The franchise is now in it's eleventh season and, with one exception, every single season being a last place finish. It's next to impossible to develop a fan base over a decade in which the season is over before May arrives.

Think about it, in the new millenium in Florida, nearly everyone is from somewhere else. A bad team locally, combined with a transient community having fan allegiances to other teams, does not grow a fan base with adults.

So that leaves the kids.

The Rays' are still in their first generation of developing the future fan base. It's when the current 12-year-old child turns into a 28-year-old paying adult that the true core expands.

And that's if you are not winning. Field a good team, and the core base expands rapidly.

History

The Rays drew 2.5 million during their inaugural season. The following year attendance fell to 1.5 million fans. Between then and now, attendance has generally been just over a million fans per year. People won't travel to see bad baseball.

Anywhere.

Ask the Cubs in the early 1980s who had one of the greatest fan bases of die hard followers in all of baseball. The 1982-83 seasons produced bad teams drawing 1.2 and 1.4 million fans each year.

In 1984, the Cubs dazzled baseball, and their fan base by winning 96 games and their division. Their attendance grew to 2.1 million, a 50% increase over 1983.

Or ask the Indians in the mid 1980s. Fielding a 60 win team in 1985 brought an amazingly low total attendance of 655,000. That preceded 734,00 for a 75 win team in 1984.
In 1986, the Indians showed a stunning 24 game improvement in the standings, and attendance doubled to 1.4 million. They failed to keep the momentum, however, by falling back into last place in 1987, losing 101 games. Attendance fell to 1.1 million.

Losing "sometimes" does not grow a fan base.

The White Sox in the mid and late 1990s were mired in mediocrity. Great tradition, a history of winning, a not too distant realm of success with a developed core fan base were all present elements at that time. Attendance stayed at roughly 1.6 million during those years.

An 80 win team in 1999 was followed by a first place 95 win team in 2000. Attendance rose to just to 1.9 million for a quality baseball club.

Losing most of the time does not grow a fan base.

Proof? Maybe ask the Oakland Athletics of the late 1970s, a team coming off 5 straight division titles surrounding 3 straight World Series wins. Owner Charlie Finley gutted his championship team and turned them into a cellar dweller overnight. Total attendance bottomed out to 305,000 in 1979. That followed 526,000 and 485,000 the two previous seasons.
The Kansas City Royals have drawn between 1.3-1.6 million during the last four seasons. Their on field success was highlighted by a 69 victory season in 2007. Their overall record for the last 4 years is comparable to that of the Rays, as is their home attendance figures.

Coincidence? No.

Reality? Yes.

The Braves of the late 1980s were a bad baseball team, losing at or near a 100 games every year. Attendance struggled as well, drawing less than a million fans each season.

In 1991, the Braves shocked baseball by winning 94 games and beginning a decade plus run at the top of the standings. Over 2.1 million fans came out to cheer this new dynasty in the making. The majority of those 2.1 million fans did not come out in April and May, however.

It was the summer months that filled Fulton County Stadium to near capacity because the Braves were in a pennant race for the first time in years.

Pennant fever

This is the ultimate drawing card for a baseball team. It unifies the fan base with its community.

In a pennant chase, every game with every team now matters. Baseball becomes part of the daily grind. The morning boxscore becomes as important as the front page news.
Tampa Bay has yet to experience this. It matters, and it matters big time.

Not an excuse, just reality.

Where does it go?

Despite the slow start in attendance this year, the Rays are averaging 18,227 after 33 home games. In 2007, the Rays drew 17,130 per game, but this included the summer months.

If the Rays average 26,000 in attendance per home game the rest of the season, they will end up drawing 1.85 million, their highest total since the very first season in 1998. That would be a 50% improvement and in line with other historical comparisons.

Two million is a reach but is not out of the question.
As the Rays continue their march towards excellence, attendance issues will go away. School will soon be out, freeing up many families to make trips to Tropicana Field. Adding the probability of a potential of a pennant race will drive many of the borderline fans to attend games en mass.

So yes, the critics have labeled the obvious point of attendance being low, but what they have not done is put the problem in its rightful historical perspective.

[Thomas]

Rick Round: "Wed will have ads for the beaches, Clearwater and St. Petersburg and the whole country will be watching."

By "whole country" do you mean the >0.8 rating that ESPN Baseball is averaging this year?

SpongeBob does a 2.4. Maybe the city should finance a stadium for him instead.

[Jon McPhee]

Does anyone want to read my most recent blog about the variance of toxins on the genitals of aardvarks?

[Next Round]

Thomas/Jon
You guys just can't stand the Rays winning. I guess no one watched any ESPN the last two days when you had annoucers wearing Rays Jerseys and talking about the post season. It's tough I know but have some local pride. I'm just happy that I don't have to hear anit Rays jokes on letterman.
Gods waiting room or Major league City, that is the question.

They are getting a new stadium no matter what and thanks to you all it will be a 550 million stadium in the middle of no where. Great job, you cost us more money.

[Thomas]

Dude,

You're a clown with a major inferiority complex.

Also, the Rays are locked into their lease, they're not going anywhere. They have all the time in the world to come up with a realistic funding plan for a stadium.

If it includes a disproportionate amount from the public, it will fail. If it's a negotiated in good faith, it will succeed.

I love the Rays but I'm not a loser who validates my existence through them; nor will I bend over and let them railroad me with some absurd public financing plan.

You're too dysfunctional to understand this, but: You can be a fan without being an idiot who blindly supports whatever lopsided deal the team proposes for a new stadium.

[Get Smarter]

I'm for the cheapest solution that helps downtown the most. If you can show me that Toytown or the airport fits that bill I'll gladly jump on the Thomas train.

There is going to be some public funding no matter what but by moving the stadium it's going to cost more on both sides. Stewart or Baker aren't going to let them leave pinellas so you might as well live with building a new stadium. Anywhere else proposed right now is simply going to be more expensive.

[Next Round]

Thomas,
I don't feel validated by the Rays just motivated. I would love to see Al Lang II rise from these ashes.

[Thomas]

That's cool.

I'm all for the Rays and a stadium - and I'm no "Protect the Waterfront" zealot.

But enough nonsense about "they're going to move", "this will cost more", or "the Rays are in the drivers seat".

The Rays want to end their lease 19 years early. Ok, but that means the team needs to step up their contribution and present a plan that people can support.

As we saw last night, the Trop works just fine. So if the Rays don't want to step up their offer, they can stay there and everyone will still be just fine.

IMO, the Rays cant claim to be "civic partners" with the city then turn around an propose a lopsided financing plan where the public is left holding the bag.

If they want to be a partner - heck yeah, I'm all for it. Let's see an honest and fair plan. If they want to gauge the public for funding - no thanks.

[Rick K]

It CONTINUES to crack me up that Thomas and his ilk still think anybody who does not tow the ANTI pary line is me.

There is no reason for me to masquerade, silly people. I make my positions quite known.

[Next Round]

I'll take the most money from the Rays that I can but I now that the Al Lang site means a overall smaller price tag to negotiate with versus the other site.

Paying for part of the stadium is like buying stock. It makes the CEO's rich but you as a investor weigh the return for you personally on whether to buy. The city needs to get serious analyzing their return on investment in regards to these other sites. We can't afford to build were no surrounding businesses benefit or grow.

[Jon McPhee]

Love the bogus posts under my name. Shows the general level of some folks' mentation. Do I get under your skin? Is that you, Chuck?

Hey Rick, how do us'ns' "tow the ANTI pary line"? With our pickups, or our bass boats? Your 'ilk mustache' is showing, Junior.

Next round, you don't get it. Speaking for myself, Thomas can hold his own, I think it's just peachy that the Rays are winning. I'm as much a human as anyone else, and it's great to feel like a part of a winner. Heck, I rooted for the Cubbies through a long lean period way back when.

I just see a huge distinction between labor (the actual baseball team) and management (the franchise owners.)

I would love to be able to afford the price of an evening at the Trop, but it ain't in the budget. So I watch the games on TV and read the news in the Times' sports pages. In that, I think I'm in the same situation as a very large part of the Pinellas population, who really like the TEAM. They just don't like having the franchise owners try to pick their pockets, with the connivance of a bunch of "boosters" in elected-leader clothes.

The snotty-ars rich kids who post here, and want the rest of us to buy them a billion-dollar baseball venue, wish the rest of us would just pay our taxes and then die or just go away. Our money's green enough for them to covet, but especially for the fraction who's gone gray, they seem to wish we'd go find a suicide parlor somewhere, now that Kevorkian's out of the business.

We can hope that the incivil divisions that are apparent here aren't going to be extended across the whole community. If you read the blog, you see that a lot of folks love baseball, but they don't like getting beanballed by the franchise owners.

And once again, if the Giants' superlatively greedy franchise owner can figure out a way to pay for a privately-funded stadium, after the other City by the Bay told him to shove it, why not here? It's not like our newbie franchise owners can't afford it, and it's not like they are too dumb to figure out how to "securitize" their own income streams from the team.

And you can stick that toxin up your own aardvark, Bubie.

[Purple]

Jon McPhee: Do we have this right? You are opposed to the Ray's baseball deal (like me), love guns (like me) and are a progressive, liberal kind of bloke (not like me at all). What a combination! How did this happen? Or am I reading your missives on this blog sites incorrectly?

[Jon McPhee]

Nah, Purple, I'm just another a well-armed, complete and total, equal-opportunity misanthrope, who's seen enough to know that humanity has a death wish, and that progressivism and reactionary-ism are just bricks in the wall of the dead-end street we live on, but yes, I do think the MLB has carved way more than its fair share off the roast round of beef known as "taxpayer." Along with the military-industrialists that flaming "libb'ral," D.D. Eisenhower, warned us against way back in 1961.

But hey, what I think don't count for squat, in the noise of 6.7 billion humans. Most of whom have or will soon have access to the internet, the nascent Matrix.

Repeat after me: "Nothing Matters. Nothing Matters. Nothing Matters."

[Rick K]

Attempting to mis-paint the paired redevelopment proposals as little more than an attempted money grab by the Rays owners is not going to work.

That deliberate distortion, along with many other distortions and deceptions, did succeed in scaring politicos out of moving forward this November. But now that the time pressure is off, the misinformtion will not prevail.

The more light that is shed on these proposals, the more people will see that POWW and their ilk (aided by the eccentric crazies like Thomas who will plagiarize, lie, cheat, and steal to "win" what he perceives as points) are simply stubborn oppositionists.

These redevelopment proposals are present extraoridnary opportunities to the people of St. Pete and Pinellas. In time, that will become clear to an informed majority.

[Jon McPhee]

And Next Round, I know you can't help but think in terms of My Tribe versus Your Tribe, but I bet you will be hard pressed to find a "Rays hater" around here, other than maybe a recent Boston or Chicago-North-Side transplant.

We've chosen the Rays, THE TEAM OF BALLPLAYERS, that is, not the dudes who bought the franchise, as our embodied paradigms and local heroes and repositories of all our hopes and dreams of reflected glory. The Team is Great! and worth every one of the millions of dollars they are paid to tickle our tribal fancies by playing a superlative game of baseball.

What I'm waiting for is a return to the good old days of the Mesoamerican ball game, that involved human sacrifice at half-time, and the use of a severed head as the playing piece. Go Tolmecs! Now there's a team to get behind -- WAY behind!

[Nurse]

Jon, you forgot your meds.

[Jon McPhee]

No, Nurse, stay away from me with that enema bottle and that syringe full of potassium chloride! I promise I'll be good! Just don't stick me back in that wraparound jacket!

[Purple]

Jon McPhee: I will add a good sense of humor to your other attributes.

[since1962]

SILVERMAN:
"WOULDN'T CHANGE A THING

HASN'T LEARNED A THING

BUT HE WILL

AS WILL ANY POLITICAN WHO TRIES TO FORCE UNWILLING PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION OR LOCATION FOR NEW STADIUM REGARDLESS OF VOTE REQUIREMENT.

AMMENDMENT 1.5 ANYONE?

why yes "jon mcphee" I would be fascinated to read everything knowable about aardvark genitals.

i hear they are good with fava beans

thanks for the laugh

this has become even more pathetic than at first.

what would happen if we all stopped responding to rrrrick and aliases?

sssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

the times would close the blog and paper too.

[Rick K]

To the anonymous poster at 11:38 pm....Rick K doesn't use aliases here, idiots. No need. Y'all who think that (every last one of you) are simply fools for thinking it.

Personally, I think it would be great if anyone who made a factual assertion in these blogs which is not true was forever banned from posting here. Evenutually, it would be only a few of us who are pro-stadium left.

Since 1962, what Silverman is most likely to learn is how to get a new stadium that the team LOVES and which enhances revenue streams.

Y'all are missing something very important. The Rays ownership has the financial oomph and the track record to put together a private financing deal that could build and own their own stadium. The chief reason they didn't do this (yet) is because the best deal for the team and the City is the waterfront location.

[Don Mott]

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. You kill me RRRick

[since1962]

Y'all should lick silvermans boots a little less vigorously when reasoning with us imbiciles.
The shine is distracting

Since when does a transplanted Ohioan,blog the word y'all? The cracker patoise doesn't fit and won't build y'all a stadium.. Been here since 1962 and wouldn't say y'all nor y'ouse as they do in my birth place.

[Rick K]

Am I the only person who suspects that Since1962 gets more and more intoxicated as each night wears on? There seems to be a definite pattern whereby the later posts each day are less and less reasonable and coherent.

[John]

Have you read 90% of YOUR posts, Rick? You posts make 1962's sound like Winston freaking Churchill in comparison....

[Rick K to John]

John, I guess your bizzaro views of reality will presaude.... wait.... that's right... you will persuade no one...

Where we see black, you see white.

Where we see up, you see down.

Where we see reasoned proposals by mature people, you see horrible schemes by New York capretbaggers out to loot and pillage the poplace, all the while twirling their evil mustaches and laughing over how many innocent manatees they killed and how many children will be struck down by lightning!

[Purple Mountain's Magistry]

We should all be very concerned. We have a Mayor who is not above moving the proposed Ray's baseball stadium off of the waterfront, where it does not need a referendum, sitting down with his henchmen staff, knocking out a backroom deal under the blanket of a confidentiality agreement and then passing the deal off to City Council, who we now know voted to approve the Jabil deal, without knowing what they were voting on. Heck the only one who knew (Bennett) was not even in town to vote on it. I know confidentiality extends to the Mayor I did not know it extended to one or more individual council members. Jamie, your mayorial election hopes are now floating in the toilet. Time to flush that dream buddy.

Jamie you are not the strong mayor. You should be looking out for the taxpayers in this town. Not greasing the skids like Baker. Now we all know that if you are elected you are not above to pulling a Baker. Thanks for the insight buddy.

This city government is the worst I have ever scene during my tenure here in St. Pete. Time to flush these idiots off council and out the door.

We should all be concerned. How many other million dollar deals is Baker cooking up, right now, so that he can build up his resume to run for governor? How many millions does St. Pete have to give away to Baker's croanies?

[YESvillages at gateway fields]

Thank you RAYS

The electorate is energised and hypersensitive.

You may have removed the DEVIL name but he is "in the details" on which voters are now focusing their ire.

[Pella]

User fees! Let the baseball fans pay for the new stadium themselves. End of the dilema!

[Kyle]

Pella- does that mean that baseball fans only get the economic benefits of having a team or do you still want your piece of that pie?

[Rick K to]

Purple's quote is typical of the looniest ANTI's who post here. Filled with wild speculation confused as fact. And containing logic that defies the imagination.

If Baker's government is the "worst" you've ever seen, how is he going to gecome Governor again?

Oh, I get it. He fools the ignorant majority, but only the super-smart people like you who know things that no one else knows can figure out what is REALLY going on.

Right, dude.

I think they call your condition paranoid delusional scizofrenia, or something like that.

Also, I would like to register my disagreewment with Pella.

Since a form of user fees assessed on people who will attend Rays games already constitutes the largest single funding source of monies for the proposed new stadium, I think it is appropriate, as Kyle asks, that others who will receive the benefits of the new stadium help share in its cost.

[since1962]

Re Everyone wants voice on Rays Stadium

Mikey And Matty

If you are "not the drivers" of this debate, your comments regarding timelines,objectives and committe participants are not so subtle first attempts at influencing the process.

You have proven to be astoundingly incompetent in all these respect so shut up, accept the findings AND voters impact on Rays finances.

[Pella]

Kyle: The only contribution the Rays make by being in St. Pete, as opposed to Nome, Alaska, is the traffic conjestion I routinely have to avoid and or drive around. Otherwise it does nothing for me. What I mean is I do not receive any business benefit as many other baseball supporters do. I do not seek Ray' business as our paths do not cross in any way.

[Purple's Mountain's Magistry]

Rick K: I never said Baker was going to become governor "again".

And, what's with all of the name calling. I thought you did not do that.

And, Baker just pulled off a $34.4 million dollar deal or scam if you prefer, giving away taxpayer money, fooling the city council and the public along the way. No one knew anything about this Jabil deal except Jabil who had their big fat greasy hands cupped outward to catch all of our taxpayer money.

Can you say $55 dollar screw, $500 toilet seat, $34.4 million to "STAY IN TOWN". Give me a payoff moment type of break.

[Rick K]

Pella is confused about visibility.

Because Pealla cannot see the benefits he receives from the Rays' presence in St. Pete, he confuses that with there being no benefits.

The reality is, the Rays are responsbible for bringing $112 MILLION in spending to St. Pete, every year.

They have significant impacts upon tourism by attracting people and dollars to St. Pete. These dollars help everyone who lives in St. Pete.

Pella and other POWW people will try, over the coming weeks, to equate what they do not see or will not believe with the absence of widespread benefits.

This is no different from any other time the ANTI's have tried to pretend that whatever fantasy they believe is the same as reality.

Whether it is pretending that the Rays have no economic or other impact in St. Pete, lying about the environmental conditions at the Tropicana property, trying to scare people with warnings about widespread destruction to federally protected Manatees, or any number of other dishonest and shameful tactics, you can bet the Pella's of the world will be here, spewing garbage, trying to confuse, distort, distract, and deceive.

[John]

Rick Rick Rick...they Rays didn't bring anything, silly. Your argument as usual is baseless and ridiculous.

The Rays simply diverted 112 million in spending away from Baywalk, Applebees, Tyrone Mall, and a thousand other businesses that would have otherwise recieved the citizens disposable income.

Just because we get a MLB team doesn't mean the citizens suddenly have 112 million MORE in disposable entertainment spending, you meatwhistle.

[Susie Q]

The Rays were going to use city parking structures, charge baseball patrons to use spaces and then have the city direct these funds to pay for the stadium.

Am I missing something here?

The city is to allow the Rays to use the public's parking structure (our asset) for free, and then the Rays want the City to allow the parking charges/fees to go towards the stadium.

Seems the Rays have figured out how to get the cow to milk itself!