Lyash: New stadium not a given

Jeff Lyash, the corporate leader charged with keeping the Tampa Bay Rays here, announced today that a new baseball stadium is not a given.

"We are not interested in narrowing the options," said Lyash, chairman of A Baseball Community, an 11-member task force that will determine where and if the Rays should build a new stadium. "I wouldn't take any option off the table."

That includes remodeling Tropicana Field, Lyash told the Times editorial board this afternoon.

-- Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer

Comments

[John]

What, did Lyash read the comments from the previous post on here and then throw this "story" together to appease all of us (the vast majority) that we may not NEED a new ballpark.

We already know we don't NEED a new ballpark right now and further, we don't NEED 11 overpaid empty suits to tell us otherwise.

[Fan]

John - considering that the "empty suits" are likely not getting paid for serving on this commission, how can you call them overpaid??? If you look, they are all people who have served the St. Pete community for a long time and want what is best for the future of St. Pete.

[mo]

Get the Rays out of ungrateful st pete

[mariano]

The ppl of st pete want nothing to do w/ the new stadium which means they want nothing to do w/ a winning team. Move the team to Tampa

[Tony]

At least they have the good sense to at least consider a remodel of the Trop. The location is perfect, right in the middle of the Bay Area, convenient for Manatee and Sarasota Counties with good Interstate access.

A dome is a must with our weather, we would've lost 2 of the Baltimore games to rain and at least 1 of the Toronto games. The burden on the Rays to have more double headers and rain make-ups on what would be late season off days would be unfair.

[Thomas]

Where do these trolls come from?

1. St. Pete "ungrateful"?
Um, hey Mensa - St. Pete built the Trop and gave it to the team to use for almost nothing. Further, the city allows the team to keep revenue made at the Trop from NON-Baseball events. Lastly, the team signed a 30 year lease. So who is really "ungrateful"? It certainly isn't the people of St. Pete.

2. "st pete want nothing to do w/ the new stadium which means they want nothing to do w/ a winning team"
I almost fell over laughing when I read that. Can you please explain how a new stadium and a winning team go together? Please cite examples including Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, etc. I think the problem is that Mariano is too stupid to figure out what is a sales pitch and what is fact. Otherwise he wouldnt make such a stupid comparision.

[John]

To Fan:

It's been long established that ABC was an all-volunteer group.

The empty suits are overpaid as execs for the businesses they own/run/consult/manage. They worked their way to that point and in that respect I have no problem with them being overpaid. It's a free market. Nor am I a shareholder of any of those companies. However, they do not realisticly represent the average citizen or small business that the Rays need to fill a ballpark consistently, and who the Rays need the most to get behind any new ballpark idea using public funds.

This is no different than someone buying the Bucs or Lightning, and telling local government that they're not happy with their current venue and they'd like Tampa citizens to foot the bill for a new football stadium or hockey arena, when clearly nothing is wrong with either venue, beyond someone in power's opinion. The Trop is just a few years older than Raymond James Stadium!

You know what? I'm tired of coming home with 3rd degree sunburns from Sept/Oct Bucs home games, especially when I sit on the east side. I think they need a dome with a/c. And I want all of you to pay for my enhanced, more comfortable entertainment experience.

The Bucs had a poor product for 20+ years, with attendance to match. I can also remember seeing the Lightning in 3/4 empty arenas. Because of Namoli, most people in this market turned the Rays off for 10 years...they have 5 months of winning and suddenly we're supposed to have the same heritage & fan base of the Red Sox? Simply amazing.

Let's not forget next year's conspicuously absent Rays Spring Training, which would have brought even more LOCAL NEW fans out to a beautiful, HISTORIC waterfront ballpark to watch their new "home" team practice in generally perfect weather. All those curious fans, both locals or tourists (and their MONEY) will instead visit Port Charlotte for the forseeable future. All in the name of a poorly thought out waterfront ballpark "whim". The local businesses/hoteliers have the Rays themselves to thank for taking away Spring Training's tourist draw.

So yes, I do have a problem with a corporate exec (Lyash) picking ZERO average citizens/baseball fans as was promised. I personally think Lyash is doing even more damage to the Rays stature in this community by this move.

[Eric from Largo]

WE DON'T NEED A NEW STADIUM RIGHT NOW. IT'S NOT THE MOST PRESSING ISSUE FOR THE AREA. Still have to waste the money on an advisory group though, I guess. It all seems a scam of sorts when we have a field that can accommodate these millionaire players. Put a face lift on the Trop. It would be a lot cheaper and that's what some of us need for a time. If the team doesn't like that, take the magic parking lot payback option to Tampa is they want. They'll find Tampa a lot tougher to deal with when it comes to waterfront property.

[Deuce]

all you hear is how everyone in st pete opposes the stadium, well, we'll do you a favor and move it somewhere else

[Bobby Fenton]

If you are of the opinion that maybe this area is better off without a team or just shouldn't put forth the resources to accomodate one, well, I disagree with you with every fiber of my being, but it's still a valid opinion.

What is NOT a valid opinion is the notion that the team can both a) stay here permanently and b) do so at the Trop. That is moronic. The first poster on this thread said that the "vast majority" already understand a new stadium is not needed. I don't even know how to adress an idea this stupid.

The Trop probably ranked 25th or so in the big leagues the very instant it opened in 1998, it is now the worst stadium in major league baseball. It will do for the 5-7 years it takes to build a new stadium or to run the team off like so many others want to do, but do not pretend the Trop is fine, and definitely don't pretend that the "vast majority" believes this. Maybe the "vast majority" of crochety St. Peterheads that don't dare to dream of something better, but not the "vast majority". Idiots.

[Not Rick K]

Way to class it up Bobby. You don't read so well do ya? That fabulous Hillsborough County Schools edumucaSHON has served you well. Hope you're not a bus rider.

The line you quoted clearly says "we don't NEED a new stadium right now....it didn't say permanently.

And if the vast majority didn't believe we don't need a new stadium right now, there'd be a referendum on Al Lang coming up in Nov, now wouldn't there?

Glass houses, moron.

[Greg]

A) The Rays do not need a new stadium...period.

B) If they want one let the owners pay the ENTIRE cost...including property taxes.

C) And if they insist on building a new stadium build it in...TAMPA!!!

[Steven Mendygral]

I say build it in Tampa. Near the I-4 and 75 interchange. I live in Orlando and its a pain to get to St. Pete for a game. If you build it in Tampa, you will open a whole new market in Orlando and make the team successful on and off the field.

[mike beau]

A new stadium is a given.... when the rays call our bluff and move

[Bobby Fenton]

Hey "Not Rick K", I'm willing to bet that I've got more education in my pinky finger than in your entire body, but that's neither here nor there. Your point makes no sense. The words "RIGHT NOW" are irrelevant. They need a new place.

A new stadium isn't going to appear out of thin air. Even if it was greenlighted tomorrow, it would be at least 4 years before the team started playing there and probably more. That means that even thought the new place isn't going to be happening "right now", we still need to start working on said new place "right now". Do you think that when the day comes that you decide it's okay to get a new place, that it gets built in 3 months?

Good try, though.

And yes, it should be in Tampa.

[George]

Bobby Fenton is the opitomy of the Rays problem. Lazy, self-centered so-called "fans" from Tampa who are too inconvenienced to drive across a big scary bridge to see their supposed team play in its home town, St. Petersburg.

You want it in Tampa? Fine. YOU pay for it. Good luck with that.

[Bobby Fenton]

How many games have you been to George?

I'M the epitome of the Rays problem? Why? Because I've been to 20 games this year. You're right. People like me are killing this team.

[John D]

Well-educated Bobby Fenton--
Thanks for your posts. Like many others, I love to read concise, cogent posts that give facts to support reasonable opinions. I truly appreciate it when posters refrain from the ad hominem and concentrate on the substance.
It's too bad that none of your posts apply. Would you kindly go back for some education for the brain rather than the pinky?

[Bobby Fenton]

We are discussing matters of opinion, John, that even as obvious as they are, are still opinion. I don't see the difference in my posts compared to the other ones above stating that we don't need a new stadium when it comes to facts. Quite frankly,they're all opinions.

Like I said in my original comment, for those who think we should just bag the whole thing and forget a stadium because the money should not be spent, period, at any point, well that's an opinion. The team would not stand for that, nor should they, and they would leave, but it's still a valid opinion.

But seriously, stop this ridiculous notion that the Trop is good to go for another two decades. You lose any credibility playing that card. If anybody actually needs explained to them why the Trop is not sustainable as a long-term home to a major league baseball team then they are a waste of breath and time and long past the point of worth talking to. It's people like you who are the problem with progress.

[John D]

Again, Bobby, thanks for the post. The funny thing is that I agree with you on the most important point: the Rays are good (in fact, great) for the area: I see first-hand the economic benefits they bring.
Here's the problem, IMHO, when you and others claim that the Trop is completely substandard--nobody gives us any facts to support that opinion. What's wrong? The rays tank? The Hitters Hall? The restaurant on the third base line? The greeters? The parking? Is the field too small? Are the seats chintzy? Are the locker rooms not up to snuff for million-dollar athletes? (I admit I've never seen them.)
Finally, in the words of that great American hero, Jack Webb: "Just the facts, ma'am." Or sir, as the case may be.

[yuk]

The Truth is the Ray's suck.
They are playing way over their heads with a thing called "LucK"
They do not use the sacrifice bunt and many other fundamentals

[yuk]

John whats the "D" for DUH?

[Nancy]

The Ladies rooms are Dirty

[nancy]

Shameful

[mrclean]

At this moment, I cannot see any city putting up 1/2 billion dollars plus, in tax money to build a stadium for any baseball team. My suggestion is create a stadium corp and sell the stadium shares to all those who want to build a new stadium. If they cannot sell enough shares nationally to make it work, that will prove it is a non-profitable idea.