Marlins ballpark vote today

MIAMI (AP) — For the Florida Marlins, this day has been a long time coming.

The franchise has won two World Series titles since its inaugural season in 1993, but still has no home of its own. Sixteen years after the team's first game, South Florida politicians might be ready to change that.

City of Miami and Miami-Dade County commissioners are scheduled to cast their final votes Friday on a proposal for a retractable-roof, $515 million stadium in Miami's blighted Little Havana neighborhood. If the proposal is approved, it will be the last step before groundbreaking for the stadium, which is projected to open in 2012.

"I'm always humbly concerned," club president David Samson said of the upcoming vote. "Until the votes actually happen, of course I'm going to be concerned. But I'm cautiously optimistic. We are in their hands."

Rays' Silverman: 'Regional' culture still lacking

Read business columnist Robert Trigaux's take on Matt Silverman's speech at the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce annual dinner Wednesday night. A sample:

"Though St. Petersburg clings to legal commitments that would keep the Rays within city limits, clearly the greater good of keeping the Rays a healthy franchise for the entire region is a growing theme ... Mayor Baker has maxed out his terms in office, so the race for a new mayor is quickly gathering steam. Who knows what a change in city administration might mean for the Rays' future."

Troxler: A stadium column

Under the title, What if best site for Rays isn't in St. Petersburg?, Howard Troxler weighed in with a stadium related column Wednesday. Let me know what you think.

The city of St. Petersburg sent a strong letter the other day to the private group that's studying a new baseball stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Here's a translation:

"Hey! We hear that you guys are asking what it will take to break the Rays' existing deal, which says they have to play baseball here until 2027.

"The answer is, nothing can break it. Zip. So don't even think about a new stadium that isn't in St. Petersburg."

The letter, written by City Attorney John Wolfe, even contained a hint of a warning that nobody should try to mess with the existing deal.

"Neither the city nor the Rays," Wolfe wrote, "gave any person or party a waiver … to interfere with or cause a violation of the provisions of the agreement."

Wolfe stressed that this is not a mere "lease" between the Rays and St. Petersburg, but a contract to play baseball games. The distinction is important. St. Petersburg believes it stands to lose much more than just some rent.

In fact, Wolfe pointed out, the contract states that any violation will cause "irreparable harm and damages that are not readily calculable." It explicitly gives both sides the right to go to court to block the other from backing out.

Finally, Wolfe wrote, just in case anybody was wondering, it was perfectly okay for the city to talk to the Rays about a new stadium back in 2007-08, because those talks didn't involve any "third party" trying to interfere.

Well.

Despite all this, the baseball task force ought to ignore the city's letter completely. Politely, but completely.

Zimbalist stadium Q&A

Andrew Zimbalist, the  Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College and perhaps the best known sports economist in the country, recently participated in a New York Times Q & A I thought folks might be interested in reading.

You might remember, Zimbalist talked to us about the Tampa Bay Rays' $450-million Al Lang plan. He liked the idea.

What he told us back in May.

This is capitalism and any project carries risks.

However, smaller markets usually pick up a higher share of financing costs and the average public financing share for sports facilities is around 67 percent.

The public share in the Rays' proposal appears to be under 40 percent. Further, while again there are uncertainties, the release of some 85 acres for alternative development suggests a much more positive economic impact outlook than the conventional stadium project.

The point about the 85 acres is that without this proposal, the land is tied up for a long time. By the team reducing its footprint, they enable the city to generate revenue not currently generated.

I think this is a creative and balanced proposal (with some questions still to be answered, to be sure) from the Rays that stands a far better chance for actually having a pro-development impact than the vast majority of stadium proposals of the past.

-- Aaron Sharockman, Times Staff Writer

Tampa Bay Rays' growing payroll is a gamble

John Romano, in today's Times.

ST. PETERSBURG — Turns out, the Rays screwed up. They got too good.

Not that they're complaining, mind you. The tale of their turnaround was as captivating as any baseball story in 2008, and those memories will be held as dearly as a first embrace.

It's just that success arrived a little ahead of schedule, and it has put them in something of a financial bind today. They can either spend beyond their budget, or take a step backward on the field. From the looks of things, they've decided to spend.

The recent signings of Pat Burrell, Gabe Kapler and Joe Nelson brought to mind a conversation with Stuart Sternberg on the field at Fenway Park before an American League Championship Series game in October. I suggested to the Rays' owner that Tampa Bay's payroll for 2009 was going to approach $60-million.

Sternberg winced at the thought. Can't do it, he said. The revenues aren't there yet to support it.

Three months later, the Rays are flirting with a $60-million payroll. And the revenues still aren't there to support it.

So what does that mean?

Basically, that the Rays are gambling.

Rays investigated seven potential sites

The Rays have released a report to the ABC baseball coalition that discusses in detail seven potential sites for a baseball stadium. The Rays say this work was done during their preliminary fact-finding, which would have occured at least 18 months ago. But the report clearly has been updated. (UPDATE: You can watch Bay News 9's story on our story --- and me in an ugly striped polo shirt here).

(Update 2: The ABC coalition has posted the report. You can download it here).

The sites are all in Pinellas County.

They are:

MajorLeagueDowntown.com no more

The Tampa Bay Rays have finally taken down their stadium web site, www.majorleaguedowntown.com. The web site now directs traffic to the Rays' official web site, www.raysbaseball.com.

What a year it's been!

Happy holidays everyone and I'll be back --- with some news --- next Monday.

Study: Rays' impact on local tourism is significant

All those visiting Yankee and Red Sox fans — and the money they spend — really add up.

Tampa Bay Rays games brought slightly more than 250,000 overnight visitors to the county during the team's 2008 regular season, according to the study released Wednesday to Pinellas County tourism officials. That represents 5 percent of the 5.2-million annual visitors who spend at least one night in Pinellas.

Visiting fans spent $70-million, said the study by Research Data Services of Tampa, which compiles visitor statistics for the county. They had a total impact of $126-million, if you count how the money recirculates through the local economy, the study concluded.

Read the entire story, from my colleague Steve Huettel, here.

If it's the franchise value you want to talk about ...

Well, let's talk about the value of the franchise. If that's what this is about -- Stuart Sternberg cashing out -- is there a way the city could force his hand? I think so. How about this?

Agree to contribute taxpayer dollars to a new ballpark. Let's make up a number and say the county and city agree to pay 60 percent of the cost. All the Rays have to do is two things:

1.) Reach an agreement with the city and county on the value of the franchise the year before construction begins on a new stadium.

2.) If the Rays ownership sells the team during the term of the lease (30 years), they agree to split every dollar above the agreed upon prestadium franchise value in the same proportion of the stadium funding -- 60 percent city/county, 40 percent team.

For this discussion, let's says the Rays and the city agree that the franchise is worth $200-million before a new stadium is built. If the Rays' ownership sells the team for $300-million, the Rays would receive the first $200-million and then an additional $40-million. The city/county would split $60-million.

If the Rays agree to this, you almost hope Sternberg sells because it would be good news for everyone. It also makes the city and county more stable partners with the Rays. If they win, we all do. If the Rays don't agree, we'll all know more clearly what this is about.

Note: I want to make clear I'm not suggesting a taxpayer-funded plan is the best thing, or even a good thing. This is just a little game play based on what we know the Rays are asking for.

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If you don't want the Rays, he does

R

LAS VEGAS — The mayor of Las Vegas sure seems to know a lot about the Tampa Bay Rays.

"They have great pitching,'' says Oscar Goodman, anxious to lure the major leagues to his city. "The infield is solid. I think they have the nucleus to become a dynasty."

But in St. Petersburg?

Or in Las Vegas?

As baseball executives gather Monday on the Strip for four days of meetings, Goodman will be there, showgirls on each arm, pressuring baseball's brass for a team.

Your team.

Goodman's not close to winning the Rays, or any other franchise, but he's farther along than you might think.

And he's not the only one eyeing the Rays.

Read the rest of our story, publishing Sunday, here.