Sternberg's response

The Devil Rays eventually will need a new stadium to replace Tropicana Field.

But they're not expecting one anytime soon.

Principal owner Stuart Sternberg on Tuesday clarified comments in a New York Times story, saying there is no deadline for a new ballpark and he will stick to his promise to never demand one. But he also said he doesn't think the Trop, which opened in 1990, can be the team's home for the remaining 20 years on its lease.

"I know we have to be here at least five years and I know we can't be here for 20,'' Sternberg said. "It does not have a shelf life of 20. ... Now that we've been in here a little bit longer and done all the improvements, we can really see the issues structurally within the building. It's not an option that it will last another 15 or 20 years.''

Sternberg and his group have invested about $18-million in stadium related upgrades over the last two years with the idea the team would be at the Trop for awhile. "We didn't do that to amortize it over a five-year period,'' he said.

Sternberg said the idea of a new stadium is not a priority issue, but more something he and his top officials talk about on occasion. With the recent - and thus far unsuccessful - efforts to get state funding for a new south Florida stadium for the Marlins, as well as the renovations to the Rays' new spring training home in Port Charlotte, he acknowledged that the subject has been more topical.

"We'll focus on it more as time goes by,'' Sternberg said. "Something of this magnitude, it really isn't anything I've spent a lot of time on. I have thought about it. Nothing can be done overnight. It's in the background. We know it's there. We chat about it - how and what.''

When Sternberg took over the team in October 2005 he pledged he would never demand a new stadium, and Tuesday he reiterated that promise. "Absolutely,'' he said. "I was extra clear a year and a half ago, and nothing has changed.''

He did say Tuesday that he might initiate the conversation, but that any effort would have to have the support of the Tampa Bay area and the state.

"I might present ideas to other people but it's in conjunction with the region,'' he said. "Given the scope of the project it's got to make economic sense and it's got to make civic sense. If we do our job right as an organization (in improving the franchise), I would expect that it would make it that much easier and that much clearer that it would be the right thing for the municipalities and the Devil Rays.''

The Rays are in their 10th season at the downtown St. Petersburg stadium.

Comments

[Steve]

I just love all of the provincial Tampa-St. Pete sniping that I'm reading here.

It's precisely the reason why our area's known as "Gooberville." The Rays are a regional team; our REGION needs to start supporting them. Or else they won't be in our REGION any longer.

Get a grip, people!

[Rene]

Why hasn't anyone said anything about Silverman confirming changes for the uniforms, colors, and logo in 2008?? As far as I know, it hadn't been confirmed...great to hear breaking news like this in the NY Times and not in our local paper.

[new kid]

Orlando is great. its about 2/3 of the tampa/st.pete metro area. people will go to the game after they spend all of their money on the theme parks. and the people from north florida will stop being braves fan and go to the center of the state. the people just south of the bay area can all go to miami and the trop that caused families to be displaced can sit as an empty reminder that a city larger then orlando its self have nothing. and we can shut down places like furgs can shutdown. you get where i'm going. oh and old people have nothing to do soy they go and sit and spend money at the game. so, do you get where i'm going.

[Dale]

Orlando.....riiigghhht. You guys do such a good job supporting your ONE professional sports team, let's give you another one.

[barryisbackonroids]

I think Orlando would work better, a much younger demographic compared to st. pete. Even though St. Pete is considered bigger(I don't know how, I lived in Orlando and it definitely has a bigger city feel to it than tampa or st. pete), it is filled w/ so many retired people that eat dinner at 4pm and are in bed by 9. Build a ballpark near Downtown Orlando and the Rays attendance would be better especially w/o a Pro football team there and with all the great nightlife options in Downtown Orlando a walk a way on Orange, Church Street, and Wall Street. I wouldn't be surprised Sternberg looking at this option down the road.

[new kid]

build a new stadium.... with what money.

[Dale]

I live in North Tampa and go to quite a few Rays games each year. I don't have a problem with the drive. That being said, the dome is an embarrassment to watch a game in, what with the warehouse appeal and balls bouncing off the freakin catwalks every night. If and when a new stadium is built, it should be placed in Tampa b/c geographically, it would be within reach of many more people. Yes people come to Tampa from Pinellas for other sporting events. Simple common sense, and a look at a map, would tell you that you draw fans from all directions if the team plays in Tampa, and more of central Florida is included in the radius of what people would deem an acceptable distance to drive for a game. No-brainer to put the team in Tampa.

[jeff]

Come on Ray.....When the Rays win, the customers will come. Just like the bucs and the lightning. You make it sound like the bucs and lightning were selling out stadiums before they started to put a winning product on the field. Win and the fans will fill that stadium.

[jeff]

Give me a break. The teams payroll is an absolute joke. What is it 22 million for the whole team? Sternberg and his gang are making millions off this team. They said that they would raise payroll this last year and they decreased payroll, same thing this year. Supposedly they are building a war chest of funds to pay the current talent when they are due new contracts. Riiight. I loved the free agent pick ups this year too. I think the rays management said that the free agents are too pricey this year. Do these idiots think that the prices will be lower in the future? It is all about $$ to Sternberg. Simple as that.

[Ray]

Hey JC,

Do you realize the amount of people from Pinellas that support those teams in Tampa?

If we didn't come across the bridge, do you really think Tampa would sell-out all those games at the CITS and the Ice Palace (SPTF)?

I hardly think so and it's about time Tampons supported the Rays like we do the Bucs and the Lightning.

[new kid]

so lets say they move into Tampa. where? It already takes 3 hours it get in or out of Tampa now we have another hour tacked on for another year, and then on every game night from then on. move. Where? Birmingham wants football, Las Vagas won't get a team for at least another 5 years. The Carolinas has now were near the earning potential as the 3rd largest metro area in the southeast. so tell me were? St. Pete isn't all newly wed and nearly dead. We here are very proud of our stadium. So I ask you, Where?

[JC]

Jim, I am in St Pete quite often and yes even downtown. I must admit it is changing for the better, but I have driven by Ferg's before and after a normal game night and save for opening night and the occasional Red Sox or Yankee weekend games, its not exactly happening. The typical Central Ave regualr isn't exactly a baseball fan, its a very different type of person.I myself am only 33 so I kinda am in your demographic as far as looking for entertainment. So saying that doesn't hold much water for me. I didn't think we were worried about things to do after the game to begin with,this is about the horrible stadium in which they play.

[Jim]

Here's the thing I don't get; Tampa people say, "St. Pete's too far," yet, St. Pete's where all the money really is and we have no qualms going to Tampa for events. They're called the Tampa BAY Devil Rays for a reason, because they belong to the whole area. And since you have 2.5 major sports teams in Tampa (the Storm's in a not-so-major league of sports, the AFL), why can't we have one here and have no gripes about it?

C'mon, when it was the Thunderdome, the place was packed ad no one complained about "the distance". Why start now? Because the Rays aren't winning, and when a team doesn't win, Tampans refuse to acknowledge their existance. Look how many fans the Bucs had in the orange-sickle days: not as many as now. Why? Because they (used to) win, and since they (used to) win, people were coming out of the wood work claiming to be a lifetime fan. So, as I said before, moving to Tampa does nothing but raise our taxes having to pay for a 1/2-filled, retractable roof, aesthetically pleasing stadium.

And JC, "1.5 million old people on fixed incomes"? When was the last time you've been to St. Pete? I work downtown, and I can tell you, as a 24yo professional, this city's not the St. Pete of 10-15 years ago, when I would have agreed with your geriatric remark. There's nothing in Tampa for anyone 18-35, the prime baseball age range, save Hyde Park and sometimes Channelside. Ybor's gone to the teenie-boppers and downtown closes at 5:01PM in the dot. At least in St. Pete, Central Ave's open and active well past 10PM on a weekday, just about the time the game gets out. So, with things to do afterwards, Tampa definitely loses out.

[Stu]

Anyone who trivializes St Petersburg's, and for that matter all of Pinellas, contribution to the greater Bay area is a naive moron.

St Pete is, simply put, a more beautiful and cultured city. The only thing Tampa has is the airport... and metropolitan airports aren't something to be proud of, ask all the poor folk West of Dale Mabry who have those rockets shaking their house daily....

[Andrew]

Yeah, just what I want to be doing in the middle of August on a Sunday afternoon...watching the Rays in the 98 degree heat.

The Trop gets a lot of grief but when it is 95 freakin' degrees out, it sure is nice to be indoors.

I've been miserable at Bucs games in November!!! Can you imagine baseball in the summer?

[JC]

Jon, come on now. I know your kidding right. St Pete crown jewel? St Pete does have the beaches, 1 good hotel on the beach and oh about 1.5 million old people on fixed incomes. So of course the fan base of the devil rays can only be about 8500 nightly except when the Yankees are in town. I love the beaches & own a condo on Sand Key, and spend most weekends there during the summer, so I do catch quite a few games in the Trop. I do live though in Hills. county, and generally when I tell people I attend alot of games their first response is "its to far" on a work night. There is a reason that the NFL & NHL selected TAMPA to put teams, it can support them!! Yes St Pete is undergoing a change in downtown, but it is just unable to support a team. Its in a bad spot, even if it were in the Gateway area it would be easier and a shorter drive for most people who have the disposable income in other area cities to attend. Not just Tampa.

[Jon]

St. Pete is defintely the jewel in the entire Tampa Bay region. It has an incredible upside too! I am hopeful that the Rays management realizes this and builds the new stadium in St. Pete whenever that time comes. With it's close proximity to Sarasota, Tampa and Clearwater an ideal place for a new stadium would be near the bay in downtown St. Pete. Aside from Hyde Park, Tampa is bascially an empty city. I'm tired of hearing negative comments about St. Pete when Tampa is basically full of billboards and strip clubs - there's no culture at all.

[Ron]

Ownership wants a new stadium alright. They just want it in a new city, and I don't mean Tampa. This is not the beginning of a push for a new stadium in the Bay Area, but the beginning of the push to move the team.

[JC]

I like how he is backtracking now. If they still want to draw 8-12 thousand for most series then keep it in St Pete. If this really is a major league team and wants to be viewed as such, move across the bay to Tampa and enjoy the crowds that will come. Nothing against St Pete but most fans can't stand the stadium & area its in. No question we need a roof during the summer months, but a retractable roof stadium would do the trick just as good as that already outdated dome.

[Mike Z]

I have to agree and disagree with Jim's statement. You do have to build a team that is successful so that you can attract fans and this year certainly has given people something positive to look at with the new generation of youth.
My feeling is that the team should play it's home games in Tampa. St' Pete is a beautiful place however it is a tourist area and a retirement community for the other teams fans. I for one would buy season tickets if the stadium was in Tampa.

[Fred Jones]

Build a stadium in Tampa already! Leave St Pete to the blue hairs & Hillsbourgh county residents that visit during the summer at the beach.

[Jim]

Yet, he still doesn't realize that it was, in fact, built to last past the 5-years he's claiming; he's just trying to get "support" going early for a new request in that 5-year timetable in which he claims the Trop will fall apart. What he needs to realize, like I said in the article before, is the "Fleid of Dreams" theory won't work here; only building a spectacular team will make them come, no matter how many amenities you put into a stadium. And with increased ticket sales brings more revenue, and more revenue can pay for bigger and better improvements to the Trop that people think it needs.

Open your wallet, Stu, and maybe you won't look like a complete fool right now.