Apr 7, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; General view of Tropicana Field before the start of the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles . Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
Spring Training in Toytown is a bad idea
MICHAEL LORTZ / TAMBA BAY BASEBALL MARKET.COM
(excerpted – see the link above for more)
(Our previous posts on this subject are here and here. This one brings up counter-arguments – from the Tampa Bay Rays perspective. )
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This is the second time Sheffield and other investors hoped to lure the Braves to Tampa Bay. Last year, Sheffield and others were planning a baseball complex in the Wesley Chapel area north of Tampa.
Last year, I thought another Spring Training complex in Tampa Bay was a bad idea. This year, I think it is a horrible idea for three major reasons: Demographics, Economics, and most importantly, Territorial Rights.
The final of which could make even opening the bidding a very bad gamble for the powers that be in Pinellas County.
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Economics
In May, I wrote a post for Rays Index that described how overstretched the Tampa Bay market is in regards to sports. According to the economic data I used, Tampa Bay is the fifth-most overstretched sports market in the US. And the study didn’t account for non-MLS soccer, arena football, Minor League Baseball, or Spring Training.
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Territorial Rights
Although there are four teams training in the Tampa Bay area, none of the four are within the Rays territorial area as defined by MLB Territorial Rule 52. I’ve written about Territorial Rule 52 here and here.
Part of the rule states:
"No team may play home games within 15 miles from the boundary of the home territory of another team, unless specifically expected."
And …
"Overlap between MLB and MiL team – (1) neither club’s ballpark may be within 15 miles of the boundary of another home territory; and (2) home territories may not be shared without consent of the MLB club unless the ballpark is 50+ mile from the MLB club’s boundaries."
Toytown is 9.7 miles from Tropicana Field.
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[ Editor’s thoughts: First of all, hat tip to the author of this for making me aware of these issues – which cannot truly be argued.
First, an aside thought: Funny that there’s only a 15 mile team territorial boundary rule – since the MLB TV Blackout rules sometimes extend across OCEANS.
The development group that is forwarding this proposal really doesn’t care about things like territorial rights or economics… except to the extent that they’d prefer to leverage their own facility to be a year-round baseball complex (did you notice the twenty baseball fields on site??).
This Spring complex effectively is a gauntlet thrown down to the Tampa Bay Rays… whether intended that way or not. Frankly, they need to either get something moving in a positive direction to assert themselves within their own community or pull up the stakes, buy out their lease, and find another home city – be that Nashville, Charlotte, or Montreal… which could bring up other thoughts — like expansion or re-alignment. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The Rays are in a no-win situation – as is pointed out, the Braves would be the fifth Snow-bird team in the area… and are already immensely popular in Florida… dating from days before the Rays and Marlins existed. Such a development would thus be great for Atlanta but disaster for the Rays, whose fanbase is already highly fragmented.
Including this season, the Rays have had the worst attendance in baseball in 4 of the last 5 years (they were 29th in that other year) and they have the worst stadium in baseball. As a result, they need to be asking the hard questions… like “should we even bother?”
It’s a good question, given that there is zero momentum to replacing their current stadium (they can thank the Marlins for that), and there’s been no local assistance for them toward breaking their lease at Tropicana Field – which extends through 2027 and hangs like a yoke around their neck. So between the stadium, the attendance, the resulting low revenue base, the market… they are stuck.
Perhaps having the Braves move into town might be the impetus to start them moving. Elsewhere. Which might be better for them overall. ]