Someone needs to talk to St. pete city council..to demolish a 100$ million dollar Tropicana Field to build a housing complex for hobos and drug dealers is a losing bet for the city, leave Tropicana field and renovate it for a soccer stadium

A new stadium???? 

IF you build it, they will come

Jonathan112 - 10 November 2007 01:38 AM

Al Lang Field is the absolute best site site for a new ballpark! The best ballparks are located in downtown areas, and if done right, this could really bring St Pete to the next level. Its also really exciting to think about what could happen at the Trop site. Maybe we’ll finally get some decent retail? I’m tired of crossing the bay to get a decent pair of shoes.

By the way....the design for the imaginary ballpark on this website is so tacky. How about something original rather than these nostalgic throw backs. And don’t we have enough spanish tile roofing in Florida?!?

I’m hoping for a really cool modern design that shows off the water and the city. Go Rays!

Absolutely agree with you Jonathan112. Let’s see what the Rays are offering Nov. 28th when they reveal their renderings and details. I love the Al Lang site; it’s saturated with baseball lore and needs to continue serving that role. And I also like the new unis. Very classy. Go Rays!! Go New Ballpark!!

Now there is another saying for every business owner, “Location, Location, Location.” I4 and 75 is ideal for every fan. From St. Pete take 275N to Cross Town to 75N about 30 mins.  From Orlando I4 go east about an hour.  From Pasco 75S about 20 mins.  From Southern Hillsborough 75N about 25 mins.  quote]

Now that’s a great idea, build a Stadium 25 minutes away from everyone!!!  BRILLIANT!!!  How about moving the team off of Alligator Alley?. Then you can draw people from Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Naples, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Gainsville and Tallahassee!!!  Just take I-95 or I-75 and you’ll be there in 1-6 hours!!!  OF course, you will need to convert some Marlins fans but, it will be like the NYM and NYY!!  Now that’s big time!!!

Be sensible, how about not building a new stadium and use the $150million the owners want to put up and buy some relief pitchers!!!  Lets look at rebuilding the team from inside out instead of the other way around!!!  Winning games games will bring in more fans, once this is accomplished (with the right personel) then we can look at getting a new stadium. 

THEN AND ONLY THEN, move the team right next to Raymond James.

#1Bucsfan - 21 November 2007 02:22 PM

Now there is another saying for every business owner, “Location, Location, Location.” I4 and 75 is ideal for every fan. From St. Pete take 275N to Cross Town to 75N about 30 mins.  From Orlando I4 go east about an hour.  From Pasco 75S about 20 mins.  From Southern Hillsborough 75N about 25 mins.  quote]

Now that’s a great idea, build a Stadium 25 minutes away from everyone!!!  BRILLIANT!!!  How about moving the team off of Alligator Alley?. Then you can draw people from Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Naples, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Gainsville and Tallahassee!!!  Just take I-95 or I-75 and you’ll be there in 1-6 hours!!!  OF course, you will need to convert some Marlins fans but, it will be like the NYM and NYY!!  Now that’s big time!!!

Be sensible, how about not building a new stadium and use the $150million the owners want to put up and buy some relief pitchers!!!  Lets look at rebuilding the team from inside out instead of the other way around!!!  Winning games games will bring in more fans, once this is accomplished (with the right personel) then we can look at getting a new stadium. 

THEN AND ONLY THEN, move the team right next to Raymond James.

Enough with the Tampa talk. If you were a fan, you’d drive over the bridge to your sister city. I live in Tampa now, but used to live in St. Pete. When in St. Pete, I drove the bridge to see Bucs and Lightning games. Now that I’m a Tampon, I drive the bridge to see Rays games. But there’s one thing I hate about it. That dump known as Tropicana Field. Let’s get this new classic ballpark built!!!!

If it had to built without taxpayers money. My choice would be Lakeland with a smaller stadium.  Halfway between everywhere Orlando, Pinellas, Pasco and Tampa.  Out of harmsway from coastal storms. If they finally decide to put in the light rail from Orlando to Pinellas. Great way to get to the games with eases. It all should depend whether anyone has great visions for mass transit.  We are so congested now even building more roads will not help let alone what we have to pay in taxes to fund them.

Build whatever you want, wherever you want.  Just don’t ask taxpayers to cough up money for a BUSINESS. 

We already did this for the Bucs years ago.  Had it not been “packaged” at the time with police/fire/school projects, the vote for their new stadium would have fallen through as well.  I for one am tired of funneling tax dollars to support a business!

I’d love to see the new stadium replace the pink apartment complex (Nebraska Ave/Nuccio Parkway area south of 7th Ave.) in Ybor City/Downtown Tampa at the I-275/I4 junction.  This would fill the hole between downtown Tampa and Ybor and create a major draw to downtown Tampa which isn’t very far for Lakeland and Orlando residents to drive to catch a game.

If this new stadium was more central perhaps attendance would be a bit higher!

However, I do like the design for the new structure.  Very modern and compact.  This will be a lesson to other cities in Florida on how to build an urban stadium that doesn’t need acres and acres of parking lots that are deserted 98% of the year.  The plan to redevelop the old Tropicana site are great too.  The housing market ill pick up in a few years and this will be quite sucessful I’m sure.

Why, Oh tell me why we need a new base ball stadium? Do we have so much tax money laying around that needs to be spent? I think someones priorities are way off. We seem to never have enough money for schools, police, firemen and needy people all around us but always seem to be able to help people making millions a year.

Building a new stadium, moving the Rays, building new housing on the old lot??? Are you kidding??
Look at all the “new” development sites where the investor has pulled out and is sitting empty because they can’t get buyers for what they have!!! This is a BIG Joke. NO Way would I help pay for such a thing with my taxes when there isn’t a solid promise of filling what is already there.  Tearing down the Trop to “build” new condos would just be ANOTHER waste. Area homes aren’t even selling.  What makes you think more condos will?  With the recent publicity on the homeless and their struggles why not use that “money” to do something useful for those residents or is that just TOO MUCH common sense?? Or would that be a LACK of common sense?

I love the Lakeland idea.  I drive to about twenty games a year from Winter Haven.  I’d get season tix if they were in Lakeland.  Heck, I’d go to 40 if they were at I-4 and I-75.

The Rays do NOT own the Trop. So while it is not a new or existing “tax” - it is over $400M of public funds. It’s a very clever/sneaky way to present it.

Think of it this way. The Rays propose to “redevelop” the land your home is on - but - instead of giving the profits to you, the land owner, the team keeps them instead. Sound good to you?

Please note - being a fan of the team doesnt mean you have to be a village idiot that blindly supports a horrific deal like this stadium plan. You can love the team, support the team, and yet still be smart enough to refuse handing them $400M of our public money.

I can take Carl Crawford in the 1st round of my fantasy draft and still judge this plan on it’s merits. It’s a bad deal for the public.

Why do so many of you struggle with this?

What the Rays are asking for is a total rip off. It’s absurd. Seriously, if the team asked you to put on a dress and lipstick - would you do that too?

I want it at Al Lang.

For the people who want it in Tampa i will say this:  Set over your selves.  I have driven in Tampa.  It is not that nice.

I am also happy at the trop.  To me this deal could make sense and is worth exploring.

Thomas - 30 November 2007 01:57 PM

The Rays do NOT own the Trop. So while it is not a new or existing “tax” - it is over $400M of public funds. It’s a very clever/sneaky way to present it.

Think of it this way. The Rays propose to “redevelop” the land your home is on - but - instead of giving the profits to you, the land owner, the team keeps them instead. Sound good to you?

Please note - being a fan of the team doesnt mean you have to be a village idiot that blindly supports a horrific deal like this stadium plan. You can love the team, support the team, and yet still be smart enough to refuse handing them $400M of our public money.

I can take Carl Crawford in the 1st round of my fantasy draft and still judge this plan on it’s merits. It’s a bad deal for the public.

Why do so many of you struggle with this?

What the Rays are asking for is a total rip off. It’s absurd. Seriously, if the team asked you to put on a dress and lipstick - would you do that too?

Thomas,

Again I point out that you are completely misrepresenting the teams position.  We have had this argument before.  so put up or shut up.  Please provide link to the statement that they Rays want to take $400 million of public funds.

Bottom Line, get the facts or eject.  Your choice.

Again I point out that you are completely misrepresenting the teams position. We have had this argument before.  so put up or shut up.  Please provide link to the statement that they Rays want to take $400 million of public funds.

No problem:

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/11/30/Southpinellas/New_Rays_tax_Depends_.shtml

The major portion would come as the result of redevelopment of the Trop site. The money, of course, is not the team’s to spend.

Hmmm, if it’s not theirs, then whose money is it SScream ??  That’s right, it’s the PUBLICS

“The Rays statement is all about perspective - and context.  The team’s proposal to build a $450-million waterfront stadium calls for no new taxes.  In that regard it’s not a new tax, but rather the sale of a city asset, [city councilmember Bill] Foster and others said.

So they sell a city asset and give the profits to the team.  Hmmmm, those are PUBLIC FUNDS.  Just because it’s not a “tax” doesnt mean they are not PUBLIC FUNDS.  Wait, there’s more.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/nov/28/plan-would-have-rays-new-stadium-2011/?sports

“Much of the plan for both sites hinges on the ability to sell the current Tropicana Field site to developers for at least $240 million.”

That’s kind of a problem Scream, because:

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/11/14/Rays/Land_under_the_Trop_i.shtml
“According to the Pinellas County Property Appraiser’s Office, the current market value is around $121-million.”

Of course “Team officials did not elaborate on what would happen if the Tropicana Field site didn’t generate $240 million.”

Gee, I wonder who’s going to be on the hook for that shortage? 
Let’s continue…

http://www.tbo.com/sports/MGBHQ6CPT8F.html
They also plan to seek state sales-tax rebates that would amount to $60 million.

Opppps - there’s more PUBLIC FUNDS going into the deal.  You want some more crow to eat ... here’s another mouth full for you:

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/01/Southpinellas/Rays__land_request_fo.shtml
The Rays also want to fill in part of bay and re-route a street.
“Stadium plans call for dumping fill dirt over six-tenths of an acre of Tampa Bay to create about 26,000 square feet of new land, the rough equivalent of three house lots.  The Rays then want the city to reroute Bayshore Drive across the new land.”

I didn’t see the Rays offering to pay for that either SScream...

So let’s review:
Tropicana Field is owned by Pinellas County, so any money from developing that site sould go to the county, not the Rays. Al Lang Field is owned by the city of St. Petersburg.  The Rays are proposing to develop two publicly owned parcels and keep the proceeds for themselves. 

Bottom Line, get the facts or eject.  Your choice.
There it is clown.... all right in front of you.  Now go upstairs and get changed, the Rays want you in a dress and lipstick right now.  When you get back you can post a complete retraction/apology.