Tampa Bay Rays Planning Move To Smallest MLB Stadium

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When it comes to Major League Baseball, there aren’t many things worse than Tropicana Field. Seriously, along with the joint in Miami, they have to have the lowest approval rating around. Luckily, the Tampa Bay Rays have announced plans to get the heck out of dodge. They tweeted out the prototype yesterday, with the new stadium proposed for Tampa instead of St. Petersburg. Check it out below:

It looks infinitely better than the Trop, that’s for sure. Most importantly, the Rays won’t be such an awful TV product because the clear roof will let the sun in. Right now, Tropicana Field looks sooo dreary for TV viewers at home.

Besides the clear roof, the new ballpark — if it goes through, of course — will be the smallest stadium in the MLB at just over 30,000 seats. By comparison, their current digs can hold over 42,000.

Great idea by whoever is calling the shots. Less seats will make those embarrassing photos of their games a little less embarrassing.

Speaking of empty seats, how is this thing getting paid for? Well, they don’t know. Richard Danielson of the Tampa Bay Times got the low-down from Rays’ owner Stu Sternberg.

“Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said Wednesday he expects the team to contribute more than the $150 million he mentioned last year toward building a proposed $892 million ballpark unveiled this week.

“I absolutely know it will grow from there, but I also know it’s not going to be multiples” of $150 million, Sternberg told the Tampa Bay Times’ editorial board.

So, Sternberg was asked, could the team’s share be as much as half the project cost?

“I don’t envision it,” he said.”

The Rays are currently celebrating their 20th anniversary in the MLB, all inside grungy Tropicana Field. Moving forward, they hope to move into the new park by 2023 so they only have a few years left without sun.

It will be built in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa.

 

CATEGORY: MLB