New Rays Stadium (Tampa, Orlando, Sarasota: cars, parking, area)

[mrviking]

Originally Posted by dougie_fresh

As far as St. Pete/Clearwater falling behind, I agree with this and wonder if it is an issue of "a bridge too far". I look at Top Golf and Portillo's choosing Brandon for their Tampa Bay locations and USAA and Progressive and it sems like the locational advantages of being on the I-75 corridor with close proximity to I-4 and the Selmon to downtown Tampa (a breeze) are starting to favor Hillsborough. Plus, there is the proximity to the Orlando market.

So it doesn't make sense to me for the Rays stadium to remain in Pinellas when the majority of regional growth is occurring in Hillsborough. I think Pinellas/St. Pete will always have the edge in beach tourism and arguably the urban appeal of St. Pete, but I see Tampa/Hillsborough outpacing it as a business location.

I don't say this as a Tampa booster but as a casual observer.

I said it before and I will again. That is the only area in the Tampa Bay Area where you can get to all four neighboring counties in 45 minutes or less. For someone who has driven the roads of Tampa Bay for over 40 years, I thank god every day for living in the sweet spot.

[The Villages Guy]

I am not sure the Orlando market would be all that interested in a Tampa Bay team. Heck, it is hard enough to get the Tampa Bay market interested in them enough to go to the games.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by North_Pinellas_Guy

I am not sure the Orlando market would be all that interested in a Tampa Bay team. Heck, it is hard enough to get the Tampa Bay market interested in them enough to go to the games.

I don't think Orlando could handle a team. They just got MLS and are pretty excited about that. And they have a hard time filling up Magic games when the team isn't winning.

[theurbanfiles]

In fairness to St. Pete, I think the area along Central extending west from the Trop for about a mile would probably at least hold it's own in comparison to Seminole Heights or Hyde Park, though of course the areas are very different.

I think you are probably right in terms of where population, and more especially population demographics are. Even if you do have almost a million in Pinellas, and around 800K in Sarasota and Manatee counties, the population of those two places wouldn't seem to be as interested in the games on average as the Hillsborough crowd, which factors in and is apparent.

I do hope that the DT and neighboring sections (near west side) of St. Petersburg aren't too adversely affected by losing the team, as right now it is a moderate sized, but very well developed city and a really cool blend of culture, nature, and people. Maybe it's imagined, but just the fact that a big league team plays in a city seems to give it some kind of "big league edge", which isn't present in other cities, even of similar population. Even in those cities of similar population that have teams vs. not, the city skyline also seems to be much more developed.

[Crane's Rooster]

Originally Posted by North_Pinellas_Guy

I am not sure the Orlando market would be all that interested in a Tampa Bay team. Heck, it is hard enough to get the Tampa Bay market interested in them enough to go to the games.

As a long time Orlando resident I would agree. Baseball in general is just a hard sell in Florida, I mean the Marlins have won the series, the Rays have been competitive and yet the passion just doesn't seem to be there. The only remote chance in Orlando is to build the stadium on I-Drive or near the tourist corridor and hope the visitors and tourist will help fill up the seats, other than that I couldn't see the Rays doing well here either.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by cavsfan137

I do hope that the DT and neighboring sections (near west side) of St. Petersburg aren't too adversely affected by losing the team, as right now it is a moderate sized, but very well developed city and a really cool blend of culture, nature, and people. Maybe it's imagined, but just the fact that a big league team plays in a city seems to give it some kind of "big league edge", which isn't present in other cities, even of similar population. Even in those cities of similar population that have teams vs. not, the city skyline also seems to be much more developed.

I get what you are saying, but the Trop doesn't really add anything to Downtown St. Pete. It's not like in Orlando where the arena is perfectly connected in the streets of Downtown, and makes that area livelier. Same thing with the Lightning, they are now building around the arena and having the Lightning downtown definitely adds to the energy. While I like DT St. Pete...it's no more big time than the Downtown areas of places like West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale.

I think you could remove the Trop and nothing would change as far as Downtown goes. I think it's definitely more of an imagined thing.

[theurbanfiles]

Just for informational purposes, here are some distances from St. Pete and Tampa to certain spots around town. Note that these are done without taking traffic into account at all.
Tampa St. Pete
Beach: 32 mins. 12 mins.
John's Pass: 40 mins. 25 mins.
Bradenton: 45 mins. 30 mins.
Sarasota: 60 mins. 48 mins.
Tarpon Sp: 45 mins. 45 mins.
Dade City: 40 mins. 60 mins.
Busch Gds: 15 mins. 35 mins.
Airport: 10 mins. 20 mins.
Disney: 60 mins. 75 mins.

[theurbanfiles]

You might be right on that point. One of the things that helps St. Pete big time is the waterfront. I believe 3rd largest in America dedicated to parks after Chicago and somewhere else.

I would also say that the city probably has 3 of the best 5 art museums in the state within its downtown, in addition to the premiere movie theatre, live music venue and other local stuff that has sort of grown organically.

Whether it is similar to those I'm not sure, you could be right, but being down there even on Monday there was almost pedestrian gridlock, and Clematis Street was pretty dead last time I was there. I would say Ft. Laudy might be a pretty fair comparison, but, I don't have as much experience with there so I'm not sure.

[BucFan]

Here's what the requirements will likely be.....

WANTED: New home for American League baseball team | Tampa Bay Times

Some idiotic comment by area politicians in St Pete, if you ask me. They just don't seem to get it.

[BucFan]

Oldsmar mayor pitches plan for potential new Rays stadium

I can't see this happening. Stadium needs to be more central to the TB area population in and around current RayJay or east of that (Fairgrounds area?)