Here's the new Rays stadium! (Tampa: sales, sales tax, costs)

[sinatras]

Looks pretty awesome!

[ilikepizza]

That does look awesome!! Great location too

[bmw335xi]

It looks great, just wish it wasn't baseball lol. I gues it's still good to have a nice venue to take a nap though.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

It looks great, just wish it wasn't baseball lol. I gues it's still good to have a nice venue to take a nap though.

And good hot dogs. And overpriced beer. I don't eat hot dogs but I'll take a $10 Bud Light.

[ishbu123]

I'd never go see a game in St Pete but on the Tampa side I might.

[bobandsherry]

Looks nice, but only 28,000 seats and smallest in MLB. Also, still needs to secure only a billion in financing, so still some significant challenges to make this reality. And hopefully they've looked at the overall design so that baseballs hit are no longer hitting into lighting or other structures hanging from the roof. Will be interesting to see how traffic/parking is addressed too.

More info:

New stadium, new city: Rays unveil Ybor City ballpark plan

[mrviking]

Originally Posted by bobandsherry

Also, still needs to secure only a billion in financing, so still some significant challenges to make this reality.

New stadium, new city: Rays unveil Ybor City ballpark plan

If the City of Tampa wants this, I think a 3 cent "City Sales Tax" would cover it.

[Sunshine Rules]

And in the end, taxpayers are on the hook:

https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/in...y/67-484782741

[MortonR]

Yeah, I went through this in Milwaukee in the 90s, and it ended up costing nearly every local politician who endorsed the idea their office.

While I have nothing against major league sports, I don’t think as a taxpayer I should have to subsidize a team owner’s business. The studies and the numbers prove this over and over again - the taxpayers always end up with the short end of the stick.

Personally, I think local sentiment is totally against this from a standpoint of providing any sort of taxpayer support. Bob (Buckhorn) and Mike (Merrill) are both treading very carefully if you pay close attention, although Bob is a little more brazen about it since he’s out of office soon, so this won’t happen on his watch.

To add fuel to the fire, both Florida MLB franchises are some of the worst in the league for both attendance and revenue. So why would anyone in their right mind put their money on a losing horse, and one that’s been losing consistently for years?

Sure, attendance might go up slightly with a new location, but I’ll be willing to wager the difference still won’t be enough to make the franchise profitable nor pay back the costs incurred to build this giant monument to greed and stupidity. The only winner in this deal should it go through will be the owners.

RM

[ghostrider7811]

Looks nice, but can the tax payers afford this ?
Baseball is a business and like other businesses , they should build and pay for their own facilities.