Yeah, that was all smokescreen for the fact that the real issue is that Sternberg still subscribes to the philosophy that one of the primary ways to derive value from the club as an asset is to get public financing for the stadium.
Yeah, hard disagree on nothing wrong with the Trop, and your location for a stadium. That area is fine, but Tampa's urban core is booming right now and getting a ballpark closer to that area should be the primary goal in a vaccuum.
Who cares? As long as it's decent to play in. Unlike that disaster of a park they have now.
Tropicana field is nothing short of an embarrassment to the sport and should be sent to the depths of hell Carrie style as soon as humanly possible. The catwalks are an utter joke and, as stated, the stadium is completely soulless. The real problem however, is that you can't see a baseball hit in the air due to the brilliant strategy of making the roof a lovely shade of baseball.
Yes, the vibe going to see the Lightning is totally differently. My in laws are in central Florida so I end up going to see the locals. Magic is fun ( a little too loud in there), Bucs are a mediocre experience, Lightning is great, the Trop is awful but tickets are incredibly cheap.
That's true. Although the meatpacking district sort of evokes the image of blue collar bars and cool lofts, while Gas Plant District sounds like a superfund site. But the Gas Works park in Seattle is pretty cool, and hopefully free of forever chemicals that might damage your DNA, so you never know.
Honestly, I'd prefer MLB get the franchise out of that market if they're just going to build a new place in St. Pete.
That's Historic Gas Plant District, Sir.
Never understood why they don’t move to Orlando, for one.
It's amazing the difference one word makes. Beacon Hill has gas lamps and the real estate is some of the most expensive in the country. Exits on the Jersey turnpike have gas plants and people go an hour out of their way to go around them.
Are those used hot tub parts? I love it.
If you can believe this, it is better now than it was. It’s still bad but it’s a better experience than it was.
I mean, aside from the pandemic season, the hockey team across the bay has sold out every single game for 7 years running.
Yep. I’ve been in the Lakeland area for 4 years now and have attended exactly 0 games. Not worth the effort
I stayed down on Water Street recently and I was actually incredibly impressed with the build out of that area.
It probably will be a boondoggle. Just read the responses of those in this thread who live in the area. It is a miserable experience to get to that area if you’re to the east. The Lightning do well because they’re in Tampa and the arena is exceedingly easier to get to.
The Central district is a fun urban core, keeps getting better, and the west side of the Bay is booming. Nice assessment of future projections. Manatee and Sarasota counties have exploded from the south too and are an easy drive over the Skyway.
I love Sarasota county LOVE
As a JAX person, nobody up here is looking to go to or through Orlando, ever. We find a reason to go to Gainesville or 301 it to Ocala and hit I-75 to get to Tampa/St. Pete. The St Augustine folks of through Palatka and hit 301.
Montreal would be fun, but the specific location of the opponents of the team i root for isn't in the to 30 reasons I care about MLB.
That's because no one goes to the games. The Trop is fine when people are actually there. For one thing the seats are more comfortable than Fenway. When they tear it down the new park will have double the ticket prices and real baseball fans will find they can't afford to go.
No offense intended, but I don't think Lakeland figures into the discussion of a DTSP stadium, and for a Tampa stadium it's a secondary consideration. The population that gets activated by a downtown Tampa stadium is located in Tampa city limits, Carrollwood, Brandon/Riverview, Town N' Country, Westchase, and to a lesser extent south county and the Pasco suburbs. I don't think Plant City is even in the conversation much.
DTSP is definitely poppin', and in some ways I like it even more than downtown Tampa. That said, DTSP is a really different vibe (think hipsters) and I don't think that population cares too much about losing the Rays, whereas Tampa is obsessed with its teams.
The Trop is not fine, even when people are in the stands. I went to a game with the wife and 2 young kids last month, and while the concessions are better, and the services are better than they used to be, it's still a very sterile environment with far too much concrete and brick and not nearly enough natural light. It's also an acoustic nightmare (TBF so is Marlins Park). It's a AAA-quality stadium with a capacity for a MLB club.
Your entire post is right on. The bolded is my biggest issue with all of this. Sternberg is a shit owner. I can't believe that he convinced St. Pete to foot 650 million dollars for this entire thing when 80-90% of this cost should be coming out of his pocket (especially with what @InstaFace brought up, he's been collecting checks from other teams for years)
