Since 1998, the Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball team has played at Tropicana Field in Tampa. It’s a luxurious, inside park that gamers and fans hate.  ,
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The gamers hate it because of the low-hanging runway that interfere with travel balls, filthy lights, and unnatural turf-like cement. In 2024, Tropicana’s regular attendance was merely 16,500 per game. The group made the finals in 2023, and their apartment wild-card game attracted only 19, 700. That is the lowest participation in a big group playoff game in more than a century.
In a manner that may have appeared unkind. Hurricane Milton, which ripped through the facility and caused significant damage, gave the area a makeover.
From @TheAthletic: Tropicana Field, residence to the Tampa Bay Rays, sustained significant damage to its dome as Hurricane Milton descended upon St. Petersburg, Florida, and the surrounding area. It can survive gusts up to 115 mph. photograph. twitter.com/qlZUAzIFT3— The New York Times ( @nytimes ) October 10, 2024
The Rays will play at the 11, 000-seat spring training facility in Tampa, where the damage wo n’t be repaired this year. The biggest issue, however, is not related to Tropicana Field. The Rays want to create a$ 1.3 billion, 30, 000-seat facility as part of a city growth job in a mostly black community.  ,
A crucial vote on whether to issue bonds to include a sizable portion of the facility’s funding was postponed due to the Pinellas County Commission’s decision to postpone the groundbreaking of the new venue.  ,
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That causes stress for the team.
In a letter sent to the Commission, co-presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman wrote,” The Rays organization is saddened and stunned by this unfortunate turn of events.” The County Commission and the town of St. Petersburg both gave their approval for the project, they claimed.
A 2029 rough distribution, as we have stated at every step of the process, may result in significantly higher costs that we are unable to take on by ourselves, the letter continued.
Tampa-St. Petersburg’s Major League Baseball has always been on living assistance. Without the fresh stadium, is it still uncertain whether the company will succeed.
The committee, which today includes two newly elected people, voted Tuesday to delay account of the leasing bonds until its Dec. 17 meet.
” This is a great deal. I’m hardly an anti-stadium people. I just want to make sure we’re getting the package done and it’s fair”, said Commissioner Dave Eggers.
That leaves the Rays ‘ coming in St. Petersburg in purgatory.
” We know we’re going to be in Steinbrenner in 2025 and we do n’t know much beyond that”, Auld said in an interview.
The questionable rationale for billionaires using citizens to fund these parks is getting old. Yes, companies generate tens of millions of dollars in annual income revenue. However, the more than a billion dollars that were invested initially do n’t add up.  ,
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When the new facility is built, Tropicana may be destroyed. It will cost$ 55 million to restore the center. However, the social pressure to make the fresh estimate the core of urban renewal likely means that both the new playground and bonds will be issued.
Pinellas County did spend about$ 312 million on the new estimate, along with about$ 417 million on improvements to the city of St. Petersburg, compared to the original plan, which included infrastructure improvements. The Rays and their companion, the Hines growth company, did cover the remaining costs including any shortfalls.
It is n’t just baseball that is affected. The Historic Gas Plant District, a predominantly Black neighborhood that was forced out by the development of Tropicana Field and an federal highway drive, is a component of a larger industrial restoration project.
You had to hear that” social justice” may be part of the image from the start.
