Sternberg calls deal fair, says with no new stadium team likely to be sold, moved

Having finally reached what he considers a fair agreement with St. Petersburg to look for stadium sites in Tampa, Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg restated his confidence in the Tampa Bay area as a strong market for Major League Baseball.

But he also said that if the agreement is not approved and there is no deal in place within the next few years for a new stadium to be built, he likely will sell the team and would expect it to be moved out of the Tampa Bay area when the Trop lease runs out in 2027.

“I’m not leaving. I’m not moving this team. I’m not taking this team out of the area. But that’s me,’’ Sternberg said at baseball’s winter meetings in San Diego. “The chances of me owning this team in 2023 if we don’t have a new stadium are probably nil. Somebody else will take it and move it. It’s not a threat, just the reality. I won’t be sitting here 10 years from now waiting it out to move the team.’‘

While acknowledging approval by the St. Petersburg City Council on Thursday remains “a big hurdle,” Sternberg said he believes that approval can lead to success in the market.

“I think baseball can still flourish down here and I’m looking for the oppotunity to make that happen,’’ Sternberg said. “We need to get the building and the location pinpoint perfect for that to happen.’‘

DRays Bay: Rays to Montreal? “Smart chronicler” says yes

Pre-game conversation with a smart chronicler of the Rays, who believes team is finished in this market and eventually headed to Montreal.

As I have said before, and in direct disagreement with Henning, the Rays do not have a weak market as they face almost no competition for baseball, with excellent television ratings. Baseball is a television sport.

A far more likely team to move would be the Oakland Athletics, who have a far worse stadium than the Rays, and direct market competition with a massive franchise in the Giants, who surely would love to control the west coast, bay-area market.

Oh goody, now Montreal can be part of the ruse to extort cities for new stadiums!

Lynn G. Henning, a writer for The Detroit News, reported at the beginning of this series that he’d had an in-depth conversation with a presumably knowledgeable source that the Rays are on their way to Montreal.

This is a standard rumor for the Rays franchise. Complications of baseball’s worst attendance and most chastised stadium, combined with two very limiting contracts in the lease on Tropicana Field and minimal television revenue, have made this a routine conversation. Purporting an actual source, however, is a new development….

 

Pre-game conversation with a smart chronicler of the Rays, who believes team is finished in this market and eventually headed to Montreal.

— Lynn G. Henning (@Lynn_Henning) August 20, 2014

As I have said before, and in direct disagreement with Henning, the Rays do not have a weak market as they face almost no competition for baseball, with excellent television ratings. Baseball is a television sport.

A far more likely team to move would be the Oakland Athletics, who have a far worse stadium than the Rays, and direct market competition with a massive franchise in the Giants, who surely would love to control the west coast, bay-area market.