The 2023 Running Baseball Thread

https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2023...stions-about-proposed-1-3b-rays-stadium-deal/

 

The traffic pattern is better.

 

Having only been to Tampa once (and pretty much all of the time was spent at Innisbrook Resort for a conference), I don't know the dynamics of the fan base, how many are in Tampa, how many are in St. Pete, etc. It seems like it's 30 minutes from downtown Tampa to the Trop. I imagine if you lived on the east side of Tampa, going to a game would be a major haul. Plus, as others have noted, the Trop stinks. I don't know if the Rays would do any better drawing in a downtown, retractable roof stadium, but I have to think they would.

 

And throughout the summer you'd have tons of families on vacation that might end up at a game because it's something to do

 

The market has a problem. The sport is healthier than it was a couple of years ago.

 

To be fair, I haven't had a real rooting interest in the Pirates since 1992, but I still pay some attention.

 

Billy Eppler, the worst GM in a town that includes Brian Cashman, "resigned" today. LOL.

 

WTF was Eppler's infatuation with Vogelbach, if it was true that he told Buck to keep that big dud in the lineup

 

Buck's not an idiot, so that was all Eppler's doing. You have to give credit to a guy who can oversee teams in LA & NY and never win a playoff series.

 

I lived in Florida for 20 years, and most of that time I lived in eastern Hillsborough County. Getting to a game really wasn’t that bad, but in the days of 9-inning games routinely going 3:45 or more, getting home was the problem. That was going to be past midnight, generally speaking, which wasn’t great for working folk or for kids during the school year.

For all the things that sucked about the Trop, the game day experience really isn’t that bad. However, a lot of that is precisely because nobody is there. Seats are cheap and you don’t have to fight for parking.

All of the issues with the market are noted — retirees, transient population, tourists. Noted that a lot of the upper-middle-class non-retirees are military, and they also are transient and not likely to form a years-long bond with a team that barely existed for most of their youth.

The Rays unfortunately don’t market well to Orlando, and they don’t market well to tourists — two untapped sources of consistent attendance. I wonder if too much of their expectation is placed on selling season tickets (“memberships”) and less on trying to catch those single-game or weekend buyers.

The product on the field truly has been, for the last 15 years, everything for which a fan could reasonably ask. I guess maybe a new stadium will help — it has certainly helped in other markets — but it might also be time to concede that market just isn’t a major-league baseball market.

 

Mike Puma
@NYPost_Mets

Buck Showalter is interested in the Angels’ managerial opening, according to a source, and trying hard to get an interview. The job isn’t deemed attractive within the industry because GM Perry Minasian is entering the final year of his contract. But Showalter wants to manage.

 

The best place for a new Rays' stadium?

Portland, Nashville, Charlotte, Montreal ... take your pick.