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What's Brewing

Give us Rays and a stadium

By SUSAN THURSTON
Published February 18, 2005

Football's done. Hockey's doomed. What's left? Baseball, and that's not saying much.

The Devil Rays' prospects for the upcoming season are nothing to cheer about. Same old promises that this year will be different. Same outcome expected.

At some point we have to wonder what it will take to improve the team. More money to hire heavy hitters? More fan loyalty?

Given the Rays had the league's second-lowest attendance last year (only the Montreal Expos had worse and they left for Washington, D.C.) I say we start with building the fan base.

How? Move the team to a new stadium in downtown Tampa.

THE IDEA IS AS OLD as bringing a pro baseball team to the Tampa Bay area. Tampa lost out when St. Petersburg built the Florida Suncoast Dome - now Tropicana Field - but the time might be right to revive the idea.

Downtown Tampa stands ready for a major redevelopment, and building a baseball stadium could give it more steam. The Channel District, once a gritty warehouse district, is well on its way to becoming a happening, residential enclave with shopping and entertainment options galore. On the other end of downtown, Franklin Street is just taking root as the next cultural arts/residential district.

A stadium - and all the development trimmings that would come with it - could link the two. Business groups, developers and the government would have to share the costs, and voters would have to approve any taxpayer-funded financing deal.

Though a difficult endeavor, the idea isn't totally from left field.

JOE TOPH, a longtime Tampa architect who likes to weigh in on local design issues, floats the idea in his recent Downtown Tampa Plan. The plan calls for a mixed-use baseball park with a retractable roof between the SunTrust tower and the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway. It would replace a bunch of ugly surface parking lots, which do nothing to enhance the city and could be consolidated in parking garages.

Toph calls the stadium a "logical amenity" that would "create drama and excitement" for downtown, a central location for more would-be fans.

"It is an opportunity that will be lost if we don't jump on it immediately," he says. "Rarely is that much space available in a downtown."

Toph has tried to pitch the idea to Mayor Pam Iorio but says he can't get a sit-down with her.

He should keep trying.

Just look at San Diego. Its $458-million PETCO Park opened downtown last April with resounding results. In one year, attendance at Padres games jumped from 2-million to 3-million.

The 42,500-seat stadium is considered a key part of San Diego's revitalization. From the stadium sprang high-rise hotels boasting rooms with game views, restaurants and low-rise condos and lofts.

That could happen in Tampa.

It hasn't in St. Pete. Tropicana is too far from the Central Avenue shops and restaurants and other downtown attractions. You don't walk to the Garden restaurant after a game. You go home.

In your car, of course. Tucked between highways, the Trop hasn't sprouted lofts, condos and apartments. Instead, old strip centers, spotty residential and vacant land dominate the area. It's depressing.

Granted, extracting the Rays out of St. Pete would take the Jaws of Life. The team signed a lease to play at the stadium until 2027. And if the Rays left, the owners would likely have to pay off the stadium debt, which stands at about $125-million, according to city finance officials in St. Pete.

But given the state of Tropicana Field, that might not be totally out of the question. The dome is part of the reason the Rays drew an average crowd of 16,139 last year (Yankees had 47,788).

A lot of people don't like watching baseball indoors. Especially here in the Sunshine State. Sure it gets hot in the summer. But we still go to the beach. And when it rains, we could close the roof.

Opened in 1990, the $85-million dome has never earned high praise. Even after the Rays committed to playing there, a team official compared the dome to a Chevrolet and newer stadiums to Cadillacs.

St. Pete finishes paying the bulk of the debt in 2016 and, at this point, has no plans to build a new stadium.

If Tampa gets going, it would have plenty of time to build a replacement.

Gaining support - with deep pockets - is the first step.

"If you want to do it, we can find a way to do it," Toph said. "Creating the want is the harder part."

THE LAST DROP: Here's the latest in over-the-top home prices. A sign seen in South Tampa advertised for a $305,000 handyman special in Beach Park. I can only imagine the price after repairs.

Susan Thurston can be reached at 226-3394 or thurston@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 17, 2005, 10:49:04]