MLB gave no favors with unappealing opener

By MARC TOPKIN
Published April 10, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Even before the Devil Rays lost two of their first three games, opening the season at home against the Blue Jays was a losing proposition.

The Rays say they asked MLB, as they have in just about all of their eight seasons, to open on the road, but obviously didn't get anywhere.

Because they spend spring training in the Tampa Bay area (at least for a few more years), there would be merit in getting away. They could build up an appetite among fans who are otherwise saturated with coverage, ads and ticket offers over the previous six weeks, and who have the option of seeing the team for lower prices in more intimate settings.

Plus, it might help build camaraderie among the players.

"We train in this area, and for a team to bond a little bit it might be better to just get away for a few days or a series or two," manager Lou Piniella said. "We haven't been together as a team."

Vice president Katy Feeney said MLB tries to honor individual team requests but has certain other criteria, such as having teams open against division opponents and rotating the combinations. And sometimes MLB has to make decisions for the greater good, such as making use of domed Tropicana Field when weather can be an issue elsewhere.

But that doesn't explain why the Rays opened against the unappealing Blue Jays (who have their own dome in Toronto). Or why the Twins (who also play in a dome) opened in Seattle, or why there were openers in cold weather sites such as Detroit, Chicago and New York, but not in Oakland and Texas.

The schedule can be a tremendous marketing tool, but MLB doesn't seem to use it that way. If the Rays had to be home, any team but the Jays - who also trained here all spring - would have been more appealing.

The Rays paid the price, both financially and imagewise, with an announced opening-day attendance of 26,018, the smallest for an opener since 2001, when the Rangers and Blue Jays drew 19,891 in Puerto Rico.

Discounting other unusual settings Mexico, Las Vegas it was the smallest since 1995, according to Dave Smith of www.retrosheet.org when the Orioles-Royals opener in Kansas City drew 24,170, a likely reflection of the just-settled strike. Before that? Try 1992, when the Braves-Astros opener in Houston drew 25,318.

Worse, word is the actual count of fans in the Trop on Monday was fewer than 18,000.

IN THE MONEY: According to Forbes magazine, Rays officials should be feeling pretty flush.

While Forbes dropped the Rays to 30th in its annual ranking of franchise values (despite a hefty increase from $152-million to $176-million), the magazine reports the Rays have the second-highest operating income of all teams, with earnings (before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $27.2-million on revenues of $110-million.

If that were right, the Rays' major-league low payroll of around $28-million would even harder to explain. But it's hard to know how much credence to give Forbes when it also says the Yankees had a $37.1-million deficit (on revenues of $264-million).

"Those numbers are inaccurate," said John Higgins, the Rays chief financial offer/general counsel/senior vice president. "Feel free to break out my quotes from the last couple years - "We don't supply information for Forbes and we don't know where they get their information.' "

RAYS RUMBLINGS: For all that is said bad of him, managing general partner Vince Naimoli showed his heart, writing a personal check for $18,000 to pay off college tuition plans for the two children of Paul C. Smith, the MLB.com writer who died Feb. 26. Naimoli also gave the family season tickets. ... ESPN's Gary Thorne writes in USA Today: "If there is one team ready to be moved to Las Vegas or wherever the next MLB franchise is to be located, the Devil Rays are it." ... Oddsmaker Danny Sheridan's over/under on Rays wins this season is 71. ... Tropicana Field kept its place on PETA's list of the 10 most vegetarian-friendly ballparks. ... Alex Sanchez, according to a sourced report in the Miami Herald, tested positive due to Paradeca, a prohormone once contained in over-the-counter supplements popular with bodybuilders.

[Last modified April 10, 2005, 00:40:18]