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I-275 travelers get a (digital) sign

The new electronic marquee outside the Tropicana Field dome should be working by Friday.

By NICK BIRDSONG
Published June 29, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Motorists traveling southbound on Interstate 275 might notice something new jutting into the skyline among the birds and planes.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the city of St. Petersburg erected an electronic messaging board last Friday in the parking lot of the 15-year-old dome adjacent to the interstate.

"The opportunity is so unique, having a stadium so close to the interstate," said David Auker, senior vice president of business operations for the Devil Rays.

Rick Musset, city development administrator, said the board will announce upcoming games and other events at the 45,000-seat facility. It will also promote other city-sponsored functions and provide real-time postings for hurricane evacuations, traffic accidents and Amber Alerts, he said. The board is being tested this week and should be activated by Friday at the latest.

Musset said the city contributed $500,000 to the 60- by 32-foot board from an account for improvements to Tropicana Field.

"It's not discretionary money that can be used for whatever the team wants," Musset said. "When they switched from AstroTurf to field turf, that's where the money came from."

Auker said that figures for the exact cost of the marquee were not available. The team paid more than $1-million for both that board and another board that was installed inside the dome before the beginning of this season. The team will retain control of the board's content from a computer at the dome.

The hope is that increased awareness will drive ticket sales, Auker said. The board, with the shape of the dome and a baseball at the top, would "connect the facility to baseball."

A boost in ticket sales also means more money for the city. According to ESPN, the Rays are currently rated dead last in attendance this season, averaging 13,149 fans per game. Musset said the city receives 56 cents per ticket sold to Rays games.

The board has been a long time coming. Kevin Dunn, the city's managing director for development coordination, said a marquee of this sort was in the plans when Tropicana Field was known as the Florida Suncoast Dome in 1990. That was five years before Major League Baseball granted the Tampa Bay area a team in 1995. However, the marquee was never built due to budget constraints.

"Most stadiums of this size have a marquee," said Musset, who has been employed by the city for 25 years.

Dunn added, "It's something that has been in play for a while nationwide."

Officials from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers said there is no electronic messaging board outside Raymond James Stadium but noted that there is one directly across the street at Hillsborough Community College.

"There is a lot of misunderstanding nationally because the team is called the Tampa Bay Devil Rays," Musset said.

"We take it for granted, but there are a lot of people who don't know that the team actually plays in St. Petersburg."

The board seeks to clear up the misconception: "Welcome to the city of St. Petersburg," it reads.

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 04:56:49]