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Only hurrahs are missing from dome tour
© St. Petersburg Times, ST. PETERSBURG -- Last week, the City Council voted to spend $2.75-million to settle a contractor's lawsuit over the renovation that made Tropicana Field ready to host Major League Baseball. Wednesday, the two newest council members got a tour that helped them see what that money, plus an additional $170-million or so in taxpayer dollars, has bought the city. Earnest Williams and James Bennett seemed pleased. They took a walk on the FieldTurf artificial grass playing surface, roamed around the players' clubhouse and weight room (Bennett posed for a photo in front of Wade Boggs' locker), and peeked inside the luxury suites, many of which they thought were nicer than the city uses. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in charge of the massive building under a lease with the city, so a subdued Rick Nafe, the team's vice president for operations and facilities, led the tour. Nafe had only good things to say about the FieldTurf, said the roof fabric is holding up nicely and blamed shattered windows in the Batter's Eye restaurant on the stadium's architect. He reviewed how the team has removed railings from the roof support rings to minimize the number of times they hijack home runs or fly balls. The Devil Rays like their home field, he said. At one point, Williams sprawled on a bench in the Devil Rays dugout and did what any Little Leaguer might: he pretended he belonged there. He joked to his colleague, "All right, Jamie; you're up to bat, guy." The major league ballpark's main deficit, the council members found, is baseball fans to fill its 40,000-odd seats. Bennett said he hopes the city and team can work together better to make that happen. "We saw it all," Bennett said. "But it wasn't warm and gushing like some of the other tours I've had. I just hope that through time that the city government and Tropicana Field's executives can have a warmer relationship, that we can make this go."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
