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The baseball team formerly known as Devil Rays

Dan

By Dan
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damus Burg

damus

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maybe dumping that pitiful stadium would help their image more then changing their name

Yeah ... their market isn't exactly enormous. Most mid market teams, especially ones with other major sports teams, can't support baseball too well. There are exceptions like Cleveland was in recent years. I think most people should know what a Devil Ray is, only little kids and morons should be among the confused in my opinion.

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flotown Whistle-Stop

flotown

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I agree they need to move out of that monstrosity they call a stadium. It looks like a giant warehouse or airplane hangar. I also hate their uniforms, their name, and everything else about them (yet I love the Tampa-St. Pete area). I'm with the many who would love to see both Florida teams either moved or contracted. Heck, their intra-state "rivalry" attracted 15,000 a game....pathetic. Florida is great for grapefruit league baseball, but hapless for summer ball.

The MLB players union won't let contraction happen, but unless attendance picks up, I don't see MLB tolerating the situation in Tampa beyond 2 more years. I see a move to Tennessee inevitably.

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snoogit Town

snoogit

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I agree they need to move out of that monstrosity they call a stadium. It looks like a giant warehouse or airplane hangar. I also hate their uniforms, their name, and everything else about them (yet I love the Tampa-St. Pete area). I'm with the many who would love to see both Florida teams either moved or contracted. Heck, their intra-state "rivalry" attracted 15,000 a game....pathetic. Florida is great for grapefruit league baseball, but hapless for summer ball.

The MLB players union won't let contraction happen, but unless attendance picks up, I don't see MLB tolerating the situation in Tampa beyond 2 more years. I see a move to Tennessee inevitably.

Tennesee is a worse market then Tampa! Its smaller, and I doubt it could support the D-rays. The most likely move is the D-Rays going out ot the AL West in Las Vegas, or Portland, with a team from the NL moving into the NL east, or Detroit going to the AL east, with an NL Central team moving back into the AL Centra (Probably Milwaukee)

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tampasteve Whistle-Stop

tampasteve

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I agree they need to move out of that monstrosity they call a stadium. It looks like a giant warehouse or airplane hangar. I also hate their uniforms, their name, and everything else about them (yet I love the Tampa-St. Pete area). I'm with the many who would love to see both Florida teams either moved or contracted. Heck, their intra-state "rivalry" attracted 15,000 a game....pathetic. Florida is great for grapefruit league baseball, but hapless for summer ball.

The MLB players union won't let contraction happen, but unless attendance picks up, I don't see MLB tolerating the situation in Tampa beyond 2 more years. I see a move to Tennessee inevitably.

Have you been to the trop this year? It really has improved, they have put a lot of money into it and it looks a lot better than before. Many people that bash the trop have never actually been there, they only have heard that it is bad, but that is really no longer the case. Also, the owners have said that the team will move into a new stadium, but that is going to be a few years away, probobly 10 or so, so they are in the market and stadium for the long-haul....at least it seems that way.

As per contraction or a move....well, that is probobly not going to happen, the Rays are actuallymaking moeny right now, unlike a lot of teams, firther, if one team (and it looks like the Marlins right now) moved out of the state the media market for that team would be enourmous. There is a lot more to a team than attendance, one has to concider TV and Radio market among other things. Tennesee is not going to get a MLB team any time soon, there are many other markets like Vegas, Portland, Charlotte, and the NJ/NY metro area that would beat out Tennesse for a while, and that is not even mentioning Monterey Mexico or San Juan.

As for attendance, well it is better than before, but in this market if the team is not a winner they will languish for fans, the same thing happened for the Bucs and the Lightning. When they were loosers they could hardly draw a croud, but when they started winning they were sell outs every night. When/if the Rays start to when it will be the same thing.

Steve

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waccamatt Town

waccamatt

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I like the name Devil Rays. Part of their problem is that they aren't centrally located. Being over in St. Pete is a long trip for people on the east and north sides of Tampa. Baseball requires a large market to be successful because the season is so long and the salaries so high. The Devil Rays should build a stadium midway between St Pete and Orlando. This would put them close to the east side of Tampa, but still a reasonable drive from most of the Orlando and Tampa/St Pete metro areas. They also need a dome. I wouldn't want to sit through a baseball game in the oppressive Florida heat; especially during a day game.

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RestedTraveler Metropolis

RestedTraveler

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I like the name Devil Rays. Part of their problem is that they aren't centrally located. Being over in St. Pete is a long trip for people on the east and north sides of Tampa. Baseball requires a large market to be successful because the season is so long and the salaries so high. The Devil Rays should build a stadium midway between St Pete and Orlando. This would put them close to the east side of Tampa, but still a reasonable drive from most of the Orlando and Tampa/St Pete metro areas. They also need a dome. I wouldn't want to sit through a baseball game in the oppressive Florida heat; especially during a day game.

The games should start at 8:05pm or 9:05pm if they did such a thing. Ever sat on I-4 at rush hour? There's no way anybody would make a 7:05 game on time if a ballpark were between Tampa and Orlando.

No, they should build a new retractable roof ballpark right smack dab in the middle of Downtown Tampa or Downtown Orlando, if anywhere.

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tampasteve Whistle-Stop

tampasteve

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i just can't imagine how baseball isn't successful in Florida, two teams with poor attendance. is it pure bad managing -- like addressed above with the location of TB and the Marlins?

I do not live in Miami, so I cannot answer for the Marlins; however in Tampa there is a theory that may explain the abismal attendance. Teams in Tampa have all had terrible attendance problems, that is untill they start to win. The EXACT same thing was a problem for the Bucs and the Lightning. Before they were winners they could hardly draw a crowd. Now, in the case of the Rays the former ownership (before this season it was a different guy) would NOT spend any money on players, the current ownership has spent money on the stadium (and it looks 1,000 times better) but we have yet to see big spending on players. Because of this the Rays do have a fairly solid farm system, but the Rays themselves are not that great (to put it nicely). If and when the Rays themselves improve they will most likely draw bigger crouds. When they were on their winning streak last year they nearly had sell outs every game, the same is possible if the can become a decent team.

Steve

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tampasteve Whistle-Stop

tampasteve

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There are ton of things I'd rather do in Tampa or Miami than watching bad baseball. For less $$ to boot.

There is not much that you can do anywhere for what it costs to go to a Rays game. I think that the cheapest ticket in the house is still under $10, and the parking is free, not to mention that you can bring your own food and drinks to the game, or go on $1 night and get pepsi and hot dogs for only $1 a piece. A Rays baseball game is one of the cheapest entertainment values in town, especally for the time that a game lasts.

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BHCav Hamlet

BHCav

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There is not much that you can do anywhere for what it costs to go to a Rays game. I think that the cheapest ticket in the house is still under $10, and the parking is free, not to mention that you can bring your own food and drinks to the game, or go on $1 night and get pepsi and hot dogs for only $1 a piece. A Rays baseball game is one of the cheapest entertainment values in town, especally for the time that a game lasts.

Indeed, but to watch a bad team 81 times a season in a poorly located venue doesn't sound too appealling to me personally. I'd rather spend that same amount of time on the beach.

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snoogit Town

snoogit

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There is not much that you can do anywhere for what it costs to go to a Rays game. I think that the cheapest ticket in the house is still under $10, and the parking is free, not to mention that you can bring your own food and drinks to the game, or go on $1 night and get pepsi and hot dogs for only $1 a piece. A Rays baseball game is one of the cheapest entertainment values in town, especally for the time that a game lasts.

Jeez, thats as cheap as the Class A team here!

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