Monday, April 4, 2011

Forbes.com Report That Contraction Looming for Rays Is Premature

Forbes.com has reported that contraction is looming for the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. Mike Ozanian writes, "what I am hearing, I doubt there will be any baseball at Tropicana Field after 2014 even though the team’s lease runs to 2027".

Ozanian adds that the team suffers from no fan support and that "high-revenue team owners tell me the Rays are a dead brand commercially that needs to be pulled from life support".

This is all a bit hasty. The Rays have been trying to get the city to build them a new stadium for some time. Historically, talk of contraction or re-location has helped teams achieve that goal. For now at least, this is what's going on here (see Twins as example or the Marlins). This is nothing more that pressure being put on the city to build a stadium.

So all is not dark in Tampa.

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