Where Should the Rays Relocate?
If you’re any kind of baseball fan, you know the Tampa Bay Rays are one of the least supported franchises in the major leagues. After the other Florida-based franchise, the Miami Marlins, the Rays drew the worst attendance in MLB last season. Their average of just 14,258 fans per game in 2018 shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone though, as they have been ranked last in attendance since 2012 and in the bottom two since 2011. Their extremely low numbers continue to dwindle year by year and has to be embarrassing to a franchise that regularly competes with the top teams in the AL East.
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A stinging statement came from Rays outfielder Tommy Pham last week, as he was discussing the Tampa Bay attendance woes. “Do I think something has to happen, whether it be a new ballpark, maybe a new city? I think so. Because if you have a team that’s going to be winning 90+ games, competing in the AL East, and you don’t have any fan support, that’s a huge problem.” Pham, who was traded from the Cardinals in 2018, went on to compare the two totally different fanbases saying, “It sucks going from playing in front of a great fanbase to a team with really no fanbase at all. St. Louis, they’re one of the few teams to where day in and day out they have 40,000 fans at every game.” College basketball analyst, and devout Rays fan and season ticket holder even agreed with Pham’s assessment, saying those words hurt, but no doubt are true.
Photo: Nola Laleye
This week, in an attempt to appear at more capacity, the Tampa Bay Rays announced they will close off all upper deck seating at Tropicana Field. The seating will be reduced by over 5,000 to bring the new capacity to approximately 25,000. To compare, that is 10,000 seats below any other MLB stadium. With the lease at Tropicana Field signed until 2027, there’s not much that the Rays can do. They have discussed building a new ballpark, ideally still located in Tampa Bay, but questions surround the franchise to whether that would really improve attendance, especially after the newness wears off. Tampa Bay has a great team with plenty of talent every season. They consistently compete with the Red Sox and the Yankees at the top of that division. There’s no doubt this team deserves better. But they don’t just deserve a new ballpark, they deserve a new city. The big question then becomes “where?”
Montreal
I’ve been an advocate of this for a long time. They had the Expos from 1969 until 2004, when they relocated to Washington D.C. Montreal is such a unique city with unique culture that it provides a fanbase that infuses that culture into the team and the sport. Former players who played there say they love it. In my opinion, this would be the ideal choice.
Charlotte
This would be a great choice. Our hometown of Charlotte loves its sports teams and no doubt would embrace a major league baseball team. The Charlotte Knights, with their state-of-the-art downtown stadium, consistently leads the minor leagues in attendance. Charlotte as a city is growing really fast and now would be a perfect time to give North Carolina its first major league baseball team.
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the 14th largest city in the United States, so they definitely have enough people to support a baseball team. Like Charlotte, they only have a professional football and basketball team, but the fans of those teams are big-time supporters. They both, especially the Colts, have great legacies. I believe a major league baseball franchise would fit in nicely with the city.
Buffalo
How cool would this be? I think of Bills Mafia taking their talents to the summertime and all of a sudden I want to get season tickets to a Buffalo baseball team. We all know the fans in Buffalo are crazy and extremely loyal, so this would be a nice and fun fit. The city has tried before to get an MLB franchise, but to no avail. The last time they had a major league baseball team was the Blues, but they lasted one short year and disbanded in 1915. The Buffalo Bisons, a Triple-A team, are currently located in the city, and are very successful And with the proximity of Buffalo, New York City, and Boston, what wonderful rivalries could become in the AL East if only…
http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25626811/tampa-bay-really-no-fan-base-all