Rays' Boss Tells Tourist Council Ballpark Would Be Big Draw

CLEARWATER - A new Tampa Bay Rays stadium on St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront would become a destination, drawing tens of thousands of additional visitors to the area to vacation, shop and dine, the team's president told a tourism panel Wednesday.

But members of Pinellas County's Tourist Development Council cast a skeptical eye on the Rays' request for $100 million in tourist taxes to help finance the team's proposed $450 million ballpark.

Several tourism board members said after the meeting they need more information from the Rays before making a recommendation to the county commission, which has the final say.

"Right now, without a lot of information, that requires a pretty big leap of faith," said council chairman Bob Stewart, who also is chairman of the county commission. "What we're trying to do is get information and eliminate the faith factor and make it based on facts."

Stewart said the 12-member tourism board appears split on the Rays' funding request, adding, "I'm not sure the Rays have the lead at this stage of the game."

The 1-cent tax on hotel beds now is used to help retire the debt service on Tropicana Field and is set to expire in 2015. The Rays want to extend the tax, paid primarily by tourists, for 30 years starting in 2017, applying the proceeds toward the new ballpark.

The remaining $350 million of the stadium's cost would be covered by a $150 million contribution from the Rays, $70 million from the developer who buys Tropicana Field for redevelopment, $75 million from extending St. Petersburg's contribution to paying off the dome and $55 million in ballpark-related parking revenue.

The tourist development council is scheduled to recommend on July 9 either supporting or rejecting the Rays' request to the county commission, which would make a final decision July 22. The St. Petersburg City Council last week voted to begin the process for scheduling a referendum Nov. 4 on a new downtown stadium and is set to take final action Aug. 7.

"A big part of our draw in the new ballpark will be visitors from out of town who make this a part of their vacation," Rays President Matt Silverman told the panel. "They see it on TV first or read about it and then they come here to experience it, and hopefully you also get that effect of having that recurring visitor. That's what baseball can do."

Last year, the Rays sold 300,000 tickets to buyers who were from outside the Bay area, from places such as Boston, New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit, Silverman said.

"It will be a destination," Silverman said, drawing comparisons to Oriole Park and Camden Yards, next to Baltimore's popular Inner Harbor. "Today Tropicana Field serves its purpose, but it's not a destination. It doesn't draw people in and it doesn't highlight our area."

Board members, though, wanted to know how much those out-of-town fans now spend outside Tropicana Field, at shops, hotels, restaurants and attractions. Silverman said the team is working on getting those figures.

"We need to know what the Rays are producing in terms of tourism dollars to the community," said Tim Bogott, president and CEO of Tradewinds Islands Resort on St. Pete Beach. "And then we need to have some kind of an estimate of what that would be with the new stadium."

Some board members said the decision ultimately will come down to which benefits tourism the most, a new ballpark or renourishing beaches and promoting tourism.

Silverman suggested there would be enough money for both. He said extending the bed tax for 30 years would create a surplus of about $140 million that could be used for tourism-related projects.

Board member Jody Armstrong isn't convinced.

"I really need to see some hard facts," said Armstrong, mayor of Redington Shores. "And hard numbers and serious dollar numbers before we can make a sound decision."