Opinion

Keep the Rays

TBO.com
Published: April 19, 2012

This year is a pivotal one in Suncoast sports history. Major sports are now a big business and one of the greatest marketing tools for a city and an area. Sports fans from coast to coast associate Tampa Bay with the Buccaneers, Lightning, and the Rays. Most of the kids I teach haven't been out of the Northside of Jacksonville, but they know Tampa Bay because of the sports franchises that calls the area home. The camera shots of the beach and beautiful weather during games have attracted countless people to spend their hard earned money here in the tri-county area.

Sports teams, especially baseball teams, seem to provide a sense of identity to an area, as well. When you are in New York, you can't help but see that NY insignia on ball caps all over town. When one is in Boston, that stand alone B is everywhere on caps and shirts. Over the past decade, the Rays have made incredible strides to bring that same type of pride to Tampa Bay with the sleek and clean TB insignia on their hats.

One point must be made though: baseball will not work in St. Petersburg. After several winning seasons in a row, attendance at Tropicana Field is still low. Business leaders and politicians must come together to figure out the best way to finance a stadium in this area using as little public money as possible.

That stadium should be built in more centrally located downtown Tampa across from the Tampa Bay Times Forum to provide Tampa Bay sports fans with a premiere sports and entertainment district in the Channelside neighborhood. Within a 30 minute distance of downtown, 1.8 million people reside in Pasco, Pinellas, and Hillsborough. Only 1.1 million people reside within 30 minutes of the Trop.

It is pivotal to the future of this area to keep the Rays. If not, you never get another chance to be a big league market because plenty of other towns want a shot at what we have.