Urban Sports: St Petersburg

[Metro Jacksonville]

Urban Sports: St Petersburg



Since the Tampa Bay Rays' inagural season in 1998, baseball on the Gulf Coast hasn't exactly been a big draw.  Tampa Bay hasn't been all that good, and the dungeon that they play in (Tropicana Field) doesn't really inspire a day at the ballpark.  Today, MetroJacksonville takes a look at the Tampa Bay Rays' proposed new facility as planned by the team and the City of St. Petersburg

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/761

[jeh1980]

I think we are a little overdue for a Major League Baseball franchise.

[copperfiend]

I hope the ballpark gets built in St Pete. I was down there in 1995 when the city was awarded a franchise. There was excitement after years of coming close to landing a team (sound familiar). Unfortunately, the initial owner and GM did a terrible job of managing the team and farm system and the community soured. With the new owner in place and a terrific farm system, the future looks bright for them. The new ballpark would allow them to compete with the big boys.

[lindab]

The tag on the Trop: $233M and climbing

By Aaron Sharockman, Times Staff Writer

Published Saturday, March 8, 2008 5:50 PM

To thunderous applause, the St. Petersburg City Council took a historic leap on a hot summer day 22 years ago.

The city would build a domed stadium for baseball. The cost to taxpayers: $85-million.

"Great ventures have never been undertaken without some risk," then-council member J.W. Cate said moments before green-lighting the project.

Today, the price of the stadium has almost tripled, according to a St. Petersburg Times examination of city and county records.

And the bill, which now is at least $233-million, will rise to $323-million by 2016 whether or not a new stadium is built.

The detailed analysis, compiled from 20 years of city budget and financial statements, is the first attempt to calculate the true local contribution to lure Major League Baseball to Pinellas County.

The numbers have no direct effect on the Tampa Bay Rays' proposal to build a new $450-million waterfront ballpark. The money is gone, or will be, and it all was budgeted before Mayor Rick Baker took office in 2001 or the Rays new ownership group took over in 2005.

But the costs raise questions about how much taxpayers should be on the hook should negotiations toward a new stadium continue....
full story at: http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/article414158.ece

Aaron Sharockman can be reached at asharockman@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2273.

[thelakelander]

Good article, it brings back a lot of memories.  Suncoast Dome, Thunderdome, Chicago White Sox, Seattle, San Francisco Giants...  I remember seeing this thing go up in the late 80's and the city's repeated failed attempts to land teams.  Anyway, i'm impressed with the Devil Ray's new ballpark plan.  St. Petersburg (btw, Barton's last job was here) has been a leader in urban downtown development in this state for years.  Its well ahead of its neighbor across the Bay, although Tampa has closed the gap with the streetcar setting off development in the Channel District.

While, its too late for our stadium district we do have an opportunity to plan and issue RFPs the right way with the proposed county courthouse, the land surrounding it and the current waterfront courthouse site.  Regardless of whether we like the new courthouse design, its key that it integrates well with its surroundings.  The city will do downtown a disservice if the structure opens up to one street and has little to no interaction with the surrounding blocks.

For example, Courthouse Square in Redwood City, CA features a public square at the entrance of the courthouse building.  The public square sets the stage for a diverse amount of pedestrian friendly opportunities to take advantage of the large number of people that will use the courthouse daily.  Because this is now a destination for courthouse visitors, employees and others, it helps feed pedestrian traffic to nearby surrounding downtown businesses.  





The planning step of making sure a large public funded structure fits in with its immediate surroundings is something both Redwood City and St. Petersburg have not overlooked and is something we should definately incorporate with the design of our proposed county courthouse.

[thebrokenforum]

I enjoy reading this site because of its optimism. Most of the ideas you’ve presented here (since I’ve been reading) are great. I would love to see a lot of these things implemented here. This city has so much potential. It’s just that progress here seems sooo slow…and it seems like civic leaders like it that way. It’s always “should have, could have, would have”. It’s frustrating. I applaud you for bringing new and exciting ideas to light for Jax – I just wish someone from the city would pay attention and get the ball rolling. We needs someone with vision and guts in city hall.

[tufsu1]

I think its important to note that the majority of the work was done upfront by the Rays, not the City....the Rays hired EDAW who worked with Hines on drawing up the redev proposal for Trop Field...Once they had the details down, then the Rays went to the City and presented it.

btw....best guess is Hines wins the RFP

[Ocklawaha]

Baseball hall of fame, why not here at home?

We are sitting on a gold mine in BASEBALL and the city has snored through it. Jacksonville is the home, THE CITY, where the first national caliber Negro League has formed. Our Southern League of American Baseballers allows us to claim our city as "THE HOME OF THE NEGRO LEAGUES". To see a similar "Hall of Fame, museum, gift shop and sports complex, see also: http://www.softballoutlet.com/


Mitchell Alonzo, Jacksonville's star player

Baseball, like football is a national pass time, all American. Add to this thought, a hotel, a museum with a Negro Leauge HALL OF FAME, gift shop, and plug it all into the baseball grounds downtown. It would be a simpe task of orginazation to re-create the JACKSONVILLE RED CAPS as a team. The "team" could be made up of black volunteer expo players from the AL and NL. Once the roster was worked out and agreements with the leagues "FOR HISTORICAL and EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES" we then field our black baseballers aginst the big league teams for several games a year. Tell me you wouldn't go to the baseball grounds to see the JACKSONVILLE RED CAPS -vs- NEW YORK YANKEES? The CUBS? SOX? ANGELS? DODGERS? Let's show some pride and some creativity for a change and capture that spirit. Some of the best baseball ever played took place in our fields, The BABE, Yogi, and STAN THE MAN were all here... so were the negro league players including Alonzo.


One of several Jacksonville Teams, The RED CAPS.

Let's get a team on the field, I'm ready to see our negro league take on those Yankee's in an expo game. Gotta love this game... yeah batter, batter, batter... come-on S W I N G !

Ocklawaha

[Matt]

WOWEE what a stadium!!! I love it! it reminds me of the gold ol' days ballparks, where not everything is symmetrical and boring. this is great!!! homers will go into the water just like in san fran!!! great stadium!!!