Tampa gets SECOND chance at Rays (feat. Evan Closky)

Tampa gets SECOND chance at Rays (feat. Evan Closky)

The Rays are getting the opportunity to be reborn. I think most Rays fans are appreciative. The Montreal split city plan was like the beginning of the end of this this area. I think it was a little bit of both. He’s the reason of why he bowed out. What do you think was the tipping point? It was not in their game plan to sell the team now. Like I think that he saw the writing was on the wall and he said, “You know what? Let’s just make this a clean break.” He could have sold this team to anyone anywhere. And you know what? Evan probably got that approved just like that. You know, with the John Fischer situation, it was so much worse. And and Oakland and Tampa Bay are so different in their scenarios. Stu didn’t do that. He did not let the baseball operations, the baseball product ever, ever suffer in this process. And for that, for that I applaud him. You’re not starting construction with a new stadium and a new ownership group tomorrow. So, let’s call it 5 years at Tropicana Field. take your time. Like, slow things down. Let a new group come in. Don’t try and rush anything. They’re going to try to build in Tampa. And if for some reason Tampa does not work out, then we get to talk about Orlando. [Music] Evan, there’s so many different ways I think I could start this conversation. But what I really want to get from me to you is like a congratulations, not just to you, but everybody who’s a fan of Tampa baseball because the Rays are getting the opportunity to be reborn. It literally is like that, right? Yeah. You know, new ownership group will be officially put in place here imminently. You know, just have to dot the final eye, cross the final tea. But it’s it’s been a long journey. Uh, you know, it’s it’s it’s been interesting to watch Sue Sternberg kind of have his swan song, especially with everybody in the organization who who loves him and and he was ball boy for a day. you know, he had his farewell uh also during the last home series here at Steinbrunner Field and um but but it was a necessary change and the fact that the area can can finally have potentially this the stadium saga over with would be essential, amazing, and it would be quite the accomplishment for this new ownership group to pull off immediately. that lets us know this team is is going to be here to stay and there, you know, we can cross this bridge another 30, 40 years from now, but it would be like the first time in franchise history that the the fan base can go to games knowing that their team might not be ripped from them in the future. It’s almost like the fan base can actually go to sleep at night, too, right? Not have to worry about what comes tomorrow, what twists and turns. And you know, I I watched your coverage throughout all this and I saw a lot of fans be very hard on Stu Sternberg and and why not? I mean, there were stadium deals that he backed out of. There were a lot of questionable decisions by the race. It’s amazing how the fan base and and watching how they reacted to him saying goodbye basically last weekend for the final home series. How the fan base went from frustration to almost gratification like like appreciation for Stu Sternberg. Like that was an amazing twist. I didn’t expect that. Yeah. and and because there there’s such a dichotomy here with Stu that on the field I think most Rays fans are appreciative and and that’s not to say that you know you got to factor in Stu training away all their favorite players and the fact that they don’t have a high payroll and you know we can get into some of that gobbledygook of of you know moneyball playing you know playing with less but in the end from what Stu Sternberg did with this franchise going back to the Vince Namol days where the devil rays were just an embarrassment. And I think, you know, sports leagues now have learned from that process of just throwing a an expansion team just to the wolves and saying, “Hey, you got to rebuild yourself from start versus, you know, something in the NHL where they say, “Hey, we have to create fandom in like the first five years, so we got to give you a good team that that attaches, you know, yourself to the community.” The the Devil Rays never had that. Tampa Bay never had that. Steu Sternberg came in, flipped that thing around, rebranded, and boom, they were in the World Series. So, if we can teleport to 2008, you know, the the reviews on Stu Sternberg are through the roof. It’s just over time, what he did outside the realm of baseball just it weighed so heavily on this community and his his actions and his words never met. And it it’s always funny to me because you hear so often from the fan base that Sue Sternberg was like the worst owner ever. And it’s like, man, it could have been so much worse. Like I think I that but that just tells me and it tells everybody just how disconnected he was with the fan base and how frustrated the fan base got with him because you know he constantly was at odds of of keeping this team here in a sense like I mean he he never actually left. He never pulled the the trigger on any of this stuff, but you know, the I think the Montreal split city plan was like the beginning of the end of this this area really having any patience for him. I think that really ticked a lot of people off. You mentioned it could have been worse. Trust me, Evan, I know it it could be so much worse for fans in Tampa. Um, so I actually think this is not so black and white. People will ask, did he lose interest and sell the team? Did he get forced out by Major League Baseball and sell the team? I’m here to say it doesn’t always have to be one or the other. Just just like instinct wise, I think it was a combination of both. I think he felt a little bit of heat. I think he had a little bit of reservation personally about where is this going for me? Is this worth it? I love it, but I’ve been doing it for 20 plus years. I think it was a little bit of both is the reason of why he bowed out. What do you think was the tipping point? Yeah, I think I think some of that I I do believe that it was never their intention to really sell the Rays. Um they did want to hold, you know, eventually they did, but for now I think they, you know, they still wanted to win a World Series. They still wanted to be owners of a franchise. Uh they were not it was not in their game plan to sell the team now. But having said that, uh, when they felt the heat, as you mentioned, when they realized a lot of their words weren’t working the same way that it once was, when they realized that Major League Baseball was pissed off, when they realized that Major League Baseball was going to do some things that was going to mess with them, their revenue, uh, what could potentially come down the shoot. And I, you know, I think Stu, he’s not he’s not someone that’s going to like fight. Like I think that he saw the writing was on the wall and he said, “You know what? Let’s just make this a clean break, right?” You know, I got it. I hear you. You know, the the Major League Baseball did really well by him. Got him $1.7 billion on a team that was valued, you know, at like 1.25 or something like that. I mean, it was they they got a pretty penny on this franchise. So, it’s nothing to, you know, cry about for for Stu losing his team and and he’s going to have quite the uh compensation on the way out, right? But yeah, I think that it um it ultimately he never, you know, what we really don’t know is was he always positioning this team to move out of the area or was he always just doing this song and dance to really stay in the trop as long as he could where he wasn’t losing any I mean the you know it was barely a cost for him uh in the trop. So, you know, I that remains to be seen and I think all the skeptics out there will say he just wanted to position himself to leave. Certainly understand that. Um, but yeah, I think in the end it just it just became too much of a fight. And I think from that standpoint, Stu said, I’m good. Uh, you know, I I get it. Let’s just let’s just move on here. You did a great monologue to sum up the entire situation. How fans feel, how they’ve felt, how they feel now, and what the Rays have done, haven’t done. And I thought that was brilliantly put. At one point though, you also compare it to the ace situation with owner John Fischer. But you said Stu Sternberg isn’t, and I think your words were a villain like John Fischer. I’m going to say the the biggest credit I can give Stu Sternberg is that when he had the choice of selling the team, he also had the choice of selling it to anybody anywhere. And I do realize that Dr. Rick Workman has pivoted from trying to be the main backbone of the Orlando Dreamers to now part of the Zelupsky group that’s going to keep it in Tampa, we think. But Stuart Sternberg actually did right by fans in Tampa because he sold the team to a group that from what we understand wants to do everything right here in Tampa. He could have sold this team to anyone anywhere. And you know what? Evan probably got that approved just like that. So I think that’s a big thing for him. And that and that was you know because and again like and you know you know with with TV and and having the work and time like I mean I put four minutes into that thing I wish I could have gone eight I wish I could have gone 12 and then you can really dig into the nuances of kind of all these things but you know that that’s why going back um you know I kind of said that because there are people out there who said he’s the worst owner of all time and you guys understand it’s so much worse and that’s the thing like Stu ultimately people can talk about what you know he was going to do and this and that. That’s all hypothetical land. In the end, what happened? The team was sold to a group that is going to try its hardest to get a stadium here. We are optimistic that is going to happen. He did not have to do that. Major League Baseball certainly had their preference on the Tampa Bay area and and I’m sure shoved them into a corner with that into some regards, but in the past he could have also, you know, left and and sold it to another group and I’m sure Major League Baseball wouldn’t have, you know, batted an eyelash and maybe would have circled back to Tampa Bay with a stadium plan and figured out something there. The the fact is, you know, with the John Fischer situation, it was so much worse and and Oakland and Tampa Bay are so different in their scenarios. Yes. U but but uh timelinewise for Major League Baseball, they ran parallel in a sense of that Major League Baseball didn’t want to start an expansion until they figured out the athletic situation. They figured out the Rays situation. So you saw what happened with the AIDS and you saw what happened with the Rays and it just was different. It was a different result. And even before you had the final nail in the coffin there in Oakland, you know, John Fiser removed a tremendous team from on the field and said, “Screw this. Screw this. I’m going to make all you fans suffer. I’m going to make you not want to show up to the park because that’s only going to give me more reason to sell this damn team and take you out of your town.” Stu didn’t do that. He did not let the baseball operations, the baseball product ever, ever suffer in this process. And for that, for that I applaud him, even though I don’t think a lot of the fan base here will, but but that’s I mean that in that perspective, I just like it’s hard for me to say that this guy’s a villain when in the end people here hopefully, you know, if the stadium thing works out, they’re going to get what they want. It’s not going to be with Sternberg, but they’re going to get what they want. Go talk to fans in Oakland. Did they get what they want? They didn’t. And it’s so much worse and it’s so sad. So, and and that that is the worst case scenario. So, that was that was really my my biggest emphasis in that line is just a reminder like Stu never never threw the fireball that he could have. He had it in his back pocket. And I mean, everyone kind of even like you I mean going back to the Montreal City plan like there were things that I always heard with Stu. It’s like if Stu wants to get this done, he really has to be the bad guy. And Stu doesn’t want to be that guy. And he was a bad guy for different ways, but he never wanted to blow torch the area. And and that needs to be put into perspective. To steal your analogy, Stu did break some windows, but John Fischer burnt the house down, right? Like that’s that’s exactly how it went. Yep. I want to pivot a little bit and talk about Tropicana Field because that’s been another saga as part of all this and it was caused by mother nature and, you know, put the Rays in the temporary stadium spot for this year. Now it’s getting fixed. Um 55 closer to now $60 million. I’ve seen the roof panels go up. So this is my observation, Evan, from a couple thousand miles away. But that’s why I want to ask you about it cuz your boots on the ground there in my opinion. Fixing it up for 3 years and $60 million. No, that’s not financially worth it. But it is worth it to keep the team around. And you know what? At this point, you’re not starting construction with a new stadium and a new ownership group tomorrow. So let’s call it five years at Tropicana Field. Take your time. Like, slow things down. Let a new group come in. Don’t try and rush anything. Use Tropicana Field as insurance. And you know what? It is costly, but this is going to save your team and profit from that for decades to come. That’s how I feel. Yeah. And and I and that’s really what it comes down to. There’s also some legal things in there where um the city is responsible and they they they tried to think of a of a deal to to not go down this path. Nothing came to fruition. Major League Baseball stepped in and said, you know, we’re going to have to get this done. So, we, you know, once the dust is settled, once the insurance payments are put out, we don’t really know what the cost of this all is going to be. We certainly see that rising, and we kind of always knew that it was going to rise from the initial projections, but I agree. I I I understand the lease is up at a certain time. I would imagine that St. compete. They’re going to want to extend the life of that building as much as they can considering what they put into it to make it worth their while. They also, you know, they’ll be able to figure out what they want to do in the downtown area uh while the rays eventually shift out of that ballpark. And then I just think that it it made the most sense to to to fix that place. Like if you didn’t, where are the rays going? And and people always say like just stay at Steinbrer and I always tell people like the Stein Brener is not their home, right? The that is the Yankees facility and the Yankees gave it to them for a year and and we’re all thankful for it. It was a a a fun year at Steinbrer, but the Yankees want their facility back. It’s not ours to take for 5 years. So it it will um I would be shocked if it’s just a three-year deal and we’re shifting in. I think uh things on the stadium front will likely move a bit fast now. Uh once that thing is completed, conversations are going to happen now instead of in hypothetical land. It will happen in reality. Um I think all these whatif scenarios are going to turn into let’s make this happen. And they can probably build a stadium fairly quickly. I don’t know if they can develop the area around it as quickly as they would want, but they at least do have a workable facility across the bridge. Uh that if they need to extend it by a couple years, as you mentioned, like why not? I think fans will be understanding of that. If there’s a stadium being built, I think you’ll start seeing more, okay, I’m willing to do this because I know what’s coming down the shoot. St. Pete is probably going to be in some conversations here, but this baseball team is is going to Tampa, right? There’s no question about that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I’m I’m sure St. Pete’s open to having the conversations. I guess there’s a world where if Tampa’s playing hard ball, um that they would circle back to St. Pete and say, “Hey, that deal that you uh gave Stu, is that still on the table?” Um but for the most part, you know, my read on this is it’s it’s Tampa or bust this they’re going to try to build in Tampa and if for some reason Tampa does not work out, then we get to talk about Orlando. I think from the start and I mentioned it to you, Orlando for me has always been the plan B. It’s always been a legitimate plan B, but it’s always been a hey, we got to create a scenario where if we can like if we cannot get this thing done in Tampa, we got to pivot. We don’t want to pivot, but we got to have that that that okay, let’s let’s turn to this. And now we have someone in the ownership group who has connections to Orlando where, hey, we want you a part of this ownership group. we like you. Let’s have you here. But if things don’t work out, we’re going to now, you know, shift some things over to, you know, to you and and what kind of you saw and uh and and that will work over there as well. So, uh to me, that’s that’s kind of how I see it. I do see it as Tampa. And if it’s if we’re still spinning our wheels and we can’t blame Stu anymore, then then Orlando will be a legitimate contender in this. You know, switching to baseball over all the years with Stu Sternberg at the helm as as owner, like the Rays had some winning seasons. They made some magical runs. I’ve always said that you can win without spending, but you can’t extend that window of winning unless you put some money back into it, keep your players, resign them, all the above. What do you think the future holds for this actual baseball team on the field with new ownership? There is certain to be some change in the front office and maybe some people leave and go and do different things. Can the Rays actually still be that underdog team or what will the payroll look like? I mean, I know there’s a lot of questions to be answered about how this new ownership is going to treat its baseball team, but what do you expect the actual baseball product to be going through this transition? We almost don’t even talk about that part. I expect the baseball to remain fairly similar as long as most of the baseball ops people are still there. I mean, for Eric Neander, right, we were all wondering, hey, are you going to take that Washington Nationals job? Well, the national job is now taken up. Like Neander doesn’t have really anywhere to go unless he wants to retire. He’s very young, very good at his job. I don’t see why he would want to do that. The new ownership group wants him. So, if Neander’s at the helm and Kevin Cash is still on board and you’re able to keep the people in between, well, for the most part, the thinking is going to stay the same. Operationally, they’re going to stay the same. I assume that the salary uh the the payroll, the opening day payroll is going to stay the same. I don’t see them all of a sudden being $150 million spenders. What I hope happens, what I don’t know will happen, but what I hope happens is that the new ownership group comes in in this off season in a month from now, we got a press conference to go to extending Junior Camero telling the fan base, “Hey, we are going to develop great talent and when they’re great, we’re going to keep them here.” Right? That’s how you win the fan base immediately coming off the Steu Sternberg experience versus all the fans in my mentions that go, “Well, I guess we only got three more years to enjoy Camaro. Oh, we get, you know, three more years to enjoy Chandler Simpson.” Like, you got to start, you don’t have to invest in the free agents. You got to invest in your own people, the people that the fan base is falling in love with. And that’s what I hope what I think will be changed with this new ownership group. Not the like, not this crazy amount of cash that’s being dropped. It’s just I think they’re going to have a different philosophy on the hey, we got to shuffle everybody in and out sort of deal. And uh that will give Eric Neander a little bit of a better um a little bit of an easier job that he doesn’t always have to play the trade this person, trade that person every single year and have a new team out there and so on and so forth. So, you know, typically stuff like this, you don’t really feel the wake of it until like years from now. So, it’s going to be like probably it’s going to be the same as you remember and then three, four, five years, you’re going to start feeling the effects of, okay, now what has this ownership group done? What are we seeing coming through the pipeline? How is this team performing? What have these new actions internally done? That’s when we’ll start feeling it. Takes a while to put your stamp on something, that’s for sure. I’ve got I’ve got two more things. Um, what is the temperature of the fan base in a sense of yes, some excitement for the rebirth? Maybe some uh residual feelings of like how things have been the last 10, 15, 20 years of uncertainty and frustration and wanting the owner to sell now he did. Is the fan base confident? Are they nervous? Are they apprehensive? Are they flatout just excited and nothing else? How do they feel about just the overall direction and future? And you know, there’s a lot on the table here of how things might go. Yeah, I think overall the fan base is excited and yeah, there there is a chunk of that fan base who loved Stu Sternberg, who thinks this is a bad move, that the team’s going to suffer, that you don’t know what you lost and and I want to recognize those people as well. But overall, the majority of people are excited to move on. It it it’s time. It just you it people who who are big fans of Stew only look at this team from an on the- field perspective and this is a business and he did not connect with the community well enough and that it really is not opinion. It is is complete fact. If you go out there and talk to a 100 people, they’ll the majority of them are going to have a pretty sour taste of stew in their mouth. Uh whether you’re a big fan of him or not. So I think the fan base is is really excited for change. They’re really excited for the prospect of having the stadium saga finally over. That’s what they’re most excited for. I think everyone is still waiting for a shovel in the ground to really believe it. But overall, I I think that it is viewed a little bit as a new era and hopefully like this this new start of of finally like, you know, kind of the the kids go off to college. It’s like, okay, like I’m um you you lived in this world for for 18 years of your life and you’ve been built up and you’ve gone through all your your trials and tribulations and now you get to go on your own and and hopefully this is going to be sort of that that new chapter says we can we can still win without Steu and also have our stadium. So I think there’s a lot of optimism right now u more than anything that we can worry about on the field and it’s just a matter of this new ownership group now capturing that optimism and making sure that they own the moment because you know as you know these moments can also be very fleeting. You you can win immediately right now and and Stu had this where he took over he won immediately and then fizzled out over time. So, it’s going to come down to typically at the start, you want to do things that are going to grab people. And so, that’s why I look to Camaro. That’s why I look towards um some of those actions. The new stadiums being built, you certainly want to drum up excitement for that. That’s why I wonder if there’s going to be a little bit of a push to start. And then you wonder when the dust settles, what’s it all going to look like, right? You know, we don’t want this to be a Miami Marlins situation where they put all this money into the team, got the stadium, and said, “See you later.” Right now, we’re going to run bare bones. have fun guys and they still haven’t been, you know, they’ve barely been to the playoffs since then, uh, since the whole Lauria thing. So, that’s ultimately optimism, though. It’s like the cannonball into the pool. You got to make an entrance, right? Right off the diving board. Welcome to the pool, everybody. Exactly. So, the last thing is this. Um, now that the Rays are seemingly settled, let’s let’s assume that they’re going back to Tropicana Field for the final three years of the lease, maybe a little bit more, but that they’ll build a new stadium. They will stay in Tampa for as long as you and I will be alive. There are still all those other cities out there. Orlando included. Nashville was very much in the conversation for a while. Out west here we’ve got Utah with Salt Lake City and Portland all trying to get teams. In your mind, where are the next major league cities? And how do those cities get a team? Like if the Rays are staying and if ultimately the A’s are going to Las Vegas, how do those cities get into the the MLB conversation? Which cities would those be? Yeah. I mean, it seems like Nashville has been like there in the background forever. Like, I would be surprised if Nashville wasn’t one of the teams. It seems like that’s all but like a done situation in the background. They’ve just been waiting for this whole situation to figure itself out. But I would be very surprised if Nashville wasn’t one team. And uh and I’m not sleeping on Salt Lake City because me neither. that ownership group, what they’re able to do. You’re seeing it right now with kind of the Mammoth and what they just built there and the investments they made there. Um, I I think that that would be a very intriguing city to look at. And I know a lot of people probably on the outside are like Salt Lake City, but do not do not sleep on them. I think I think that that is a legitimate group with a lot of money. Uh, certainly something that’s going to make owners happy. uh someone who someone who’s going to be able to go right in there and and be a positive influence in baseball. Other than that, yeah, I mean, you know, you have you’ve heard the Portlands of the world, you heard Orlando. Um, is Orlando is Orlando done, by the way? I mean, I know the Dreamers have kind of dissolved, but is the idea of or did the idea of Orlando ever make sense being 90 miles away from Tampa? Yeah, I mean I get Orlando as a replace as a backup option to the Rays because I I don’t see how you’re going to have the Marlin. I know they want and again they’re going to do the re regional realignments. So when you look at the regional realignments, you have Atlanta, you have Tampa Bay, you have Miami, and then probably like Nashville is going to be that other team in that group. And like I understand that you could really consolidate that with Orlando, but I don’t know how I mean Orlando’s a great market. Don’t get me wrong. It just having a team in Tampa Bay and Orlando seems a little bit like overkill and like and Miami just it seems a little bit too much. So it it that’s why there are certain teams out there where I think there they’re there are group A’s and there are group B’s and that’s why you know Major League Baseball it’s it’s not easy for them to find billionaire owners who can who can take over a team things happen in this process all the time and when the go button is hit they got to hit go and if things happen they got to have leverage so that’s why you hear multiple groups that’s why you hear people vying for pos you know jockeying for position but um ultimately I I do not see Orlando happening without the Rays not getting a stadium here, right? Viable market, but they need the Rays to blow up on the stadium side of things for them to have any shot in my eyes. Evan, you do such a great job. Obviously, we’ve crossed paths during this raise situation. I I’m I’m glad that we did. I admire your work from afar uh from from one veteran to another. Uh keep it up, man. Keep doing the good work and I’ll uh I’ll I’ll stay in touch with you, buddy. Thank you so much. I I really appreciate you. Thank you so much.

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