Rays Stadium Faces Tough Questions & HELP From Florida?

43 comments

1. Welp somehow Orlando and rays came to a deal together

2. You can hear all the pockets being lined with all this BS. All the way from the top down, they're ready to rob Tampa taxpayers BLIND

3. Orlando might experience the rays in Orlando

4. First of all for Brodie and fans not from Florida. Nothing Governor DeSantis says really means a whole hell of a lot because he’ll be term limited out of office by the time real negotiations start. For his part, the front runner for Governor in 2026 is Byron Donalds who has stayed out of talks probably because whatever position he takes will turn off a lot of voters in the Bay Area. Everybody wants a new stadium. The problem will be who pays for it.

5. Quit making life easy for billionaires

6. 1:19 “Manfred said ‘Look, we are committed to being in FLORIDA’”…not TAMPA BAY…but the state of Florida. Only Tampa Bay morons think Manfred and Desantis give a damn if the Rays end up in TB or Orlando. They don’t care.

   Both parties simply want a team in SOME part of central Florida, where some 9 million people (and rapidly growing) and an insane amount of tourists live.

7. I'm completely losing my mind over that slanted podium.

8. Our next president.

9. I find it somewhat odd and maybe narcissistic that the backdrop has "Orlando" health on it.

10. They're literally begging for public money, this is worse than people thought. They really had no plan whatsoever when they first bought the team and their only solution was getting the public to fund most of it along with many favors from everyone. Now they're trying to sway the public by making them think that Tampa must not lose MLB, because love of the game and suppose financial gain that HB residents won't ever see because it will only go to other rich people. They should just move to Orlando because they're really dupping society while putting nothing in return even if they try to masquerade it. They have no shame.

11. As a Hillsborough County resident, we pay taxes for everything else, so I don't mind funding the Rays and the planned entertainment district. I just wish it was being built in Ybor harbor and connected to downtown/Waterstreet.

12. St. Pete was not viable for a whole season. Tampa always the obvious prefered location.
    Brodie, your commentary sounds stupid. Typical Californian Brodie. You are focused on renderings. Appearances. Any rendering now could drastically change. Take a vacation Brodie.

13. The Orlando Rays have a nice ring to it. Given where the proposal of the new stadium were at that time, I think they can succeed there with a partnership with Sea World. Of course, I've heard people say they should work with Disney to build the stadium in the ESPN Wide World of Sports section.

14. Let’s see if they can strike a deal with the college

15. Portland has an ownership group that will definitely build a ballpark if the Rays come there.

16. Orlando Health will be the main advertiser for the new ballpark in Orlando for the Rays.

17. Ron Desanctamonius has such an annoying voice and smile/laugh. I really hope we never have to hear him again.

18. this would be a question to be asked of each billionaire owner to answer. you are the ones who bought the team. being billionaires pay for your own stadium. they you get all the profits. if it is such a great deal pay for the whole thing yourselves. we will settle for the property tax revenue. oh you want the county to own the stadium so there will be no tax for 99 years. the college needs 50 million in renovations. the rays are doing nothing, but taking the counties money a fake giving it to the college. cut out the middle man save a billion dollars. just renovate the college. they do a 1 billion dollars tax cut. why do you billionaires want corporate welfare. go to some other suckers like orlando or jacksonville to steal money. how much rent will you pay oh nothing. the reason the negotiations' are secret is so they can make a secret deal so the stadium will be completely free for the rays, like they want to do for the indiana bears.

19. Speaking of HILLSBORO!GO HOPS! Mlb 2 Pdx

20. Just renovate the Trop and keep them there. It doesn't seem to work out anywhere else.

21. This whole situation kinda makes me pity Manfred and other Commissioners because they have to listen to the owners even if what they propose infuriates the fans and hurts the game.

22. Can't wait till this gets started! The Rays finally have the right owners and connections. Sick of the "Debbie downer" peanut gallery!

23. I used to be a journalist. I tracked down the source all these politicians use about economic impact. The calculations they use date back to very flawed, non-peer reviewed study that's almost a century old.

24. None of these people sound as confident as the Dreamers. All I heard on this video was we "think" baseball "can" work in Tampa. You know what you hear from the Dreamers? "Orlando will draw over 3 million a year so we are building a huge ballpark. It's going to be amazing, and it's going to rival the success of teams like the Cubs, Giants, and Braves." The lack of optimism of the Tampa people is just so bewildering. They sound like they will be happy if they can draw half that many fans.

    The other thing that is obvious is that Tampa is a beach town. They mention it multiple times here. You don't have that problem in Orlando. They have theme parks, but people don't go to them as often due to the cost. The only reason I would think that MLB would want to keep a team in Tampa is that it is also expanding to Orlando. The Tampa media market is around 11th and Orlando is around 15th. They both should have teams considering there are 30 available.

25. Just move the team to another City, stop the madness

26. DeSantis was basically the Rays spokesperson instead of the Governor of Florida. He said a bunch of nothing burgers and word salad especially since he’s not offering any state funds to the Rays new stadium.

27. Where was the real information? It was all talk about how much they should be there but might not. No money, no renderings, no real information.

28. Orlando health has been a sponsor of the Rays for a bit now for All u newbies

29. All do respect but nobody in Tampa is worried about what the Yankees will think..

30. Manfred & DeSantis. Two of the most odious creatures on the planet

31. Brodie welcome to Florida, all DeSantis does is news conferences all he is, is a talking head. Take everything he says with a grain of salt.

32. London Pikefish

33. EFFF that. They can kick rocks. I say let them leave.

    They bring no value to the region and have no fan base. It would be different if it were the Bucs but this team and ownership has not shown any investment in baseball and the public needs to stop funding billionaire's toys.

34. The Yankees will help them pay for it!!! This really works well for them! Two home stadiums.

35. I'll believe it when I see it

36. There is always talk of The Battery. If you've ever been to Petco Park in San Diego, that stadium is right down town, surrounded by shops and restaurants. That's my experience of a surrounding "ballpark village", and it's awesome.

37. It’s good to hear this side of Governor Ron and not the partisan stuff. This was a fine conference.

38. With enough time and prep, UF v FSU in any sport in Tampa will fill a building.

39. So what happens now? Will we get MLB expansion for 2030? Lockout is next season and As stadium opens 2028.

    Rays stadium opens in 2029 if the next six months the deal is finalized with Hillsborough CC & Hillsborough County and Rays and the funding is in place with Governor Rob Desantis?

    We got 2 new expansion teams and Rob Manfred wanted this after As and Rays stadiums situations resolved. Manfred leaves as Commisioner in 2029 as he said retiring.

    Will they use the same stadium renderings from the St Pete or will they do a new better rendering designs for the Tampa Hillsborough site?

    They said Rays ownership would cover construction costs but who covers the rest and how much is total for building stadium?

    Nashville i heard dont got public money for new MLB stadium with city government used billions of dollars for Titans new stadium. So is Salt Lake City and Portland the two cities getting expansion teams? And if so, then when?

    Music City group wants an MLB team as Nashville Stars led by Dave Stewart former MLB pitcher of Oakland As.

    SLC & Portland both got investment geoups, approved public funding from their state & city government & stadium renderings. They're both more ready for MLB expansion than Nashville.

40. DeSatan runs the state like a mob boss…he has diverted state money into his wife's charity and then it disappeared with no accountability…he muscled Disney because he and Trump thought they were too dedicated to diversity and fairness. He has turned Florida into a MAGA wonderland…which means a lousy place to live if you aren't a millionaire or billionaire.

41. The old boardwalk and baseball site in Orlando Fl sits on 135 acres. The retail district that’s on the site now has had various levels of success over the years and has even been put up for sale from time to time over the years. IMHO if Tampa/St Pete can’t get this done the Rays moving to Orlando and developing the former site of Boardwalk and Baseball makes perfect sense.

42. Desantis has such a big ego. Only big thing he has I guess. So of course he's just full of hot air and a snowflake attitude.

43. And all this for an average 18,000 fans per game! Baseball does not work in Florida.