Rays get permission from MLB Commissioner for relocation
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The Tampa Bay Rays allowed a deadline to show proof of $700 million for a new stadium in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area to expire. This deadline was 31 March 2025. By doing this, the local governments have said that the conditions for a new stadium are "automatically terminated."
What instead happened for the future of the Rays is that the team's owner, Stuart Sternberg, obtained permission from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to explore relocation options.
Hurricane Milton has provided the Rays' owner with his opportunity to get his team out of the Tampa Bay area, which it is widely reported he has wanted to see done since he acquired the team as Managing General Partner in 2005.
The local governments are operating on the basis that each year Tropicana Field remains idle is another lease year added to the Rays' existing contract. Sternberg is very unhappy with that, as he hates that stadium, which is considered now the worst MLB venue given Oakland is now defunct.
Relocation now seems the most likely immediate development for the Rays for the 2026 MLB season, since Tropicana won't be ready to play in by that point, and honestly, there doesn't appear to be much if any momentum to ever putting that facility back into operation. The longer any indoor facility remains exposed to the elements, the more costs rise to repair it until demolition becomes the only rational option. And again, it's not like we're talking about Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, or Wrigley Field here! There is simply zero historic value to Tropicana Field.
The unanswered question at this point is whether this relocation will be temporary or permanent. The relocation will certainly remain in place as long as it takes to find a new venue for the Rays to play in the Tampa Bay area.
Given the team doesn't want to stay and the local governments are no longer interested in building a new MLB facility, it seems inevitable that the Rays will be leaving Tampa Bay and never coming back.
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Rob Manfred has the chance to do the funniest thing ever.
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Relocation because some rich owner wants it is a BS move. As an OAKLAND A'S fan I am livid about what happened to that team for the sake of the tens of thousands of fellow fans who got shafted. I love baseball but hate that the whim of a few powerful ppl can affect so many.
Also, please don't try and blame the local govt for the A's move. They bent over backwards to try and make it happen and Fisher kept moving the goalpost because he didn't really want to be there.
#FJF
#SellTheTeamRant over
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@SaveFarris_PSN said in Rays get permission from MLB Commissioner for relocation:
Rob Manfred has the chance to do the funniest thing ever.
That's absolutely not going to happen! Folks, like it or not, all of the players, coaches, and managers in MLB hate Oakland Alameda Stadium.
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@Finn_Scotus_MLBTS said in Rays get permission from MLB Commissioner for relocation:
Relocation because some rich owner wants it is a BS move. As an OAKLAND A'S fan I am livid about what happened to that team for the sake of the tens of thousands of fellow fans who got shafted. I love baseball but hate that the whim of a few powerful ppl can affect so many.
Also, please don't try and blame the local govt for the A's move. They bent over backwards to try and make it happen and Fisher kept moving the goalpost because he didn't really want to be there.
#FJF
#SellTheTeamRant over
Well, I am blaming the county and municipal governments, because they did NOT "bend over backwards" to help build Howard Terminal to keep the A's in Oakland, and I've done a lot of research into this issue and despite the false statements of the local governments, they torpedoed the Howard Terminal stadium option, and then wanted to force Alameda Stadium on the A's going forward.
This is why the MLB owners vote to authorize the A's to move was unanimous.
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@PriorFir4383355_XBL said in Rays get permission from MLB Commissioner for relocation:
Folks, like it or not, all of the players, coaches, and managers in MLB hate Oakland Alameda Stadium.
You know that and I know that, but what does Oakland have that Tampa, St. Pete, Las Vegas, and Sacramento don't currently have?
A functional major league stadium.
Teams were able to get cities to bid against themselves during the stadium boom. But that era's over now, and a stadium in the hand is worth two on the drawing board. Given the TV contracts are all going kablooey, I have a sneaking suspicion that MLB's economy is about to contract. Which means no one is going to be in the market for building a new stadium. Which means you got to play where a stadium already exists.
I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't look promising.
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@SaveFarris_PSN said in Rays get permission from MLB Commissioner for relocation:
You know that and I know that, but what does Oakland have that Tampa, St. Pete, Las Vegas, and Sacramento don't currently have?
A functional major league stadium.
Montreal also has one that would work as a temporary, major league-ready home as well until one is built...and some people don't want to believe it but MTL is a GREAT baseball town.
That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if Nashville gets a long hard look, New Orleans, or one of the Carolinas before Montreal catches a sniff.
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@Sarge1387_PSN said in Rays get permission from MLB Commissioner for relocation:
Montreal also has one that would work as a temporary, major league-ready home as well until one is built...and some people don't want to believe it but MTL is a GREAT baseball town.
I've been to Montreal (saw Vlad hit for the cycle!) and Olympic was in worse shape then than the Coliseum is now. The last event held there was in 2015. The structure may still be standing but there is NO WAY it's capable of hosting a MLB season.
That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if Nashville gets a long hard look, New Orleans, or one of the Carolinas before Montreal catches a sniff.
Nashville is far and away #1 on the relocation/expansion list, with Charlotte a distant 2nd (and Newark an even distanter 3rd.) New Orleans couldn't even hold their AAA team and is currently the largest US Metro Area on the mainland w/out any sort of affiliated baseball team.
Besides, New Orleans already has a favorite baseball team:
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@SaveFarris_PSN if you build it they will come... which is what Vegas is doing. If a city wants to be taken seriously as a viable option to get a major 4 team in the US/Canada (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) they need to utilize the necessary resources and some cities aren't willing to budge on certain things... maybe if the A's were winning things would've been different but they weren't and surely given the attendance there wasn't any economic stimulus pouring into Oakland from their games. Now Sacramento and soon Vegas will reap the benefits of having a team there from April-September (at minimum).
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@SaveFarris_PSN said in Rays get permission from MLB Commissioner for relocation:
I've been to Montreal (saw Vlad hit for the cycle!) and Olympic was in worse shape then than the Coliseum is now. The last event held there was in 2015. The structure may still be standing but there is NO WAY it's capable of hosting a MLB season.
Jays played a two game series there until 2019 (and until Covid, had plans to play there in 20, 21, and 22), and apparently it was in decent enough shape to be a temporary home for a season or two. Don't forget they poured some cash into it when it was initially brought up that both the A's and Rays were in stadium trouble in an attempt to catch MLB's eye again. No argument that it WAS a complete tire fire before, and is still smouldering but it's not as bad as it was.
That being said, I'm absolutely on board with Nashville, and Charlotte... as much as I'd like Montreal to get a team back, a place like Vancouver would be a very viable option, with a natural built-in rivalry with Seattle as well, would likely see a team before Montreal.
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Despite MLB formally telling the local Oakland governments (county & municipal) that a new stadium had to be underway by 2019 or the A's would move, the situation slowly evolved. It was not until 2018 that the A's formally laid down the cash for the land site at Howard Terminal. Then, the governments took no action while no fewer than three different entities sued the A's to claim they had no "right" to develop the property under the guise/assertion of danger to navigation of the nearby port, assertion of railroad track right of way, and the inevitable economic impact which always seems to happen in California even if someone wants to paint his house!
The local governments and courts then slow rolled the whole process so that by 2022 absolutely nothing had happened -- two years past when MLB said the new venue had to be starting construction. Then, MLB authorized the A's to negotiate a new location, which the A's did. In response, the local governments launched a nasty PR campaign to cast A's owner John Fisher as a villain for "shopping the team around" at the very time the government was "granting" the money they were supposed to have ponied up for development of the infrastructure to support the stadium -- stuff like roads, sewer lines, and water lines -- stuff government does.
Well, there was never any money actually being allocated, only a few meaningless votes on non-binding resolutions. It was not until 2023 that an actual vote took place, which was a full year after the A's had already signed a formal agreement with Las Vegas to move the team.
This was an empty political move to further paint Fisher as evil and the local government as shafted, when in truth it was the local governments who delayed for years and shafted the A's.
No professional team is going to so much as dip their small toe into that nest of vipers!
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I've been an A's fan since 1979, and I'm actually happy for them to finally have taken real steps toward a new, permanent home. They've been looking for a new stadium, formally, since 2005 (and dipping a toe in those waters much earlier). If the city of Oakland and surrounding municipalities wanted to do something, they've had plenty of time. Instead, they delayed, denied, and pointed fingers while taking no substantive action.
And John Fisher is an a**hole and terrible owner.
Both things are true.
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@The_Joneser_PSN said in Rays get permission from MLB Commissioner for relocation:
I've been an A's fan since 1979, and I'm actually happy for them to finally have taken real steps toward a new, permanent home. They've been looking for a new stadium, formally, since 2005 (and dipping a toe in those waters much earlier). If the city of Oakland and surrounding municipalities wanted to do something, they've had plenty of time. Instead, they delayed, denied, and pointed fingers while taking no substantive action.
And John Fisher is an a**hole and terrible owner.
Both things are true.
I'll give you that!
Cheers!
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They should look into leaving the state of Florida. Lot of trash lives there.
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@theBlindRhino_PSN said in Rays get permission from MLB Commissioner for relocation:
They should look into leaving the state of Florida. Lot of trash lives there.
thanks for describing every place on earth
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For the rays to survive as a organization, they have to leave Tampa. They average between 10000 and 15000 fans, a game
Unless the Red Sox and Yankees are playing. A relocation to Nashville makes the most sense.
