Understandably, much attention is being lavished on the Tampa Bay Rays’ chances to repeat as American League champions. It’s an extension of the excitement that was last season’s unexpected, riveting run to the World Series.
But under the radar there are a couple of major scenarios unfolding. One is selling more season tickets in a tough economy in a market that is not exactly blessed with a plethora of corporate headquarters. The other is figuring out what to do about a home field.
The latter is especially tricky. A group – named A Baseball Community – is actively studying sites as well as a renovation of Tropicana Field. In fact, the Rays have asked stadium architect HOK Sport of Kansas City, Mo., to look into the prospect of a retractable roof at the Trop. An estimate is due late next month.
Any such pricey retrofit of the Trop – a retractable roof is the way of domed stadiums these days – still wouldn’t address a key issue. The Rays need to be geographically closer to the hub of this metro market. The Carillon area, across from Feather Sound in north St. Petersburg makes sense. So does, frankly, Tampa.
But an expensively improved Trop on the geographic fringe of its market would only leave the Rays with a better poorly-located stadium.