It was encouraging to see key community leaders meet recently to discuss what can be done regionally to help support the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and his St. Petersburg counterpart, Bill Foster, were the roundtable headliners. But both chambers of commerce and the Tampa Bay Partnership were also represented. Topics ranged from how to fuel more interest in ticket sales to ways to build relationships and spark awareness of the franchise’s economic impact.
There will be, by all indications, more such gatherings. The Rays are that regionally relevant.
But building relationships is the easy part. Building a stadium successor to the Trop remains a Sisyphean task for now, one that wasn’t on last week’s getting-to-know-you agenda.
But ultimately a new facility will house the Rays. Either in Tampa or somewhere outside of Tampa Bay. The sooner that reality-check scenario gets on the agenda–with a seat at the roundtable–the better.