Should the Rays make the playoffs, don’t look for the team to increase capacity at the Trop. It is now 36,048; used to be 43,700. According to a Rays’ spokesman, the team has no plans to unwrap that light blue tarp from those top-tier seats.
“We would not remove the tarp,” states Rays’ Vice President for Communications Rick Vaughn. “The building operates well at the current capacity. The seats beneath the tarps don’t provide the experience we expect to deliver to our fans.
“At this early stage, it has not been made clear to us if Major League Baseball would have the right to change that policy for the postseason,” adds Vaughn.
In other words, MLB might prefer maximum capacity for a World Series, should the Rays advance that far.
Speaking as someone who bought standing-room-only tickets to a Lightning-Flyers Stanley Cup playoff game in 2005, I would think utilizing additional capacity would make sense on multiple levels. Obviously, it makes for a bigger gate, and who knows how often this kind of opportunity will come around. To the Rays’ credit, it’s not all about cashing in.
But fans arguably would want in — to be privy to the electric atmosphere and the history. And fans understand that not all sight lines are created equal or priced equally — especially for playoffs. Plus, more leather-lunged fans would further fuel Joe Maddon’s “Pit” atmosphere for maximum home-field advantage.
*And speaking of the Rays, since when is it necessary — and it was — that a manager has to discipline a key player – during a pennant race – for not hustling? But that’s what Joe Maddon had to resort to recently with centerfielder B.J. Upton. Or was that the ghost of Delmon Young?