Contrarian view on new Rays stadium

Amid all the chatter over how great it would be to build a gleaming new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays in downtown Tampa, one business leader believes it just isn't necessary.

Tom Hall, chairman of strategic communication firm TuckerHall and a past chairman of the Tampa Downtown Partnership, says the city would be hard pressed to make such a project work. Parking and traffic are the biggest obstacles, he says.

“Baseball stadiums don't create urban renewal by themselves,” Hall tells Coffee Talk. “They bring in people who park, they go to an entertainment and then they leave. We have plenty of places downtown that already do that. We've already got plenty of traffic and plenty of people. We really don't have the space, in my opinion, to put in a baseball stadium and put in the ancillary parking that you're really going to need.”

Hall says he likes the Rays' current stadium at Tropicana Field in downtown St. Petersburg just fine. The problem is the Tampa Bay market doesn't generate enough discretionary income to support sports teams the way they need or want. The area also needs a sufficient transportation system that can get people to games without having to be so dependent on their own cars, he says.

The whole issue may be moot at this point, because the Rays have a long-term lease with the city of St. Petersburg at the Trop through 2027. But that probably won't stop the wishful thinking among Tampa fans who don't want to drive across the bay.