July 16, 2009

Can't tell the Rays stadium studies without a scorecard

Tampa Bay's A Baseball Committee — I swear, there is just no way to write that name without it looking doofy — is apparently set on making as many headlines as possible by releasing its Rays stadium proposals in dribs and drabs. And so far, it's working. Today the ABC Data Research and Realities subcommittee issued a study saying that a new stadium should be built with the largest population within a 30-minute drive, with the top-ranked site being near the Buccaneers' Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Meanwhile, the ABC Design and Development subcommittee issued its own report, saying that any new stadium should have a retractable roof — "we need to have a fully air-conditioned interior," said subcommittee chair Alan Bomstein, who as head of a construction firm certainly has no personal incentive to see a new stadium built — and seat 37,000 people. Unlike their current stadium, which is air conditioned and holds 36,973 people. Um, okay, but a new stadium would probably have a cool modern design by some hot firm like HOK/Populous, not like — eeeagh!