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January 06, 2012
Rays, mayor to meet, compare notes on how little they agree
For those of you wondering what's been up with the Tampa Bay Rays stadium saga since October, we have this: Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster have set a meeting for January 17th to talk over stadium issues. Here's a prediction of how it will go:
SS: "So, can we move to Tampa now?"
BF: "Hello!" (Waves lease in Sternberg's face.)
SS: "Check, please!"
For more on this, see Noah Pransky's analysis.
Exactly. And so he should. Foster is mayor of a town in a state which are both facing large economic shortfalls. We've already fronted ongoing millions of dollars for that stadium and to commit even more money for it, going to a greedy, stupid owner like Sternberg, is pure folly.
Let him open the books, buyout the remaining years/money owed on his contract/land, or just sit tight and put his greed in check. Any fool arguing that a new, publicly-financed stadium will guarantee a winning team should look across the bay to Tampa and the dismal records of both the Lightning and the Bucs.
I really wonder how stupid Tampa voters would be to commit even more millions of non-existent public dollars to another group of billionaires.
Posted by Tolly on January 6, 2012 04:46 PM
My fantasy mayor--doesn't say "how high!" when sports team owner says "jump!"
I should be so lucky here in Santa Clara.