May 21, 2023 By: Mark Knudson

Rays need to get out of Tampa faster than you can say Mickey Mouse

It’s one thing for a pro sports franchise to deal with an uninterested and unwilling fan base. It’s another when the Governor of your state pretty much tells you to hit the bricks.

It’s time for the first place Tampa Bay Rays to pack up their equipment and relocate to a kinder, friendlier and more forward-thinking market.

Among the series of obnoxious things the Governor of the state of Florida has done in recent months – including starting a needless “culture war” with the Disney Company over LBGQT rights – is a recent decision to block any state funding to help the Rays build a huge youth baseball training facility in the Tampa area.

Ron DeSantis – who was overwhelmingly re-elected last fall and who’s campaign for President is starting to get rolling – expressed displeasure with the organization’s stance against gun violence and announced that, “I don’t support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums.” Never mind that what he line-item vetoed wasn’t about a new stadium for the Rays.

He clearly doesn’t give a flip either way.

DeSantis isn’t the first narrow-minded and reactionary politician to take an anti-tax stance of course. It’s part of his political party’s platform. But it’s hard to understand how a guy who wants to be the person to lead his state – and his country – forward can be locked into such bass-ackwards thinking (and not just about sports.)

He’s not alone of course. Politicians in the Oakland, California area have dragged their feet for a decade plus in regards to funding for a new baseball stadium for the Oakland A’s – a franchise with a deep and successful history that’s finally now going to pack up and move out of their dilapidated stadium and head for the greener pastures of Las Vegas.

And voters in Tempe, Arizona recently voted down proposal to build a new hockey arena for the Arizona Coyotes, an NHL franchise that could now be forced to move out of one of the biggest markets in the country, all because some politicians and a large swath of voters can’t see the forest through the trees. It’s a damn shame.

Vegas is already the most recent example of how to successfully get a first class stadium built. Forward thinking political types there fashioned a hotel tax on tourists that raised a huge percentage of what was needed to build the new home of the NFL’s Raiders, who paid for the rest. (The same tax was turned down by the dimwits in greater San Diego forcing the Chargers move to LA. Go figure.)

The whole notion of “why should taxpayers finance a new stadium for some rich owner?” is daffy. As if team ownership is the only one that’s going to reap the tremendous benefits of a new stadium? All you have to do is look around at the surrounding businesses near a new ballpark and you see the amazing economic benefit to the entire region. Job creation, an influx of dollars from the fans who attend, an upgrade in housing and other amenities in the area. It leads to the renovation of huge chunks of metropolitan areas.

These successes are called “Public-Private Partnerships.” Everyone wins when a city builds a new stadium. And it’s an even bigger win when tourists pay for it.

Clearly that’s too much for bass-ackwards thinking politicians like DeSantis to comprehend.

Baseball is actually quite popular in Florida, just not while being played in the outdated mausoleum the Rays currently call home. Despite being one of the best teams in baseball, attendance continues to stink and the region surrounding Tropicana Field continues to just…be.

The city of Tampa – and moreover the Governor of Florida – don’t seem to care, and therefore don’t deserve a Major League Baseball team.

The folks in Nashville, Tennessee are ready, willing and able.