I believe the taxpayers of Pinellas County and, in particular St Petersbrug, should be given all the facts regarding Tropicana and the Ray’s proposal to replace it with a stadium at the Al Lang Field site.

The facts are:
1.Tropicana was started in 1986 and completed in 1989 and sat vacant until 1998 when the Devil Rays arrived. The taxpayers of St. Pete paid millions and continue to pay for the stadium . I believe there is still over $120 million due on the bonds.The Rays have an obligation to remain there until around 2025 Yeah, sure !

2. I believe St Petersurg has the highest municipal property tax in Pinellas County partially due to the bond payments for the Trop debt.

3. The Rays have one of the worst records in baseball, if not the worst, the lowest payroll in baseball, and the lowest attendance in baseball and, I think , the most heavily subsidized team by high-payroll teams, like the Yankees, who must pay a fee to help keep teams in unprofitable small markets.

4. It should be obvious since the beginning, the stadium was built in the wrong place, and if relocated to downtown, would be in a worse place with insufficient parking and more difficult to reach for people from Tampa and north Pinellas. Can you imagine the traffic on 4th St. trying to get in and out of downtown. !

I know it’s heresy but, Tropicana Field should have been built in Tampa or near the west end of Gandy and Howard Franklin. Downtown St.Pete would be worse than the current location but, as some suggest,” it would be prettier along the bay” - that’s about the only thing I can agree on but, it will cost $450 million to be prettier !

5. St Petersburg is a lovely city but, the demographics for supporting a major league franchise are totally lacking. St. Petersbrg is still a very nice retiree location and a good winter destination for the tourists with money to spend. Unfortunately baseball is played in the summer.

6. Mr. Sternberg really wants more high priced suites for corporate use, naming rights and advertising revenues and, I doubt has much concern about average taxpayers. That’s the way pro sports operates!

7. While Mr. Sternberg may be sincere about his proposal , his self-interest is in making a profit on his investment and not to aid the taxpayers of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County ! Let’s see, he ( his investors) invest $150 million on a $450 million stadium. The state of Florida provides $60 million which should be used to promote tourism and Pinellas County kicks in about the same with money from a hotel tax to be used to promote tourism.

Unfortunately , the best potential tourist come in the winter so the millions supplied by the county and state to help major league baseball really don’t do much to promote tourism. It’s really just is a subsidy to lure under-performing baseball teams who are being wooed by other states and it makes the politicians appear as though they’re helping the economy . .This money is provided under the guise of promoting tourism .

I assume the good old St. Pete. taxpayers will have to come up with the balance from the proceeds from the sale of the Trop property ( which is in debt for around $120 million). Yeah ,sure !

I would love to see an unbiased ( not baseball sponsored) study of exactly what economic benefits the Tropicana Field has provided to the all taxpayers of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County over the last 19 yeqrs. If it’s been so beneficial, how come I haven’t heard about it ? How many people come to our area so they can see a Ray’s game? Tell me, please I would wager it’s not high on their list of things to do unless it’s a way to get out of the heat and have a hot dog and a beer !.

8. Through some grand manipulations by our Legislature and the courts, the stadium ownership was transfered to the taxpayers of Pinellas County to avoid anybody having to pay property taxes on a publicly financed facility used for private business ( the Rays).

9. The Rays propose that the present site be sold and developed which would pay off the debt and probably provide 2500 jobs and $800 million in property tax revenues in future years. I would point out that the same thing would happen if the Rays left town all together. Since Mr. Sternberg is forecasting this major development and revenue source for the St. Petersburg ,why don’t we have him guarantee the jobs and tax receipts that he says are possible ? Note the words possible and probably !

10. The Rays claim that an indoor stadium doesn’t feel like baseball, so they need an outdoor stadium! At the same time, the Florida Marlins are trying to get the taxpayers of Florida to build a new $490 million stadium, with a retractable roof because it’s too hot and it rains during the summer and they have to reschedule games! Gosh, I’ll bet it’s hot in St.Petersburg and it rains in the summer time and I’ll bet they’ll have to reschedule games. Hmmmm, what interesting viewpoints from our two major league teams. Which one do you believe?

11. One benefit cited as a drawing card is that we can watch over-paid ballplayers hit homeruns into the bay, just like San Francisco. That seems logical, you can watch “A Rod” ,who gets around $170,000 per game (who bats 3 -4 times per game) hit a ball into the bay. Seems like that’s worth $450 million !!!

Somehow I can’t think of any similarity betwen St. Petersburg and San Francisco other than they’re both on the water !.

Jim Harpham, Palm Harbor