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Originally Posted by Mandy1320
Spot on as a Tampa resident myself. Although, downtown St. Pete and the area surrounding the Trop as been revived the last few years and Ferg's has been there all along.
But yea, location is the issue as it might as well be on an island and there is no direct route to the stadium. Bridge -> Interstate -> Backed up side streets. Then pay $20 for parking.
They should have gone with the Ybor/Channelside site as it works for the Lightning.
Regardless, Stu is a POS and is trying everything to not pay for a new stadium even though he didn't build the current one in the first place.
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That's why when someone was talking about fleecing the tax payers, my thoughts were "this is Florida, son."
The absolute refusal to fleece the taxpayers, and the absolute refusal to let the Rays get out on the deal they signed is why this is an annual topic.
Ultimately, tax payers have to take it on the chin to some degree to have a team somewhere, because there's always going to be a local government willing to screw over their citizens that you can move to. So you have to give a little if you want to be in the ballgame. St. Pete has been steadfast against that, and DeSantis has also hovered above the incident whenever the Rays have appealed to Woke crowds.
Not getting a deal done wouldn't be a shock at all. St. Pete choosing the exact same location as a means to build up that specific area isn't a shock at all. Frankly, I turned down a request for an interview from the Rays in the past year because 1) there's no way the Rays pay enough and 2) I'm not taking a job for a few years only to quit when they relocate to Quebec, or something.