I think this would be absolutely incredible for...St. Pete. Not the team or the Tampa Bay area at large. Sadly it does absolutely nothing to address the real issue with the franchise - they play in an area away from the larger centers of the population on the Tampa side of the bay (especially the richer folks). If you are driving from the Tampa side of the bay it is at least a 25+ mile trek WITH NO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.
The problem stems from the previous owner Vince Niamoli signing a 30 year lease with the city of St. Pete that is utterly ironclad. A MLB team has to play in St. Pete through the year 2027. Its why you never hear the Rays as a candidate to move somewhere. Building a new stadium in St. Pete is really the only work around out of the lease. If the new owner were to try to move them to Tampa there would be a ton of lawsuits that would drag out for years.
From what I've read, the state would only be on the hook for $60M and the bulk of the money to pay for it would be raised by selling the land that the Trop sits on to a private developer. The developer would build some kind of huge residential/retail complex. The team would pay about $150M.
I've got mixed emotions about this. The Rays are my AL team and I would love to see them get a new stadium. But, with it still being located in St. Pete, it does nothing to address the real problem. Its kinda like hardcore liquer alcoholic trying to fix his problem by switching to beer.
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