Joe Henderson
Was that the sound of a breakthrough that came from Tampa Mayor Jane Castor’s office on Monday? I refer to what seems like the never-ending story of a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays. Castor and Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan met for 2½ hours with Rays’ owner Stu Sternberg.
Afterward, glory be! Both camps sounded positive.
That’s not to say shovels will start digging in Ybor City by next week, not even close. But after years of what you could politely call acrimony between the Rays and officials in both Tampa and St. Peterburg, this was a different tone.
“I’m optimistic about it,” Castor said in the Tampa Bay Times. “The Rays want to stay in the Tampa Bay area. We want to keep them in the Tampa Bay area, and we’re going to do everything that we can with the caveat that the citizens’ appetite of paying for a stadium is about zero at this point.”
And the Rays chimed in with a statement that read, “Today, we took a meaningful step toward securing the future of Rays baseball in Tampa Bay beyond 2027. We appreciate Mayor Castor and Commissioner Hagan’s leadership and look forward to a continued dialogue with City and County stakeholders.
“We remain focused on the sister city concept and unwavering in our commitment to work in partnership with the community as this process moves forward.”
About the only time we hear the Rays utter the word “meaningful” is when they talk about playing “meaningful” games in September because they’re in playoff contention. So, that’s cool.
But, let’s take a little deeper dive into this, shall we?
First, let’s give Sternberg considerable credit.
He has managed to sound utterly serious about his wackadoodle “sister city” plan. That’s where the Rays would play half the season in the Tampa Bay area and the other half in Montreal starting in 2027. Keeping a straight face couldn’t have been easy. Sternberg has flatly stated that keeping the Rays full-time in Tampa Bay is not an option.
Or is it?
While Castor said the discussion focused on the split-season concept, “I don’t think the full season (in Tampa) is off the table yet.”
I don’t believe so either.
I’ll even go a step further and predict one of two things will happen:
- The Rays agree to a full-time home in Tampa, and Montreal receives an expansion team;
- The Rays move lock, stock, and Kevin Kiermaier to Montreal, and we all get on with our lives.
Why?
The logistic issues of the split season idea are monumental.
Players and staff would need two residences. The players union would have to agree. MLB owners could — and probably would — decide to sell the Montreal expansion market to the highest bidder and pocket all the cash themselves. There’s also the issue of taxes. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there is no state income tax in Florida.
In Quebec? Get ready to write two pretty large checks.
As Montreal International noted, “In order to fund the numerous public services that make life so pleasant in Greater Montréal, all residents earning an income are required to pay taxes to the governments of Québec and Canada.”
The federal tax in Canada is 33% for those making more than $202,800 (hint: That’s every player in Major League Baseball). The Quebec tax is 25.75% for those making more than $103,915.01.
That will go over well with everyone, right?
And we’ve seen the complexities of getting a stadium in one city. This plan hinges on the Rays getting two.
That brings us back to my prediction.
Baseball will do almost anything to avoid moving a franchise. Granted, Tampa Bay fans are putting that theory to an extreme test. We know how lousy attendance has been at Tropicana Field.
I say again, though, that the Trop’s location is the reason for that problem. In Tampa, the Rays would have a fighting chance at competitive attendance. Just look at the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team. It has sold out every home game since the 2014-15 season.
That says something about the importance of location in this market.
So, as the Rays head to Port Charlotte for spring training, maybe there is some hope for a positive end to a long-running problem. We can dream.
If not, c’est la vie.]
2 comments
Casey At The Bat
February 13, 2020 at 8:33 am
Does that mean that anyone living in Quebec would have to pay nearly 59% of income in taxes? Would Rays players, coaches and staff actually be residents of Montreal if they’re only there for half a MLB season and if the home corp (Rays Baseball) is headquartered in the US?
I tried hard to come away with a positive outlook from this article, but all I read was more of the same.
Raymond
February 14, 2020 at 10:01 am
If the Rays are using Montreal for leverage to get a full time stadium in Tampa, then this is significant progress. If they really are serious about this ridiculous idea of sharing the team, then let them leave. I say this as a fan since 98, I have no interest at all in sharing our team. If it becomes clear that the Rays will only consider this split season stupidity, then I’ll be finished with this franchise (and MLB generally). We’ll know soon enough, but I think most fans are over this whole drama, regardless of how it turns out.
As an aside, the Rays have done really well under this ownership bucking baseball’s conventional wisdom. However, I think this has resulted in an institutional arrogance that makes the Rays leadership believe that every idea that they dream up is brilliant. And the more people who tell them their idea can’t work, the more convinced they become of their own genius. But this is on an order of magnitude crazier than the opener, for example, and Tampa would be wise to have nothing to do with it!
Comments are closed.