Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Peter SchorschJuly 11, 2018

Do the Tampa Bay Rays know what league they’re playing in? I’m not talking about on-the-field, where they play in the MLB against the Yankees and the Red Sox. I’m talking about off-the-field, where the team is hoping to convince a cash-strapped community to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build it a new […]

Mitch PerryMay 27, 2016

The somewhat improbable Tampa Bay Lightning run for a second straight appearance in the Stanley Cup ended last night around 11 p.m. when they lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1. The Lightning were pretty thoroughly outplayed if you go by shots-on-goal, but the last eight minutes or so […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 19, 2016

I know soccer aficionados (somewhat pretentiously) like to call their favorite sport “The Beautiful Game.” As much as I respect that it’s the world’s favorite sport, it ain’t America’s. That would be football. Personally, I would advocate that basketball is actually the most beautiful sport when it’s executed the way the San Antonio Spurs did two years […]

Mitch PerryJuly 27, 2015

In the new hit comedy, Trainwreck, there’s a scene where a sports physician (played by Bill Hader) humblebrags to some guys at a party about some of the athletes he’s worked with: LeBron James (who co-stars in the film), Tom Brady and Chris Paul for starters. Those names all draw “ohhhs” from the sycophantic sports fans. […]

Guest AuthorMay 5, 2015

The 2015 Major League Baseball Racial and Gender Report Card recently released by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport shows the league had an A on the issue of racial hiring practices, a C/C+ for gender hiring practices and an overall grade of B. Are we playing fair when it comes to sports? Does […]

Mitch PerryApril 1, 2015

The St. Petersburg City Council won’t be voting on that newly revised agreement that Mayor Rick Kriseman worked out with the Tampa Bay Rays last week that seemed to resolve the main conflict in why the Council didn’t approve the deal last December: the redevelopment rights to Tropicana Field. The new deal the mayor negotiated […]

Gary SheltonMarch 31, 2015

The other woman isn’t pretty enough. Not yet, anyway. Still, there is time. If you are a fan of baseball in Tampa Bay, you could not help but notice when Commissioner Rob Manfred flirted a bit this week with Montreal, which is expected to be the other option if things don’t work in Tampa Bay. […]

Gary SheltonMarch 31, 2015

The other woman isn’t pretty enough. Not yet, anyway. Still, there is time. If you are a fan of baseball in Tampa Bay, you could not help but notice when Commissioner Rob Manfred flirted a bit this week with Montreal, which is expected to be the other option if things don’t work in Tampa Bay. […]

Peter SchorschMay 8, 2014

One of the most closely watched issues of Florida’s 2014 legislative session was how to best streamline the process to allocate tax dollars to professional sports facilities. HB 7095 was passed by the Florida Legislature and allows money to be available annually for Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the North American Soccer League, NASCAR, the […]

Tag: MLB
Image via AP.

Rays’ stadium dream reveal a reminder that team’s politics are still minor-league

Mitch Perry Report for 5.27.16 — Lightning strikes no more

Mitch Perry Report for 1.19.16 — Sorry, LeBron. Actually not sorry

Mitch Perry Report for 7.27.15 — $55 million later, government case against Barry Bonds ends with a whimper

Richard Lapchick: Does Major League Baseball look like America?

Mitch Perry Report for 4.1.15 — TBT slams city council members over Rays impasse

For MLB, the other woman isn’t prettier than the Rays

For MLB, the other woman isn't prettier than the Rays

Peter Schorsch: Legislators avoided whether government should subsidize sports franchise owners