Jeff Houck

The Tampa Tribune’s food writer since 2005, Jeff Houck covers the way people live through their food. He also hosts the Table Conversations food podcast and believes that everything crunchy is good.

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From Pinch Hits To An Economic Pinch [Ripple Effect For Restaurants & Bars If Rays Move]

Posted Jul 10, 2010 by Jeff Houck

Updated Jul 10, 2010 at 02:13 PM

So, I’m watching and reading the coverage the past couple weeks about the Tampa Bay Rays saying they want a new home away from Tropicana Field. They can’t wait to get out of downtown St. Petersburg. And I’m thinking, “What happens to Ferg’s?”

Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill bet on the Rays back when they had Devil in their name, back when they were piling up 100 losses a season. Back then, you felt like you were breaking into the Trop to see a game even when you bought a ticket.

Long before on-the-skids Central Avenue got its palm tree-and-paver makeover, Ferg’s was the one place you could go for a beer before and after the game. For almost all of the seasons before Stuart Sternberg bought the team outright in 2006, there was more fun to be had at Ferg’s than at the Trop. During the World Series run in 2008, Ferg’s was a must-see mohawkfest on the way into the stadium.

Along with the crowds came more restaurants, not the least of which is the outstanding Savannah’s Café on Central Avenue. The flow of Rays fans driving the back way to St. Pete across the Gandy Bridge from Tampa made Fourth Street into a dining boulevard. The success of the Rays on the field translated into a reinvigorated restaurant and bar scene in downtown St. Pete as fans looked for places to party after wins.

Anyone who has visited Wrigley Field in Chicago or Fenway Park in Boston knows that the bar scene outside the ball fields are vital to the experience. St. Petersburg is only now starting to foster those off-the-field places where fans can find each other and celebrate their love of the team.

So I ask again, what happens to these places when – not if – the Rays move?

My guess: The weak ones won’t survive. The strong ones will. And others will follow the Rays to wherever the stadium gets built, be that at the Florida State Fairgrounds, in downtown Tampa or, you know, Charlotte, N.C.

But only a fool would doubt that when the Rays leave downtown St. Pete the ripple effect on restaurants and bars will be anything less than enormous.