Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.
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Posted Feb 24, 2010 by Tribune Sports
Updated Feb 24, 2010 at 04:34 PM
PORT CHARLOTTE - Rays president Matt Silverman held a media availability during today’s spring training workout, and invariably the conversation turned to the prospects of a new stadium.
Silverman sounded encouraged that there has been considerable coverage of the topic in the media lately.
“It’s something we monitor,” he said. “We read every newspaper article and we watch the TV shows. It’s important that there’s a regional dialogue, and we’re encouraged that the regional dialogue is taking place. Our focus is on getting ready for the season, but we expect that the dialogue will continue and hopefully lead to good ends.”
Silverman also said the Rays are making progress toward their goal of building a regional fan base.
“We collect data and examine it as far as who our ticket buyers are and where they come from,” he said. “We look at zip codes, so we’ve seen an increase in the fans who come from outside the Tampa Bay area, whether that’s from south of the Skyway Bridge or from Orlando. And we also look (at) the mix between Hillsborough and Pinellas. We want the whole pie to grow. If the whole pie grows, it doesn’t matter where they’re coming from.”
- Tony Fabrizio
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