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Roger Mooney

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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Sternberg on the stadium issue

Posted Feb 19, 2010 by Roger Mooney

Updated Feb 19, 2010 at 01:44 PM

Here is what Rays owner Stuart Sternberg said on the stadium issue this morning during his press conference with the media at Charlotte Sports Park.

(I’ll be updating as I transcribe the more than 30-minute press conference.)

What doesn’t he build the stadium himself?“I don’t have that money. I don’t.”

How much will he kick in?“A lot. We were very detailed with the last stadium, and the kick-in, so to speak, was, I think we were talking about 150 million dollars.”

New stadium doesn’t always translate into higher attendance“There are no guarantees about anything. Basically yes. There’s excitement around. We can sit down and look at a long list of every stadium that’s opened up. They’ve all been very successful.”

He’s just listening to conversations. Involved?
“Not at all. Not involved. We did that thing, and it wasn’t productive for our organization. It created a lot of discord on the community, and I’m not here to create discord.”

When will he get involved?“When something is proposed and there are some concepts out there and people want to move the ball forward, I’ll be involved.”

What are the revenue streams from a new stadium?“The streams themselves are going to come from the same places, but there is an excitement that comes around a new stadium. Certainly when you have something that’ll have an open-air design to it as we proposed and planned out, I think that’s something that’s been a hindrance to some extent. It’s important to have protection from the elements. A number of stadiums around the country don’t currently. Minnesota is building one with a completely open seating area. They’re going to have some challenges as far as the weather is concerned. I think that is sort of a blueprint at least from what you’ll see relative to revenue streams, excitement, community engagement and what could happen. That was a team that was, eight years, people speculated about contraction, and they’ve had a lot of success on the field, they got a place built, and their payroll this year is going to approach 100 million dollars.”

Does talk of new stadium hurt perception of Tropicana Field?“It’s a great place to watch a game, but for whatever reason people are not as attracted to it as they would be to another venue.”

When will you declare an absolute need for a new stadium? Sooner? Later?“We clearly went for a new stadium. We didn’t just throw it out there. There was an enormous amount of work on our end, so that’s our desire, and I stated since the very first day I came in to anybody who would ask, and I was asked quite often, we’re not going to be there through 2027. It just can’t happen. Baseball won’t allow it. Our partners in baseball won’t allow it. The other teams won’t allow it. And it’s just not the right thing for our organization, and quite frankly it’s not the right thing for our population.”

Will commissioner Bud Selig get involved“Bud has been involved in stadiums far before I became an owner, and he’s been very successful working with different municipalities, and the growth of the game and the excitement in those places have been evident.”

Have you been approached by any of the groups proposing sites?“No. I haven’t talked to anybody.”

Are you closely watching what the groups are saying?“No. We spent a few years trying to build a stadium. Effort, time, money and it wasn’t helpful for the rest of the organization, and our focus is doing what we do best, which is putting a team on the field, marketing that team and trying to being as many fans into the stadium, and trying to bring as many business partners along with it.”

Two sides of bay fighting“From the day we came in we took a regional approach. The beauty of baseball is it brings people together, it shouldn’t separate them, whether that’s business leaders or elected officials. And it’s puzzling. But these are the realities of where we are in 2010. I believe, and I would expect in due time this is going to help bring the region together as opposed to keep separating.”

Are you surprised over the bickering from both sides of the bay?“From the day we came in we took a regional approach. The beauty of baseball is it brings people together, it shouldn’t separate them, whether that’s business leaders or elected officials. And it’s puzzling. But these are the realities of where we are in 2010. I believe, and I would expect in due time this is going to help bring the region together as opposed to keep separating.”