Time is right to push for downtown Tampa stadium

Posted Jul 5, 2010 by The Tampa Tribune

Updated Jul 5, 2010 at 09:58 PM

This is but a gentle prod to those who can get things done at the top level of our political scheme of things. This is but a reminder to keep urging those who can get it done to get it done. This is but a reminder that we need to encourage again the push for a downtown Tampa baseball facility, perhaps north of the Forum. It is big and just right, many of us think, for the downtown facility for a baseball plant.

Some are already working on it, including Hillsborough county commissioners Ken Hagen, Rose Ferlita, Kevin White, Mark Sharpe, Kevin Beckner and Jim Norman, farsighted developers David Lefevre and Stuart Sternberg, Fair Authority chairman Sandy MacKinnon, Dick Greco, Roger Rogel, Paul Catoe, and Ryan Neubauer (BuildItDowntownTampa.org). However, they are not, I am not, all are not, I guess, pushing for any kind of a referendum to produce a new tax to pay for this. What we all want is a promoter with a sack full of money and a lineup of boosters to come forward to finance in the name of perhaps Sternberg, you and me, to get this baseball home built. Nobody wants to see it on any tax roll, Mayors Pam Iorio (Tampa) and Bill Foster (St. Petersburg) have made that clear and now so do I for all of us. There is no money left for the moment.

What we need to do now simply to keep this drive moving along and have someone like Lefevre and Sternberg come forth with the fundraising ideas. Surely, a privately owned baseball facility, a new and modern one in this right place, will be financially feasible in these times of progress in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, or St. Petersburg-Tampa area, depending on who is offering or promoting the effort.

The grand “U,” north of Kennedy Boulevard and south of Interstate 4 and just west of the Port of Tampa, is an absolute natural for the location of this downtown stadium.

This is being proposed at a time of prosperity in sports everywhere. The world is alive and attentive to big-time sports these days. An especially exciting Wimbledon and solid soccer at the World Cup were spellbinding. Auto racing has been peaking, with the Indy 500 and Daytona, and the anticipation of college and pro football in our minds has occupied our attention.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Coach Raheem Morris and active owners in the Glazer family suggest excitement at One Buc Place is on its way, though there is genuine wonder about what may be about to happen with the professional Buccaneers. They have been changed mightily, new faces abound, and the truth is you won’t be able to know who’s who this season without a program. It is uncommon when your most seasoned, perhaps talented player is a defensive back, such as it with Ronde Barber. Advance ticket sales are down a bit, but the numbers can be reversed with a couple of opening victories, Coach Morris.