First of all, Florida has been hit harder than other states by the recession.
Second, did you ever try to drive from Tampa to St Pete?
Unless you have THIS, there are only two options...
And
Tropicana Field is not a great stadium. But the problem with the Trop, however, isn't the atmosphere, but the location.
Tampa Bay has a market size of 3.2 million people - larger than just eight other markets in Major League Baseball.
Only 19 percent of the Tampa Bay market lives within a 30-minute drive of the Trop, however. Seattle, which also has 3.2 million people, has a whopping 63 percent of its market within a 30-minute drive of Safeco Field. And Denver has 79 percent for Coors Field, despite having almost a million fewer residents.
To put it simply: The Tampa Bay area is not fully utilized by the location of the Trop. A central location would increase that 19 percent to as high as 50 percent if a new stadium were built in Tampa's Channelside or Toy Town districts.
If the entirety of the Tampa Bay market is expected to drive to the southern tip of Pinellas County in an already awkwardly designed metropolitan area, the weeknight baseball crowds will suffer.
I'd wager another problem with Major League Baseball in Florida is Minor League Baseball.
Folks became invested in their local MILB teams before the Rays came to Florida.
I go watch my local Minor league team every week they're at home and I've never been to a Royals or Cardinals Major League game in person. I'm invested in my local team.
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