Tampa Bay Rays for years had one motive- to have a forever home. Something nice and grand, and well they did have a chance with their $1.3 billion stadium in St.Petersburg. You’d expect them to never let this deal go right? But shockingly, the deal fell through, and so did the stadium dreams. And now, this worry just adds to their already shaky condition. Firstly, their lease at Tropicana Field is expiring in 2027, and their stadium is already in no condition for MLB games.
Hurricane Milton had left it to bits, and now the Rays are playing in the Yankee spring training stadium. Amidst all this is the fact that MLB is nudging Stu Sternberg to sell the team. And, Sternberg’s denial of the St. Pete plan didn’t just leave a void; it left a door open for other people to step in.
Now Orlando Dreamers are charging forward like a train fueled by $1.5 billion in fresh investor commitments.
The group is co-founded by Hall of Famer Barry Larkin and businessman Jim Schnorf. They officially announced that they have the financial muscle to bring Major League Baseball to Central Florida. “We are extremely pleased with the recent rapid progress in financing interest towards prospective MLB team acquisition,” Larkin told The Orlando Sentinel.
But they are simply not talking about buying a team; they have the sights of doing something grander. Plans right now are set for a $1.7 billion covered stadium near SeaWorld Orlando. It’s set to feature a massive 45,000-seat sports complex right next to the Aquatica Park. They even have a mysterious and silent partner who has pledged to give $1 billion towards the construction. Essentially, this will take care of the heavy lifting in finance.
MLB’s Rob Manfred is although still wanting to keep baseball in Tampa Bay. “I remain of the view that there is an outcome that keeps baseball in Tampa Bay.” But the fact is that the Tampa Bay Rays deal collapsing just changed the entire ordeal. But of course, the Dreamers will have certain steps to clear, like they need to partner with Orange County. They also need to prepare to move their home base to downtown Orlando from Maitland. So, it’s not simply easy.
For now, though, Rays are simply falling in love with the Steinbrenner Field.
Rays outdoor move to Steinbrenner Field leaves MLB under fire
The Tampa Bay Rays are in a season of storms, but they have found their silver lining—outdoor baseball. For the first time since the team’s birth in 1998, the fans got the real taste of outdoor baseball, and they are loving it. Fans have flooded online portals, about how they like this, and given they were especially forced to play at the NY Yankees’ George M Steinbrenner Field this is a welcome change. Their debut at the field too was great, a thrilling 3-2 walk-off win over the Rockies. A sellout crowd watched Kameron Misner blast his first home run too. But just as they were enjoying the fresh air, controversy just threw a shadow.
This time the Yankees found themselves caught in the crossfire. So when the Rays played the Yankees, Aaron Judge happened to throw a massive home run. However, it was ruled out as a foul ball, and the umpires then went to review the ball, but the decision stood—no home run for Judge. However, it turns out that it might have been a missed call after all.
The foul pole at the Steinbrenner field turns out to be higher than in a regular ballpark. And this might have tricked the umpires into coming to this decision. Aaron Boone was ejected from the game because he wasn’t having it. But apart from the drama, this incident highlights one big error on the MLB’s part. Because the league always knew Tampa was going to be playing there, so why didn’t they get the stadium up to speed with MLB standards?
Major League Baseball already has plenty of dark clouds hanging over their head, and this just added more worries. Whose fault do you think this was? Let us know in the comments.
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