Comm Voice
An open letter to the future owners of the Tampa Bay Rays
To those considering becoming the next stewards of Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay:
Baseball is more than a game in St. Petersburg – it’s part of our DNA. For over 110 years, our city has shared a proud, enduring relationship with America’s pastime. From the legends who trained here in the spring to the hometown cheers that have echoed through Tropicana Field for the past 27 seasons, baseball has always had a home in St Pete.
We know the road ahead requires bold decisions. The storms that forced Tropicana Field to close came at a difficult moment. But even as the lights dimmed inside the stadium, the light of possibility grew brighter around it.
Because here in St. Petersburg, the land is still ready. The community is still waiting. And the vision – to build not just a stadium, but the next great American neighborhood – is still alive.
The Historic Gas Plant District holds more than promise. It holds purpose. It is where the Rays can build a home and a legacy – one that honors those displaced in the past, uplifts the people of today and inspires the generations to come. A stadium here won’t just be surrounded by concrete. It will be surrounded by community.
We ask you – future owners – to see what we see. Not just a team, but a partner. Not just a market, but a movement. You have a chance to do something few sports franchises ever truly accomplish: to help build a neighborhood and a championship culture. Right here. Right now.
St. Petersburg is ready to keep the Rays. Ready to grow with you. Ready to win – on and off the field.
darryl hopkins
July 2, 2025at11:48 pm
Anthon Cabreras article said it all. I live in Pinellas also but the Rays need to be across the Bay And please copy the Astros ball park. We need retractable. Not a tent.
Midge Trubey
July 2, 2025at9:37 pm
St Petersburg has always been a baseball city. Time to rebrand, The St Petersburg Rays, smaller indoor stadium with air conditioning. The team makes money for the city with all broadcasts showcasing our city and our beaches. Many a St Petersburg business has benefited from the Ray’s. Please, new owners, keep the team here
Brian Sawaska
July 2, 2025at5:51 pm
St. Pete isn’t working. They need to be in Tampa! Period! LFG!
Paul Oates
July 2, 2025at5:25 pm
The rays need to be on the other side of the bay in Hillsborough county.
People like me in Orlando would go to games if we had a decent distance to travel. FACT: building on the inland side opens up waaaaay more fans from FL. Burying the rays in St Pete adding another hour or more to go to games is a death sentence.
Manuel Co
July 2, 2025at2:29 pm
How you this open letter was not written by AI without telling you this letter wasn’t written by AI. These college graduates don’t know how to get to the point. LoL.
Perhaps if you used the correct words, you may get more attention.
You may used sports hub or region instead of neighborhood, so you implicitly include to Tampa Metro area and perhaps Orlando. Replace partner –simply because a team is not a partner– by an enthusiastic community wearing rays colors, so you implicitly say we have money to buy merchandise and spend $20 on few beers on game day. So on.
Toni Pisani
July 2, 2025at1:38 pm
Location is the number one reason for the Rays low attendance, yet St. Pete insists on building in the same exact location. I’m hoping new owners will reconsider location and build in Tampa or Clearwater keeping the Rays in Tampa Bay.
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
July 2, 2025at12:20 pm
The ‘crashing’ of the Rays deal was Never ever explained to us the Taxpayers. Now you want us to buy in on a new deal???Very interesting. I see why you would Not allow us to vote on this matter.
Terry Cassidy
July 2, 2025at11:58 am
Where was the fan support inside the Trop for 27 years?
linda lawrence
July 2, 2025at11:19 am
I here people say it is too far to drive from Tampa to St
Pete. But….they sure want us to drive from St Pete to tampa for the Bucs and the Lightening
ANTONIO COLLINS
July 2, 2025at10:00 am
The gas plant district is still the right place in my opinion. it was pseudo approved for the Rays with the extras being the waffling points. Rebuilding the Trop is the issue now so perhaps a site re-configure would be best
John Harrison
July 2, 2025at9:28 am
St Pete has a long standing history with baseball that should not be forgotten. If the new owners desire a massive entertainment complex and a community that’s built around the stadium, the Trop site remains the only site in Tampa Bay that could do this. There’s nothing around the Fairgrounds and I doubt the Bucs will want to share the Raymond James stadium site.
Paul Insco
July 2, 2025at8:46 am
Please visit Wrigleyville and/or
St.Louis Busch Village….
Build a marketplace and name it after your organization, or sell the naming rights….
You obviously are intelligent professionals and will make the best business decisions.
George Brown
July 2, 2025at7:27 am
One of the best teams in baseball,fun to watch. Look at the facts St Petersburg, your community doesn’t support baseball. I found your open letter to be funny
Anthony Cabrera
July 2, 2025at6:51 am
As a lifelong Rays fan from Bradenton, here’s my little “open letter” in case anyone from the ownership group is reading this article: please bring the team to Tampa and please change the policy of pinching pennies for players. I loved Tropicana and have fond memories there, and I don’t have anything against St. Petersburg personally, but frankly the area has been unideal for the team’s ability to thrive, and even I can admit that. I wanna be able to see the team I grew up loving be more than just “that team that is smart enough in trades and cost saving to make the playoffs regularly but never really win the big one and never really get very much viewership because of the area”.
A massive new stadium in St. Pete at the end of the day would be a pair of brass handcuffs and just at best stick us in the higher-middle end of the scent of new franchise mediocrity we’ve been facing since we first won the pennant in ’08: a team that does well every so often but is culturally overshadowed by the other teams in the same division. Tampa Bay is capable of a lot when it comes to being a serious name in sports – we have the Bolts right across the bay from St. Pete, the Rays are worth believing in and betting big in favor of being more than it has been, a team that’s not bad but not great.
If we want to really build a future for the Rays, two policy changes I would like to politely and sincerely ask for as a fan are this: please don’t be afraid to move the team to Tampa and please don’t trade your best players to the Dodgers or some other team because “it’s a smart deal that makes sense”. It may make sense but it kills the legacy of the team the fact that besides Evan Longoria, the number of great players who have had careers where they have mainly been known for being Rays are very, very few, and that has a real effect on developing fans. Part of what draws people to baseball teams is the legacy of the great individuals who’ve played in their uniform, look at the impact Roberto Clemente had on building the legacy of the Pirates, Hank Aaron on the Braves, half the Yankees roster of the 20th century on theirs: this is what draws fans to sports teams, long term, we don’t root for a brand, we root for people; I root for Tampa Bay because I’m from there, and I know people who have lived here a long time that still root for those teams from far places for those personal reasons that make up the psychology of most sports fans, and something like that which you can’t quantify on a contract is something you need to take into account; you don’t just trade away the players themselves when you trade your best and promising potential legends away, you also trade away part of your identity.
Sure, doing something different may mean some material inefficiency in not seeing everything as getting a bargain for your deals but it would be great to see owners believe in a team enough to spend money to make money instead of this anemic Athletics philosophy of trying to pinch pennies to build a ship that costs the least, is the most cost efficient at finishing the race than most other boats, but ultimately never believes in itself enough to actually make risks to push ahead. Believe in the Rays enough to see them as worth taking these risks for. Please don’t keep us in this purgatory.
Lauren Lopez
July 2, 2025at5:04 am
Just like the Chamber to be on the wrong side of this. If the new stadium was such a brilliant idea, the citizens should have been allowed to vote on it. But that opportunity is long past. Let’s move on.
Matthew Gowdy
July 2, 2025at4:12 am
So long, its been good to know you!
Annie Smith
July 2, 2025at2:34 am
I have lived in Pinellas county for over 5⁰ years. I am a hard-core sports fan and Love the Rays.They belong in Tampa.
I Neil Irwin
July 1, 2025at11:05 pm
Owen and Chris, you would not have to make such a desperate plea if our downtown schools had better rankings. Our schools rank 3, 4, and 5 for elementary, middle, and high school.
Do good business leaders move their teams and families to places with such poorly ranked schools? I doubt it.
Roy Ricci
July 1, 2025at10:41 pm
Yes please !
keep the spark alive here
Champa Bay is alive and deserving
Sussn Smith
July 1, 2025at9:11 pm
As a Fan Host, I applaud your vision.. thank you and good luck with this new challenge