(After yesterday's events, I have decided to write a letter to Tropicana Field. And beware, none of this is happy. And this will (maybe) be my last post about the issue between me and the current homefield status of the Tampa Bay Rays)
My latest adventure into Tropicana Field to support my first-place Rays provided me with enough rage to potentially begin a total protest of the area. Now, living in the edges of Orlando, it takes me about two hours to get to St. Pete and the Tampa Bay area (one and a half if you are driving a bit faster) to get to the Trop. There was a huge game between the first-place Rays and the second-place Yankees. The Rays are trying to end their homefield losing ways, while the Yankees are desperately trying to recover after getting swept by the Red Sox. I arrive to the Trop at around 2:30 to buy tickets at the box office before any potential bad news of there being a sellout.
There were a couple Rays employees collecting money for parking as there were already a few cars wanting to get in and prepare for the matchup. I approached one and told her that we just wanted to go to the box office quickly to buy the tickets. The lady had the nerve, the audacity to tell me that she has to charge me $20, even though I wasn’t even going to park there. I specifically said all I wanted to do was buy the tickets to return later, and her only excuse was that “it’s a Yankee game,” which mildly didn’t even make sense. So if it’s a game against the Tigers or the Mariners, it’s ok for me to head out front to buy tickets and pay for parking later? Why if for a Yankee game all of a sudden it’s an issue? I had to park about half a mile down, leave my brother at a Chinese restaurant, and literally walk towards the stadium, passing by the rude lady who would not let me through.
I arrive at the counter to try to buy ten tickets. I was going to pay in cash and then charge the rest in debit card. And once again, another stupid rule was revealed, as I can only pay in one form of payment. I was with my cousin at the time. So what they wanted us to do was: one of us step back into the line and buy the other half of the tickets in cash, after I purchase my five. Can anyone see a point in this rule? My blood was already boiling, because after all, we suffer enough in Tropicana Field for reasons I shall explain later, and these extra nuisances were just contributing to my hatred of the area.
Now, fast-forwarding to much later while trying to find a parking space amongst the legion of cars, I happen to come across a parking lot that honestly was lacking many, many cars. It was just 20 minutes before gametime, and the man wouldn’t let us through because the lot was only for prepaid parking tickets. He points us to the very next parking lot area. This parking area was $30 for V.I.P. The extremely rude lady barely gave us time to come up with the ridiculous price tag of 30 bucks for parking (by the way, my patience had run thin, which is why I didn’t even bother fighting it) and once we parked, we came to a stunning revelation: the V.I.P. parking is actually farther from the stadium than it is if you were to park from up front a bit early. Why do you even call it V.I.P. parking if it accomplishes nothing V.I.P.-like? It cost me more to park the car as opposed to getting a seat to watch the Yankees. Oh, this story gets better.
This was my first game of 2011 going into the ShiTrop and low and behold, many subtractions from last year. The lineup board outside the stadium is missing, the small Hispanic band that played music on the right field seats is missing, the mildly energetic young group that tried energizing the crowd was missing, almost all the eateries in the third floor of the stadium were boarded up and closed, most of the better eateries (not just serving hot dogs and chips) are just on the first floor, there was random crap just lying around everywhere, and even after all these years the only major change was the turf. Tropicana Field is showing its age, and is beginning to fall apart. What the heck is going on?
I know the Rays aren’t making as much money as the higher-market teams; but being the seventh most-watched team in Major League Baseball, getting plenty of money from the luxury tax, harboring a major cut in player payroll, and maintaining an obvious financial setback in stadium maintenance should count for something. Anything. For goodness sakes, this is the defending AL champion Tampa Bay Rays! Where the hell is their support? Where the heck is anything!? After all these years, it’s still an absolute pain to see them play, it’s still an absolute pain to witness the stadium, and it is still a ridiculous pain to leave the area. In terms of the team, there has been plenty upon plenty of improvement thanks to an incredible manager, an excellent staff, and a farm system that is leagues above and beyond anything we’ve seen in baseball since the Expos. But just like the Expos of the 80s and 90s, they deserve better, much better.
I used to blame the lack of fans. I used to blame their lack of support. I used to blame everyone except the real culprit in all this mess: Tropicana Field and the folks running the dump. This stadium is still a mess, still an ugly jumble of useless garbage that just so happens to have a baseball field. The production value of the stadium remains minimal, the attempts to hype up the already-small crowd remains minimal, and the attempts to improve the experience in the stadium remains nowhere to be seen. I’ve had it, I am done with putting up with the nonsense to support a stadium that clearly is run by people that don’t care much about the Rays, are just there to reap in the profits. We need to fix this stadium now that we are stuck there for the next God-knows-how-many years, and we need to fix the area. It is time to do an overhaul to that vacant lot we call a stadium. It is time for more lights and more police to help with the traffic after a busy game. It is time to actually help the motorists figure out where the interstate is instead of following other cars and begging that they are looking for the same thing.
Florida is the fourth most populated state in the nation. There are 2.7 million people living in the Tampa Bay area, and its not just a simple crowd either. This is the same young crowd that makes USF the eighth largest university in the nation, UF the sixth largest, and UCF the second-largest. Florida isn’t a wasteland for sports, as you see the colleges fill up to the brim when its football season, and these schools aren't easy to reach either. The University of Florida football program is one of the most successful, as their entire 2010 football season was sold out--with the stadium being able to pack 90,000--and Gainesville is in the middle of the boondocks.
P.S. Population of Gainesville: 125,000.
Population of Tampa Bay: 2.7 million
Now check out these numbers:
Orlando Magic: 9th in attendance in NBA (100%)
Miami Heat: 5th in attendance in NBA (100%)
Miami Dolphins: 16th in attendance in NFL (90%)
Orlando Predators: 2nd in attendance in AFL
Tampa Bay Storm: 1st in attendance in AFL
Jacksonville Sharks: 3rd in attendance in AFL
Tampa Bay Lightning: 84% attendance (Top 20 in NHL)
Jacksonville Jaguars: 94% in attendance
P.S. Before you bring up the Florida Marlins, it has less to do with the fanbase and more to do with the owners, which dismantled the squad TWICE after previous years winning the World Series.
So the question is, why is the young, talented, and exciting Tampa Bay squad almost dead last in attendance? Is it because of lack of people? That can’t be the case, with all the attendance numbers I just put up. It just might be, and it most like is, because of Tropicana Field. I know we aren’t going to get a new stadium like the Miami Marlins (which despite low numbers will be sure improve dramatically when the economy improves and their stadium opens up next year) but let’s at least work on what we have. And unfortunately like all my articles about this team might fall on deaf ears because as long as a profit is assembled, I don’t see any extra effort in the future concerning improving the experience of following the Rays.
Bottom Line: I am at the point of purely 100% protesting the stadium because of what I had to put up with this past day when the Rays beat the Yankees. There was no energy in the crowd, and I used to think it was us. For years I used to totally blame the fans. But after more analyzing and digging a little deeper, its baffling that the Central Florida area, an area known for a lively young college crowd embedded in a great nightlife, just flatout doesn’t try to support this exciting baseball team—when we support most of the others. I know if we moved the team further in Tampa, or move the team to Orlando, perhaps even Disney World, then we would see the Rays fans arriving in droves. But until my dreams of seeing the Rays playing in an actually nice stadium come true, I have to put up with the Trop. And I put up with the Trop for many years, and I think my patience is worn out.
Could our fanbase be much better? Of course it can, but it all begins with effort from the other side of the field. We need to see the owners and higher-ups running the franchise to actually care, otherwise we'll see little reason to do the same. We changed the entire name, outlook, color, design, and mindset of the Tampa Bay Rays when we dropped the green colors and the word “Devil.” Why can’t we do the same to Tropicana Field? Why can't we totally fix and change-up Tropicana Field? If I had any power vested in me, I would move this team elsewhere, away from the dismal stadium, away from the shoddy neighboring areas close to the spot, and away from Tampa Bay altogether. If I had that money, I would do whatever it takes to give the team the support they truly deserve. Unfortunately though, I don't have that power, and I have to rely on you guys.
I am not asking for any compensation, I am not asking for a refund.
As a lifelong Rays fan I request one thing:
Fix your damn stadium. I am sick of Tropicana Field.
Sincerely,
Rays Fan
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