A recent Facebook post by a Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell about a potential new home for a major league baseball team has people talking in both Polk County and City of Lakeland.
Braswell’s Facebook quote:
Orlando has almost 1,000,000 new tourists every week. A ticket to Disney is $109 per person so $436 for the day for a family of 4.
Good seats at a Tampa Bay Rays game are $35. The Rays struggle to get 15,000 people to a game.
Orlando City SC average 23,000 per game. Orlando City tickets start at $50.
The Rays management have said for decades they can’t get enough people in seats yet they stick with a Tampa centric location.
If a new stadium was located in Polk County along I-4 what could be expected??
First, Rays attendance would swell. Tourists could spend a paltry $200 at a Rays game as a break from the Disney/Universal/Sea World money vacuum.
Second, the drive from north, central, and south Tampa would probably be the same or quicker than crossing the bay on a bridge.
Third, the drive from the tourist area of Orlando would be less than 40 minutes.
It amazes me that there is no consideration by Rays management to even consider moving the team midway between Tampa and Orlando.
A high-speed train from Orlando to Tampa will be coming in the future.
More than a decade ago, Polk County did all they could to convince LegoLand to come to Winter Haven? And they came!
But as the Rays search for a new home, Polk County, as a whole, hasn’t done anything to lure the organization to the area yet — no letters, no formal requests, no offers.
Braswell — who said he reached out to the Rays organization in phone calls and letters years ago but never heard back?
What would it take to get the Rays here?
Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing email us the following:
Mark Jackson, director of Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing said, more than ten years ago, was the only time the county reached out to the Rays front office about a potential relocation.
Jackson said a stadium in Polk County would cost between $700 million and $1.6 billion, and that’s not accounting for inflation.
“A significant public/private partnership would be necessary for the stadium,” he said.
The other question: Would the Rays even be interested in making that move?
“I wish we could have them here,” Jackson said. “But it boils down to the Rays’ appetite to do something like that. What are their thoughts? What’s the price tag? What would be the County and or the City be ask from the Rays in terms of support?
Does it make sense? Will draw the numbers from Tampa and Orlando?
FYI….THE REAL AMERICANS WHO STAND UP AND FIGHT THE VACCINE ARE NOT GOING TO GAMES! We will not support anyone who spends obscene money on men playing sports for millions and they do nothing to help the country! Hitting a ball or throwing a ball doesn’t build a home, teach a child the rights from our constitution or declaration of independence, fix a vehicle, be a police officer or fire fighter, a plumber, chef…..GET MY POINT?!
No!!! Our businesses downtown are suffering from the ROAD DIET because there is NO PARKING! FIX THE HOMELESS PROBLEM!!! BUILD MORE FIRE HOUSES AND SCHOOLS!!! GET MORE POLICE PRESENCE AND CLEAN UP THE CRIME!!!!!