Rays of Anguish 

When your average attendance per game is comparable to the Orioles, you know something is wrong. They deserve more recognition for how good they are.

As a Tampa area native, everything in this video is spot on. Personally, the team has never felt like part of Tampa because of their location. I live near Lakeland and I wouldn't want to make that drive to St. Pete, when I could just watch it on TV.

The inclusion of the maps and traffic shows how much your channel has evolved. Love your content and congrats on 500K subs.

"Players like Wander Franco are about to revolutionize the game" Ohhhhh maan that aged like milk

The Rays are like a baseball team in a movie where the ownership doesn’t want them to succeed so they can move but the GM and team are so skillful they go on to continue being contenders. It honestly reminds me of the movie “Major League”, except they don’t even get fans by the end of the season lmao.

I was born in Clearwater and grew up in St. Pete. I remember watching games as a kid, especially against the Red Sox, and just seeing a sea of opposing fans and wondering why. Once I grew up, got my drivers license and started driving, it all clicked. Also, it’s surreal seeing you talk about my home town, lmao. I figure everyone forgets the Tampa Bay Area exists, except that all three of our sports teams are top notch. Bolts games and Buccs games are sellouts, but the Rays can’t catch a break.

As a person that lives within 10 minutes of Tropicana Field I can say from experience that there are a number of reasons we don't go to the games. You touched on it with the ways to cross over and get to a game from Tampa. It's not that much better on this side of things either. Let's not forget that once you are there you are in the worst stadium ever built by man. I have heard rumor that it once was purposed for a monster truck arena, and that baseball was never the main intention. The roof is to low, the scoreboard is blocked by people walking past it on their way to their seats, sound seems to magically leave the building, and there are loose wires and cables all over the place. Sure, the lack of seats also means that every seat in the house is technically good, and you can sit right up to the edge of the field for only $15, but that does not make it any less a terrible place to catch a game. EDIT: Just going to edit this here because many have corrected me that the stadium was built as a monster truck arena. It is a rumor I hear in the St. Pete area frequently, and I assume it started over the years between its construction and the first Rays game (1990 - 1998).

i appreciate the effort to bring this issue to light, tree. as a rays fan in clearwater, even on the same side of the bridge it takes me about 45 min to get down there during rush hour traffic on US-19 and I-275 on an average weekday game. our TV coverage is excellent, and is consistently ranked as one of the most watched telecasts in baseball on a nightly basis. at this point, fans have seemingly given up on going to games and want to avoid giving money to Stu in anyway possible. the way every official is just spitting in our face is just mind boggling.

I remember when they went to the World Series in 2008, there was a journalist on tv who asked people on the street how they felt about the Rays success, and several of them were unaware there was even a baseball team in Tampa Bay. And it was their 11th season.

It hurts to see the Rays treated like this. Baseball needs feel good stories of small market teams sticking it to big market teams and the Rays do that so well.

It’s good to see more mainstream RU-vid and twitter accounts finally getting the word out there about the rays. MOVE THE RAYS TO TAMPA

Thank you for acknowledging the geography problem with The Rays. They do have fans but those bridges are no joke come game day. #raysup

0:42 I still can’t believe Franco fumbled that hard

I sincerely hope the Rays can be a full-time Tampa franchise. The players don't deserve any of the BS that is beyond their control. Also congrats on 500k subs, good sir!

Always love when a Tree vid comes out of nowhere

I live just north of Tampa in Spring Hill, FL (Hernando County). I used to go to Rays games on weekends, but weekday games were out of the question. I tried once going to a game in the middle of the week. Now, bear in mind it normally takes about an hour to get to Tampa from where I live. It took me THREE HOURS to get to Tropicana Field. And bear in mind, this was back when the Rays sucked. The problem is the games start at 7pm, so all the routes are crammed with rush hour traffic at the time I have to go through Tampa to get to St. Pete. So I'm facing rush hour traffic for TWO cities instead of just one. So people to the north (where I live) of St. Pete can have 2 options to get to St. Pete. You can either take I-275 once you get into Hillsborough County, or you can take US-19 on a straight shot to Tropicana Field's area. But the problem with US-19 is it's built up all the way into Tropicana Field's area from where I live, so it would take even longer than I-275. If you live to the south of Tampa Bay, you have ONE option. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which I think it a toll bridge. With the Lightning, I can reach most games in under 90 minutes during the week because I'm not fighting through rush hour through the entirety of two cities. I only get the north half of rush hour for Tampa and you really don't get to the worst of traffic then until you hit the southwest part of Tampa heading into St. Pete (see the problem?). You also have to remember that the population of the Tampa Bay area is REALLY spread out over the bay area rather than concentrated in Tampa. Also, they chose to get good at the wrong time. Both the Bucs and Lightning are champions and the best the Rays did was the ALCS. I honestly think the best place for a new stadium would be right by the Florida State Fairgrounds as you have I-4 and US-301 passing right through that area and I-75 passing nearby. Also, Tropicana Field is in a very high crime neighborhood. They probably chose it because the land was cheap. They also need to make the new stadium a dome and not waste time on a retractable roof. It gets RIDICULOUSLY hot during the summers here and it rains almost every afternoon/evening because of the colliding sea breezes from both the west and east coast. So it's either oppressively hot, oppressively humid, or both at the same time. Unless it's an air conditioned, I'm not going.

I feel like you touched on everything that is an issue with the Rays. As a Rays fan, there’s nothing wrong about what you said. you hit the nail on the head. The sister-city plan is stupid for two reasons. One stadium will generally sit abandoned for half the season, AND they want TWO BRAND NEW stadiums? Great Analysis, really enjoyed! Congrats on 500K!

As a Dodger fan, I still remember that wild Game 5 ending in the World Series against the Rays. Even if the Dodgers lost it, I remember how happy a lot of those Rays players were celebrating. Most of those players thought they would never make it or their careers would fade off, but the Rays gave them genuinely great coaching. I just hope they can eventually get themselves a fanbase. GGs, Rays fans.

“Players like Wander Franco are going to revolutionize the game” lol about that

I'm an Orioles fan that actively roots for the Rays to do well. They deserve a better stadium!

Being from Tampa it is pure hell trying to get to a rays game...really wish the two cities would get some kind of deal done to move them to Ybor. I love the Rays

Thank you for making this. It’s not the fans. We love baseball and we love the Rays. They have very high tv viewership but no one on the Tampa side wants to cross the bridge to St. Pete. My brother lived there for 5 years and I barely saw him because that drive sucks. The city wants to keep the team. Like you said, Sturnberg is not negotiating in good faith. No matter what he says, he wants to move the team. This team can easily thrive here with a new owner. Look at the fucking Lightning. Excellent ownership. They sell out every game and it’s freakin ice hockey in Florida. It’s not just because they’ve been one of the best teams in the NHL, it’s because the arena is great and the team provides an excellent fan experience. Same with the Bucs.

Rays attendance was so low this season that the Blue Jays averaged more when they were in Buffalo temporarily due to the pandemic during their brief stint.

As a Tampa area native, great to see you did your research and nailed it with this video. Very well done!

The Rays had a 99-63 regular season in 2023. They were just swept in their wild card series against the Rangers. They had an attendance of 19,704 in game one and 20,198 in game two. That is just brutal. If I was a Rays player, I would've been like, "We just had a 99 win season and hardly anybody shows up for the PLAYOFFS?!?!" That must've been so deflating for the Rays players to see such sparse crowds during the playoffs.

I've lived in the Tampa area all my life. From my experiences, a decently-sized portion of the population in the area is actually not from Florida. There are plenty of sports fans in the area from other parts of the country that will root for local Tampa teams. That is, if the teams are good. If the teams aren't good, those fans will just root for the teams from where they're from. I've been a Buccaneers fan since I was 6 years old. A few times in my life, I was talking with someone and they'd ask me what my favorite football team is and I'd say the Bucs. Then they would make a face and say "Why?"

Thank You Tree, This is an OUTSTANDING video explaining the sad situation in Tampa Bay....

tampa bay is currently having a stretch of 80 degree days in mid december. yet they have consistently packed lightning games for a decade now. baseball has links in the region going back well over a century if they can show up for a sport that has no real link to the area they can show up for baseball. they need that stadium in downtown tampa

I love the fact I'm not the only one representing here for Tampa... BAY! I think fans of the team liked the early efforts to bring in local favorites who ended their careers here, like Fred McGriff and Wade Boggs who came home to build this team at the start after they were already legends. We also love the fact Rocco Baldelli, Dave Martinez, even our own Kevin Cash are former Rays players who are managing squads, and our player personnel guys are running the Dodgers while Joe Maddon is still as cool of a customer despite leading other teams. I think real Rays fans still love our former guys and what they did for us. It's not our fault the ownership makes TV so much of a better way to watch, and we have a killer broadcast team with a play-by-play franchise staple and his partner on radio and TV, our alums move onto better opportunities, and our studio analysts are great at what they do and they're familiar faces as well (often former Rays and even former a Marlin, as some of us love the Marlins as the sole Florida team for a few years). Give us another Vinik. Heck, we'll tolerate another Glazer family, as long as they don't ask for public money to save their behinds, but Stu? We thought Vince sucked as an owner, atleast he got us the Rays and was dedicated to trying to bring in fans, he just lacked money and was a bit of a well meaning jerk. Stu just seems like he doesn't care about Tampa, just money, and he sucks! Thanks again Tree!

soooo... uhhhh... About that wander franco comment

"Players like Wander Franco are about to revolutionize the game" Yeaaaaah, about that

As a Rays fan, my body is ready. Say a prayer for me boys. 🙏🏻

I think all the Rays need to fill the seats is a new stadium in Tampa proper, as a Giants fan I want to see the Rays succeed. The Giants have no problem filling seats because Oracle Park is in a prime location right by downtown San Francisco.

Been a Ray's fan since 2010. Its so heart breaking to watch the team do this. Year after year putting some of the best talent in baseball on the field and then just throwing all of it away behind the scenes

Hey, y'all. Rays fan in St. Pete here. Let me say right now that I am against this double city plan, I would have been happy with the team going to Ybor, and Stu is a complete TONTO. I love my team, apathetic about Tropicana Field, and despise Stu and his crackpot scheme.

The problem I have with my rays and I assume other ray fans have is that we feel like ownership doesn’t care about the team and the fans. It looks like they are there to just make money and that’s all. I get that is part of it but you still have to put effort into the team. Jeff Vinik has been a prime example of that over in Tamp with the lightning.

I’m bias bc I grew up right next to the Trop. I love that stadium, the AC instead of baking in the heat was very nice

This is going to be a hard watch. Been my favorite team since the 08 World Series run and growing up in St Pete. Now all I can do is get angry.

Was kinda hoping for you to dig into the dark ages of the Rays, with (shudders) Vince Naimoli. But this does their CURRENT team justice, probably more important. Thanks, Tree!

I live 20 minutes from the stadium and I can't agree with you more you hit the nail on the head with this one

Everything he said was spot on. I know the hell that is the Franklin bridge from my uncle’s POV since me and him went to the games for 7 years and traffic was hell during rush hour. Not sure how much worst it’s gotten since then since I’ve stopped going games because rona and the warnings from my uncle about going to St.Pete and fearing my car breaking down lol.

As a Yankees fan I would KILL for their front office and player personnel

As an Expos fan who badly wants baseball back in my town, I totally agree with your take. This plan is super dumb, and I don't want to be Tampa's San Jose. Furthermore, I don't want to rob Tampa of their team.

Thank you for going so in depth. The bickering between ownership and st pete City Council has been going on for too long and they don't care about the fans. Much love from Tampa

As a life-long resident of the area, and a passionate fan of the Bucs, Lightning, and Rays, everything in this video is spot on. Local fan passion for the Rays is not less than the other 2 teams, stadium location is the single biggest factor in low attendance.

The Rays are by far the most underrated team in the MLB.

Rays fan here. Thank you for bringing this to light. I drove to Tropicana Field for ALDS game one from USF and it took me 1 hour and 3 minutes. That’s how terrible the traffic is in this fast growing region. As a tampa native and rays fan myself, I promise you the fanbase exists. Just not in St. fucking Petersburg. If the Rays can get a deal done to actually move to TAMPA, where they belong, there is no doubt in my mind that the rays would thrive here. Just like the lightning and just like the buccaneers.

Rays need to move to Tampa itself and also they have to plan this right. Plus MLB needs to expand to 32 teams and Montréal should get one of those two slots.

This is a weird plan to split with Montréal. I really think the best option is go choose one City or the other. What I know for sure is that they'd be a big success if they were to move full time to Montréal as the new Expos (like they had before the '94 Strike).

As a Tampa Bay resident another common issue I commonly hear is the lack of investment fans have with the players because management gets rid of the majority of players when they are due a hefty payday. The fans loved Longo they loved Price etc. Tbh I just wonder why they actually payed Wander Franco and how they are gonna fuck him up.

Thank you for the fair, in-depth breakdown. As someone who’s been in St Pete for the past four years it’s frustrating to see people who simply claim that people don’t care.

As a Rays fan who has sat in bridge traffic to and from Rays games, you’re 100% right. Fantastic takes.

I've lived in the bay area my whole life; the amount of lightning/buccaneers signs, murals, advertisements, etc. around Tampa and even the surrounding suburbs is astounding. There are NEVER any rays signs ANYWHERE. The only place I've seen any form of advertisement for the rays is on lamp posts around the trop. I guarantee if Stu and co. actually put in effort to engage the bay area, they'd have plenty more fans driving 30+ minutes to watch the fucking games.

Thank you Tree, I’m glad you understand the fans can’t help it

As a rays fan for about the past 10 years I can certainly say this: 1. No matter how good the rays are, the past 8 years or so have sat around 5-10k per game. Only exceptions seems to be division rival games on the weekends. But then again it’s usually half and half for the team fans. 2. Pretty much the only way to get to Tropicana field from anywhere but St. Pete is by bridge. Tree absolutely nailed it there. Takes forever to get there. In 2021 I went to Dunedin when they played the jays there to watch them rather than go to St. Pete. 3. Rays ownership and management is very cheap and snake like. Wish we had better ownership. The Montreal idea makes no sense and makes me want to jump off a cliff. 4. Other things to note from a rays fan who frequently goes to games, there’s never any player jerseys for sale for the rays. Also when you go there, the streets around the trop aren’t lined with promo photos of their players. The Bucs and lightning do. The stores inside are full of generic gear and the Authentics store is full of outdated overpriced stuff from guys we got rid of Ages ago. We don’t promote our own players at all minus social media. TLDR: 1. Our attendance has sucked for about a decade 2. Getting there sucks and is filled with bridges and congested roads 3. Rays ownership sucks 4. We don’t promote our own players ffs

Well if the Wander thing winds up bad for him, I wonder if Tampa ever gives out mega deals again, cuz if it winds up true, the deal aged like milk!

Your videos have greatly improved Tree! Excellent work!

I’ve been a fan of the rays since I’ve started getting into baseball they’ve been my 2nd favorite teams for a decade now. If I lived in Tampa I wouldn’t even care for them. I just want to see their fans support them I end up visiting Tampa and I’ve seen the support of the lighting and Bucs recently. My family moved down to Florida about a year ago and went to a game to watch them play the white Sox and they thought watching the Sox at home was a joke. So yea you can imagine their experience at Tropicana. It sucks because I love watching the rays on TV

A glass dome stadium in a state that looked at Winter, said “Nope”, and moved on… That wouldn’t have gone wrong at all.

URINATING TREE has truly BRANCHED out! Congratulations 🎈 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🎈on your 500 Subscribers!!!!

Thanks for covering this so thoroughly and not going for the copout answer. As a lifelong Rays fan and Tampa native, I saw this video and thought, "Oh boy, here's another person who doesn't understand the nuances of the issue is just taking an opportunity to dunk on Tampa Bay." But you explained it pretty accurately. You can walk around most anywhere in Tampa, throw a rock, and you'll probably hit a baseball fan. Tampa Bay loves baseball, and loves sports, that was never the issue!

It's interesting to hear from Tampa natives about this. I know what a mausoleum the Trop is. But I had no idea what kind of trek it was to get there. Tampa needs a stadium in a more accessible area.

As someone who's lived in Florida my entire life and has done the commute to Tropicana Field from central Florida (east coast), it's VERY rough. St. Petersburg is very out of the way and adds an extra half hour to the drive that's already 2+ hours. It's also important to keep in mind that Orlando to Tampa is give or take 2 hours, a bit of a drive but manageable especially if you travel at the right times. Orlando to St. Petersburg is nearly 3 HOURS. That's shorter then it would take to drive up to Jacksonville by about 50 minutes. I don't think the Rays are per say super popular down here, that may have a bit to do with people from the north living down here and taking their allegiances with them (LOT of Yankees and Red Sox fans, but that's to be expected). But they're certainly popular enough that they wouldn't have bottom tier attendance if the stadium was in a decent area.

I didn’t wanna relive snell getting pulled then leaving Tampa 😭

AWW! I was expecting The Greatest Game. 😭 Still... I love these videos. I look forward to this Rays sh*tpost. 😁

As a Tampa fan, they play in ST. PETERSBURG, ALMOST COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY WATER. Tropicana is way to far for most Tampons(yes that's what we're called) and traffic is always terrible. If they move it to ybor, then they'd be fine. Thank you for being well researched and honest about the situation here, it seems like no one really cares about Tampa stuff if it doesn't have Tom Brady attached to it.

Only thing usually selling massive tickets at St. Petersburg is the Indycar season opener. Not only is it the season opener, but it's also at a scenic location right by the marina.

I live in one of the northern Tampa suburbs you mentioned and went to ALDS Game 3 in 2019. A 25 mile drive home from Tropicana Field took me and my buddies THREE HOURS. Regular season usually takes an hour or more, both ways. I'm not even from the area and the Rays are my second team, but they have such an underdog vibe and fun players I love them almost as much as the Cubs. The people that care about the Rays live in places like where I live. St. Petersburg, nothing against them, is inhabited by retirees, rich people that don't care and millennials that don't care. It only takes me 20-30 minutes to get to a Lightning game, so I go to more of those a year than baseball. I know almost no one that plays hockey here, and so many people play baseball. There are baseball fans, they just don't want to drive an hour one way to sit in a shithole for 3 hours then drive an hour back.

As for Tropicana Field: To say that the White Sox and the Giants dodged a major bullet when they threatened to move there in the late 80s would be an understatement.

Keep on producing these "Must See" documentaries. We already know about the business side of sports. However, you go deeper and discover the shadier sides of ownership, which we value most. Excellent work.

I’m a Tampa sports fan, and the Rays are my favorite baseball team. The Rays have had amazing ratings on TV for the past couple of years, but no one in Tampa wants to go to a dilapidated stadium that’s not even part of their own city. The simple solution is to build a new stadium in a prime location in Tampa, that’s what most Rays fans want. Everyone in Tampa hates Stu Sternberg. He’s one of the worst owners in professional sports and the Rays’ success is in spite of him being owner. Trust me that his team would lose their entire fanbase if they go through with this sister-city plan, as it’s a huge slap in the face to all the loyal Rays fans. I for one would no longer support this team if they go along with it. Like, Montreal? Really?

You do your homework, well spoken. Well done man. No surprise your channel thrives!

As someone who lives more east of Tampa it’s a nightmare going to a game. I’ve been to the Trop twice and it’s been god awful. No one in Tampa goes, everyone knows the franchise is screwed.

As a resident of the City of Tampa itself for over 30 years and getting a front row seat, NO ONE has broken this down better in video form than you just did Tree! Thanks for telling this situation like it is! Compare the Lightning to the Rays. Tampa should be a baseball market far more readily than a hockey market. However, even with bad owners, we've always had front people who cared, and won it all with the best owners in franchise history. This market evolved into a place and culture where players want to be and miss being a part of when they go! 30 years and counting of showing you care about the fan and the community? It works! We've been talking about a Rays stadium for atleast 14 years now and it's only gotten worse. We need another Jeff Vinik who wants to partner with Tampa, not destroy us. The Buccaneers under Hugh Culverhouse, no one cared. With the Glazers, we're glad they're growing up, and we still haven't forgiven them for a referendum for public support of Ray Jay, our stadium, which has drawn many championships and major sporting events as recently as last year! We kind of like our successful Bucs, and kind of like the Glazers, who also show their love for Tampa. Sternberg? You're going to expect public support while being a self righteous dude who feels like he'd rather own any other team in our division and live there? GET OUT! We have fans ready to hand over their money to a good owner who cares about our city! We're good enough for football and hockey, high TV ratings even for the Rays and we're not a "full time market?" Way to encourage us! Our passion goes both ways! If MLB owners kicked Stu out and we got someone who may not be from Tampa, but loves what we're doing and shows their commitment to this community, we'll have well attended championship boat parades on the calendar with sellouts in every sport! We love our Rays TV, we freaking HATE Stu! So again, thanks Tree! No one could tell this story any better!

So refreshing seeing someone call the bullshit exactly what it is. Thank you tree for this as a rays fan.

Live in Valrico, the stadium in Ybor is literally what everyone is asking for. Traffic on 275 is just to ridiculous both before and after game. If I go during work days it takes me 45 min from Macdill AFB to the Trop (taking Gandy) and then like 1hour 30min back home just to work early the next day

As someone who has lived in Tampa my entire life and has been to Tropicana Field everything you said is so correct.

I've lived in the area my whole life and even though I grew up in a baseball loving family full of rays fans we rarely went to any games. The traffic in St. Pete/Clearwater is godawful and always has been. Not even just from Tampa but if you take any north/south artery into that peninsula you're looking at some serious gridlock depending on time of day just to get there. It's a damn shame.

Never thought I’d see Tree breakdown traffic conditions in my hometown.

I didn't realize the proposed Ybor stadium was a fucking glass dome like what kind of third rate architect did they hire?? "Yeah you know what would be perfect for one of the hottest places on the East Coast? A glorified greenhouse of course!"

I was living in the greater Tampa area during one of the proposals to move to the Ybor area for a waterfront stadium. If I recall correctly the owner of the Lightning that himself and ownership group would put up $1B for the stadium and development of land between Amelie Arena and the baseball stadium which would have included: parking, parks, shopping, bars, restaurants and a new medical research/teaching hospital for UF, amongst other things. The rest of funding would come from the taxpayers, but would be recouped over time from non sports related uses of the stadium, mostly concerts. It was shot down because of the need to keep them in St Pete for "economic purposes". If I am misremembering anything, please let me know.

It's sad that the Mariners a team that has given us fans no reason to go to their games or believe in them for 20 years has an easier time getting fans than a perennial playoff team at this point

4:08 never thought tree would get into rapid transit but here we are

Wander Franco yikes…

As someone living in Tampa it’s so trippy hearing tree talk about local road ways while drifting to sleep

Thank you for making this video. As a fan and resident of central FL it’s nice to hear someone make these points. Fucking owners…

Being a Tampa native since I was born 18 years ago, I have been to a total of 2 Rays games in my life. I live in real Tampa, about 10 mins. from downtown/Amalie Arena. My love for hockey was when my dad and I were given free tickets by a family friend which had me playing an ice sport in the hottest state in the US. The Lightning have succeeded in every facet of growing the sport of hockey in Tampa with more players coming out of Florida than ever before. There is 0 reason that the Rays have no hold on growing baseball here and it’s because like the video says it’s not Tampa. St. Pete is not the same atmosphere as the metro of Tampa as Tampa is probably the biggest or 2nd biggest city in Florida. Ownership is literally guaranteed to see sold out crowds if the Rays move into actual Tampa as the game in Tampa will grow just like the Lightning did. No one here really talks about the Rays and as a whole hockey is more popular than baseball among people who are casually into sports. Even when the Lightning were bad it seemed that way. There was a sense of excitement when the Ybor plans were announced but now that that’s done the hype for the Rays seemed to die down. I understand Im not in the baseball crowd of people but this is probably the general feelings amongst most in Tampa. I’m sure that if it was actually in Tampa people who are broadly fans of most sports like me would have actually gotten more into baseball than I have. The Rays are not Tampas and I’d much rather see them move to an actual city than stay in St. Pete and rot in no man’s land because the talent and status they have ascended to is phenomenal and deserves recognition.

My granddad has watched every Rays playoff game since they dropped Devil from their name (he's a pastor). He hasn't been to a Rays game in person in like 10 years because how much of a slog it is to get to and from Tropicana. Glad you brought that up

Tampa Bay resident and long-time Rays fan here. There IS a strong fanbase for the Rays here in the bay area - the television ratings are better than average compared to similar market teams - and the fandom is passionate. The real reasons the turnout at the Trop is terrible are many, and the list ALWAYS starts with the Trop itself. 1. Downtown St. Pete is simply THE WORST PLACE to put a sports franchise. Most of the metro's population are more than a 45-minute drive away from there, especially the North Pinellas County / Hillsborough County populations. If you live out towards Lakeland, you basically have to plan to take half the day to get there and back again. 2. There are no alternate means of getting to the Trop. You have to take the roads - cars AND buses - and from the north / northeast population areas that means taking I-275, which clogs up real damn quick. The side roads are slightly better but with traffic stops every 50 feet I swear to God. If you're coming from Tampa/Hillsborough that means taking the bridge across the bay. The Howard Franklin Bridge, or as we locals like to call it the HORROR FRANKENSTEIN Bridge. Yes. It's as bad as that. 3. The Trop itself is an uninviting, bleak, poorly lit tomb of a ballpark. In order to manage the temperature inside, there are few natural light sources and the field itself surrounded by bland concrete walls. Most of the parking is to one side of the building, which involves a lot of walking AROUND the Trop in order to get to your seats. The dome roof itself is colored like a shroud. And those damned catwalks are not only a problem with high-hit dingers but at certain levels of the field they are in your line of vision and become annoying eyesores. 4. The only GOOD things about the Trop are A) protects you from afternoon thunderstorms and B) the air conditioning during summertime ahhhhhhhhh. That's it. From where I sit, Stu's push to share a season in Montreal is mostly bluster to force the City of Tampa to get him a Ybor-area ballpark that's more centralized to the population areas - and closer to downtown Tampa's business centers - and to shake loose of the lease with St. Pete (which expires in 5-6 years anyway). A move to Ybor City IMHO is a smart move because Ybor is trying to develop a nightlife culture that could fit into summer night ball game schedules, it's near an existing cable-car rail system that Hillsborough-Tampa can expand to give ball fans alternative means to get to games, and it could spark attempts by Tampa to relocate their currently undersized convention center - it's in a great spot along the riverside but it's too small to compete for national convention events - to a more Ybor-centric location with more room to host large organizations (suck it, Orange County Convention Center in Orlando!).

I’m a huge Ray’s fan. I watch on tv for the night games and listen to the radio while at work for the day games. I’m 4 hours away up in the Panhandle but make at least one weekend series a month and I always catch the opening weekend at the Trop. I even stay in Tampa while I’m down there for the games. I wish they move near where the Light isn’t okay because I catch a lot of their games and Bucs games as well.

I remember when Cash pulled Snell, Betts said in the dugout, "We got this", and that's what happened, the Dodgers scored and went on to win the series. Had Snell not been pulled, that series might have gone to 7 games

As a Rays fan you're spot on. I'm in New Tampa (suburb north of Tampa) and the drive to the Trop suuuucks.

As a guy from Odessa, Thanks for taking our side instead of just saying we don’t care about the team. We got crazy attendance for the lightning and we aren’t really even that big into it

At least they have the Bucs and Lightning to fall back on. They have ownership willing to spend and show no signs of slowing down for at least 2-3 more years.

There is one other consideration: A number of Rays fans are elderly and retirees. Even WITH the COVID restrictions lifted, they are unwilling to go to public places where they run the risk of catching it - even WITH vaccinations in place as well. I work in a library - hence the name - and we haven't seen the return of half our regular library users. Even with a retirement community literally across the street from us, few of them have come back. The governor and the local Republican party faithful may be yelling and screaming "WE'RE FREE", most of the retirees are muttering "We're just gonna wait for the all-clear from CDC, thanks."

The Rays are officially the new Moneyball Oakland A’s. Due to their small market and shoestring budget, they have to be smarter than every other organization in order to build a strong team. They usually are good every year but they don’t have enough star power or difference makers to go far in the playoffs.

Finally, a video that explains it perfectly. It's not that we don't care, it's the opposite. Stu has alienated us so much by constantly saying that it's our fault when he refuses to acknowledge it's his. Stu, sell the team to an ownership group that actually cares about us and move the Rays to Tampa where they belong.

Tree: would YOU be willing to drive 45 minutes to get to the stadium? Me, taking my son to a dodger game: JUST 45 minutes?!?!

The Rays need to move to Tampa proper now

Great video. I was born and raised in Tampa Bay and you did a good job on researching some of the more minute details (like the Courtney Campbell). I appreciated the land o lakes shout out too I lived there for a long time. Only thing is that during traffic it really takes about 2 hrs to get to Tropicana from lando