Maybe It Will Be Better in The City

There is just something wrong about major league baseball in Florida. While I am specifically thinking of the Florida Marlins it also applies with the Tampa Bay Rays too. Both franchises have had some winning seasons that other more long established teams would love to have on their resumes. Yet neither franchise can sustain or even build a fan base. They have simply done a lot wrong.

First of all the ballparks the two teams are playing in are very poorly located and frankly not the best for baseball anyway. Sun Life Stadium in the Miami area is football stadium that a baseball field could be fit into. It is out in the suburbs with parking lots but nothing else around it except some houses. It rains at some point nearly everyday so having no roof or retractable top hurts a great deal.

In Tampa Bay they have a roof...Tropicana Field is domed. It is located in a city, sort of. St. Petersburg on the wrong side of the causeway where most people live has a very small downtown. The majority of fans have to cross over from Tampa where all the people are to come to a game.

Is there hope? Both locations certainly hope so for new stadiums are either under construction (in Miami) or being planned (in Tampa-St.Pete.) The new Miami facility will be opening on the grounds of the old Orange Bowl. That is not the best part of Miami, but it is closer to the most concentrated population and it will have a retractable roof with air conditioning.

Last word from Tampa was that stadium plans are in flux. A plan for a type of retractable roof facility in St Petersberg was quashed. Being on the Tampa side would make the most sense, but no solid plans are yet reportedly in place.

Baseball can be a huge success in Florida if everything is working. Both the Marlins and Rays have proven it can happen on the field. Can it happen from a revenue and fan standpoint is yet to be answered. Maybe the new ball yards are the only missing links.