Rays Break Ground On Facility
Published: Aug 21, 2007
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PORT CHARLOTTE - The Tampa Bay Devil Rays took the next step in relocating their spring base of operations on Monday by joining Charlotte County officials for a groundbreaking ceremony at Charlotte Sports Park.
After holding spring training in St. Petersburg for the final time next year, the Rays will relocate in 2009 to the facility that once housed the Texas Rangers' spring operations in a continuing effort to widen their fan base.
The complex will receive a $27.2 million facelift as part of the 20-year contract. The Rays will contribute $4 million, with $15 million coming from the state and the other $8 million from the Charlotte County tourist tax.
Rays owner Stuart Sternberg, among the several club officials on hand for Monday's ceremony, said the team was willing to invest in Charlotte County to receive an upgraded, state-of-the-art spring training complex.
"This is going to be a much more expensive facility, because we were able to use a lot of the existing infrastructure," he said.
With the major-league team in town for six weeks each year, the Rays hope to lure more fans north once the regular season begins.
"I don't expect the entire population to come up to 81 games a year," Sternberg said. "But to have an enthusiastic group of people who would come to two, three, five, 20 games a year would be great, and others could watch our games on TV or read about it in the paper."
Heavy equipment already is on site at the sports park, and construction will begin shortly, though the major work is scheduled to begin in October. Upgrades will include a new 40,000-square-foot clubhouse, a boardwalk that will circle the ballpark, two berm areas, a kids zone, restaurant, suites and a team store.
"It will be a real good, solid, fan-friendly, player-friendly, organizational-friendly, community-friendly park," Sternberg said.
From a baseball perspective, the Rays are looking forward to having all of their operations consolidated at one site, rather than having to shuttle between Progress Energy Park and the Naimoli Complex for much of spring training as is currently the case.
"I think it's a great move and it's a big move for the organization," said manager Joe Maddon. "When you're attempting to homogenize your fundamentals or your teaching concepts, it's just so important to have everybody together, and that to me is the exciting part about it."
As for the future on Progress Energy Park, which has hosted the Rays since their inaugural season in 1998, team president Matt Silverman said the fate of the facility hasn't been decided.
"It is a question for the city [of St. Petersburg] since they control the facility. I expect it will become a subject of discussion next year after we complete our 2008 spring season there."
Rays officials joining Sternberg on Monday included Silverman, Maddon, executive vice president Andrew Friedman and right-hander James Shields.
