Dome Sweet Dome

Of course being on the Grounds Crew I am partial but I do understand that there needs to be a new stadium .
I just hope that it’s here. In Pinellas County. I know the outside does look like a “space craft” however a LOT has been done to the outside to make it more attractive. The landscape was improved immensely two years ago. That goes largely unnoticed. Not that it was important to the game field but the effort was put in to make it more pleasing to the eye. I know the guys who work on the outside were very proud of what they did. (In fact, they never let those of us who only work the games hear the end of it.)

While I know we’re getting a new stadium, I’m pretty sure that it is not going to be an outdoor facility. This is probably obvious to some however you’d be surprised how many people think that they can survive the heat, humidity and storms that Florida weather brings. I remember working the spring training games the last season at Al Lang two years ago. It was hot. It rained a lot. It was hot again. And that was still in March. In fact, we had to pull the tarp more times that spring than any time that I can remember. Can you imagine some of the older folks here in St.Pete sitting out in the heat, humidity and rain with an outdoor stadium? I remember my dad saying to me when the new design with the sails was proposed .." The hell I’m sitting out there on an 85 degree night." I said “Dad….they’re going to have those misters in the concourse to cool ya down.” He looked at me like " Dude. I don’t think so." Personally, I do believe that the new stadium design will have to be very uniquely different somehow to accommodate the weather and heat. Let’s face it….if it IS a retractable dome, the roof will be closed 90 percent of the time after about May 1st. So we can essentially consider the new stadium domed.
 
This is SO true there there is not a bad seat. I tell everyone that I know to try to sit in every area of the stadium. It really is a good place to watch games.

As far as domes go, I believe that the Trop is not bad at all. Like I said above, it really is a good place to watch a game. The improvements over the past 3-4 years have been great . Yes….it looks like a great big pin ball machine inside at times but I DO think that it is more fan friendly than before.

Just my partial $0.02.

I was just talking with some guys that have season tickets at Arlington and they said that by game time it’s pretty common for it to be 96 degrees at first pitch. They said that LF is almost impossible to sit in as the sun is going down (reminded me of sitting on the wrong side at a Bucs game) and that the rest of the stadium is pretty much unbearable. These were some pretty die hard fans so they put up with it, but if you are trying to bring the casual fan in I think they would be pretty turned off from the heat. As for rain, even when the rain is done by 6 it just means that the humidity gets ramped up again for the start of the game and the field might or might not be playable depending on just how torrential the downpour is. Florida gets some of the angriest downpours I’ve ever seen.

I’ve sat up top, in the party deck, down the RF line, behind 1B, next to the Rays tank, over by the visiting bullpen (NICE MUSTACHE TODD JONES), and under the overhang on the 3B side (probably the biggest issue as it’s tough to track fly balls), and even got told to leave the stadium only to be handed a ticket by some fans that were wandering around to go sit 6 rows behind home plate, and there really is not a bad seat in the house. When the place is empty it seems lifeless and sterile, but when it’s packed you can feel how intense the crowd is. I think it’s a real nice place to take in a game when there’s a lot of people there. Maybe we should put a hill in CF or maybe a moat around the wall instead of a warning track?

Worst game I’ve ever been to with all the Sox fans there and Scotty couldn’t even throw a strike that didn’t get hammered. Then Talbot came in and did basically the same thing with less walks. Watching Fatty Ortiz go yard was embarrassing.

Sat in them once, of course it happend to be the extra inning game in the ALCS vs the Sox. But those uncomfortable 6 hours were worth seeing Dan Wheeler pitch his heart out and win the game.

Wonder if they’ev even looked into that.

I would love an outdoor stadium in theory, but as everyone seems to point out, the oppressive heat and humidity would keep people from coming to the games. It wouldn’t solve the attendance issue.

the Turf does NOT blow.

Way too much noise, way too much shit going on. They toned it down last season, but I would prefer to never hear anything ever. Also, it drowns out some of the terrible shit we say.

They aren’t insisting on a new stadium just for the hell of it.

A new stadium/location is needed to be able to generate more revenue.

Everyone can have a big trop love fest all they want, but the bottom line is if we don’t build a new stadium within the next 5-10 years then the Rays will be gone.

Have you ever seen figures on revenue increase once the Jake was completed? It seemed like a similar situation where a team just chock full of young talent moved into a brand new stadium that was constantly sold out. The Indians were coming off a pretty garbage run, prior to that, and all of a sudden found themselves with an exciting team in a brand new palace. I’d be interested to see if any of the guys at LGT ever put together or found a good piece showing the increase in revenue.

a Tuesday night game against the A’s with the blue hairs checking their watch to make sure they get home in time for Murder She Wrote, Matlock, M*A*S*H, insert witticism?

I’ll be darned

It be pretty stupid if they did that IMO

Additionally, they’re the only dome team to use an actual clay and dirt infield.

Baseball is meant to be played outside. on a calculator

I know some people who don’t really care about the outcome of the game. They go for the social aspect of it. There’s a flow to it that allows you to actually talk to people and mess around without actually missing any action. I can go to baseball games with any of my friends. I can’t say the same about attending Bucs games — it’s too intense of an experience most of the time.

Some of the criticisms of the Trop’s traffic situation are a little overstated. It isn’t any worse than getting out of Ray Jay and trying to get back to St. Pete.

island in the middle of the Bay. Every game, at least one family wouldn’t have to fight the traffic as the stadium could come and plop down in their front yard. I’m sure they’ll still complain that they have to get off of their couch to go outside to walk to the stadium in their front yard, but it’s progress.