Community group to study fans, then stadium
ST. PETERSBURG - The group that will study where to build a new baseball stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays now has a chairman and a website.
Now, it needs eight more members on its board of directors.
"You must be a baseball fan," coalition chair Jeff Lyash said. "And you must be committed to helping the Rays be successful here in the long term."
Nominations to the 9-member board may be made at abc-baseball.com. Lyash says the cutoff will be August 4 so that he can have a board in place by Labor Day. That is the only timetable for now.
Late last month, the Rays all but abandoned plans for a new stadium on St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront. That concept called for November referendum.
In hindsight, Rays president Matt Silverman said: "I think taking a step back from the referendum allowed us to enter into a much better process and one that has a better chance of success."
A new stadium is actually the third item on the coalition's yet-to-be appointed board of directors. The first jobs will be increasing fan support and corporate sponsorships.
"We're talking about the next 20 years, the next 30 years for this franchise," Silverman said.
Any new stadium requiring public funding will need the support of the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.
"It's clear there is a consensus among the fans and in the community that there is strong merit to a new facility for the Rays," said Lyash.