Rays to move series vs Texas to Disney

[browntown653]

ST. PETERSBURG -- Financial success for any Major League team is contingent on putting fans in the seats. And with 81 home dates, that's a lot of seats to fill from one city.
So the idea is to create a regional draw, which is what the Devil Rays are trying to do to improve the club's financial wherewithal, which would translate to being more sound for spending money on the ballclub.

Hoping to better familiarize the Orlando market with the team, the Rays moved their three-game series against the Rangers that begins Tuesday to The Ballpark at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

Though playing a home game on the road is a minor inconvenience to the players, they seem to understand what the organization is trying to do and sounded solidly behind the experiment.

"You have to build that fan base up," Carl Crawford said. "They're trying to build a bigger fans base, and we get to go to Disney. That's all right. Nice way to shake things up a little bit during the season."

Ty Wigginton hopes the Rays will see more people from Orlando getting out to a game.

"And you hope they will realize we're a fun team to watch and they might make the extra drive over to The Trop to see us play," Wigginton said. "[Trying to build up the fan base in Orlando] only makes sense. I mean, Orlando's not that far away from The Trop. You understand why we're doing it. I think most of the guys on this team would rather be at The Trop. But it's fine. Nobody should be upset about it. It's what [the organization] needs to do, I guess."

Rays manager Joe Maddon is interested in the ballpark.

"I don't know that ballpark," Maddon said. "I heard it's a great pitcher's ballpark. I'm curious to see if the fans turn out. I'm really looking forward to having the people over there see our group. As we continue to get better, we definitely want to have the Orlando folks become part of the Ray group. So I like it. I like the idea of doing this."

Maddon remembered growing up in Hazelton, Pa., when talking about professional sports teams being a regional draw.

"Think about where I grew up, an hour and a half ride from Philadelphia, maybe two hours from New York City," Maddon said. "And you used to want to go to all these different ballparks. It was actually farther to go than it would be to go from Orlando to St. Pete. So when I thought about it in that perspective, the difference is that the people who live [in Orlando] don't have a traditional base built up there. So as we get better and become more attractive, I would like to have the people of Orlando to want us to be their team.

"Part of it is we're exposed to them. We're doing a better job of getting television over there. ... And by getting there physically and having them see us, as we play better, and people want to be Rays fans, they'll make the drive on over. So I think it all fits together."

The idea to move the games was hatched during the 2006 season when the Rays were searching for a new Spring Training home. Tampa Bay had scouted the Disney fields as a potential spot, but it had to look elsewhere, because the Braves play there each spring. The Rays announced in September they will relocate their Spring Training to Port Charlotte, Fla., beginning with the 2009 season, but the thought of bringing big-league baseball to Central Florida remained an opportunity the club decided was too good to pass up.

To further their commitment to expanding their market throughout the region, the Rays added to their TV and radio operations for a greater coverage area, and increased the number of games televised in the Orlando area to 67 for the 2007 season. The series will mark the Orlando area's first regular-season Major League games.

Weird...I wonder how big that ballpark is. It can't be too huge if it's in the middle of Disney. Should be interesting to see how that turns out though, and I guess anything's better than playing in that ridiculous catwalked-Tropicana Field.

[DravenX]

It's the Braves Spring Training stadium. Everyone wants to play at Disney.

[mntwinsfan]

Disney is a top stadium to play in. Brave's play there. It would be a good fit for Tampa to move all there games there. The attendance would be much better.

[DravenX]

I heard during SP that the Marlins were going to play a series there also but forgot the dates.