Pinellas County losing grip on Rays

An independent coalition of businesspeople is recommending that the new home of the Tampa Bay Rays likely not be in Pinellas County.

The reasons: Population and location. Sites in Tampa's Westshore district, in downtown Tampa and near the Florida Fairgrounds are more centrally located and would help the team draw more fans.

For example, by the year 2035, a site in Tampa's Westshore district, such as Raymond James Stadium, would be within a 30-minute drive for 2.8 million people, the best place to draw the most people to a baseball stadium. Ironically
in the late 1980s, a group of local business people led an unsuccessful effort to put a baseball stadium on that site. St. Petersburg's City Council voted to use public money to build Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.