Rays Must Be Creative To Compete With Bigger-Market Teams

Rays Owner Sternberg Acknowledges Team Must Build Ticket Sales, Fan Base

The Rays Friday night will host the Red Sox in Game 1 of the ALCS, but in order for the Rays to "survive on the field and as a business," the team must be "creative enough to compete with the much richer and heretofore intimidating" Red Sox and Yankees, according to Paul White in a front-page cover story for USA TODAY. The Rays are making their first MLB playoff appearance since debuting in '98, and they "must lure more of a reluctant fan base turned off by previous ownership." And while the team attempts to build a new waterfront ballpark, they continue to play at Tropicana Field, a "domed stadium costly to maintain and not designed ideally for baseball." The "challenge for the Rays -- one that ultimately will determine their staying power as a successful team -- is to make few, if any, mistakes in spending." The team's $43.8M payroll ranks 29th of MLB's 30 teams, ahead of only the Marlins. Rays Owner Stuart Sternberg said when he took over the team in '05, fans "saw no value on being associated with our brand. For any business, that's suicide." The team will not release season-ticket numbers, but estimates put the team is "in the 7,000 range." Sternberg did say, "We've got to get that base up. We're practically last [in MLB]. We have to get at least into the middle of the pack, which means we have to double or triple our season-tickets." White notes despite the lack of winning tradition, the "buzz over the Rays is measurable" in the region now. Tickets to ALCS Games 1 and 2 "sold out in less than 15 minutes," and the September 20 telecast of Twins-Rays, in which the Rays clinched their first playoff birth, earned "higher local ratings than the Florida-Tennessee college football game" (USA TODAY, 10/10).

ATTENDANCE ON THE RISE: The TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL's Larry Halstead reported the Rays "expect to increase their season ticket base by as much as [35-40%], affirmation that winning on the baseball field translates quickly to the bottom line." The team drew 1.8 million fans this season, an increase of more than 400,000 from '07. It was the "largest increase of any team in baseball and the highest attendance for the team since its inaugural season in 1998" (TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/3 issue). Sternberg said that he is "not concerned about attendance for now." But in Orlando, David Whitley writes if attendance is "still sagging next year after this amazing season, you can start the office pool on where the Rays might move" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 10/10).