Local TV viewership, always solid for Rays games, has stayed strong during the playoffsGETTY IMAGES
The Rays playing in the World Series has "rekindled excitement over a team most people haven't watched in person all year" -- and whose future in Tampa Bay is "still very much an open question," according to Cridlin & Wynne of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. Rays Republic team store manager Craig Galbraith said that demand for apparel has been "strong there ever since the Rays beat the Yankees" in the ALDS. Rays VP/Strategy & Development Bill Walsh said that "despite the 'tremendous response from the community looking for postseason merchandise,' the store still planned to close at 4 p.m. each day for deep cleaning." However, the team also was "organizing pop-up stores." Meanwhile, Cridlin & Wynne note local TV viewership, "always solid for Rays games," has "stayed strong during the playoffs." Rays-Yankees ALDS Game 5 on TBS "drew a 9.1 rating in the Tampa Bay market." That was "about even with the game’s rating" in N.Y., and "higher than the local ratings for the few games of this year's Stanley Cup finals." But what impact all of this will have on the team's "long-term fortunes is harder to divine." The Rays' lease at Tropicana Field expires in '27 and the team has been "seeking support from the community and local governments to build a new stadium for years," though local governments have largely "tabled stadium discussions during the coronavirus pandemic" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 10/21).
WINNING FORMULA: ESPN’s Pedro Gomez the Rays “have to follow the same formula as a lot of small market clubs and that is player development, research, all of these qualities that you cannot cover up simply with a checkbook to fix a mistake that you may have made somewhere." Gomez noted it is "ironic because the one who really started this entire formula” is current Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. Gomez: “He conceived this entire idea and it’s been going on since he left.” Meanwhile, Gomez said Tropicana Field is “not one of the better venues in terms of the facilities” and so players need to "understand they don’t have all of the bells and whistles that maybe other organizations have." He added, "If you’re coming there, you’re coming because they believe in you, they believe the kind of player you are, they believe the kind of person you are and that you will actually fit in with everybody else in that clubhouse" (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 10/20).
