Last week the Tampa Bay Rays’ road show pulled into Tampa’s downtown Hyatt Hotel for its annual Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce pep rally. Given that the Rays’ are still aglow in the aftermath of their “worst-to-first,” feel-good sports story of the year, the mood was refreshingly expectant – no longer generically hopeful.
But make no mistake, this was about business. The business community, especially the one based in Hillsborough County, is a critical factor for the Rays. It’s the key source of season tickets. And it’s more challenging in an area such as Tampa Bay — one that’s not blessed with a large concentration of corporate headquarters.
For the record, the Rays debuted in 1998 with about 22,000 season-ticket holders. By last year that base had eroded to 10,000 – mostly in Pinellas County. They want to at least get to 15,000, the Major League average. Realistically, the Rays need even more if they are to maintain the payroll (near $60 million) that they accelerated to this season.
Even with all their young talent, the “Little Engine That Could” Rays can ill afford to backslide on payroll – given that they’re in the same division with the obscenely deep-pocketed Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The latter spent nearly a half billion dollars this off-season for free agents.
Also for the record, the Hyatt crowd was large and enthusiastic. When the Rays showed their highlight video from last season’s improbable run to the World Series, it received a standing ovation.