Could the Rent Become the Home of the Tampa Bay Rays?

[LoyalFanCT]

Reports say the Tampa Bay Rays may relocate. What about the Rent as its new home? An MLB team would be a welcome addition to CT. Is it possible to use a football stadium for a pro baseball park? If not, what about Bridgeport Hartford or Danbury?
Tampa Bay Rays: Relocation is all but inevitable at this point

 

[CTBballfan243]

Please move them to Montreal. I need another excuse for a road trip. The Montreal/Toronto rivalry would be awesome.

 

[ktuck911]

Fans support teams in Canada.. might be a good idea...

 

[CTBballfan243]

Supposedly a Group in Montreal wants to build a retractable dome stadium near the Bell Centre. Now wanting and having the $$$$ to build a stadium are two different things. We shall see........

 

[UConnRock]

Montreal in the AL east would be fantastic. Beyond the Toronto rivalry, Sox and Yankee fans in VT and upstate NY would be in heaven. It is such a no brainer. Just need a new stadium

Road trips would be a blast

 

[Pudge]

and …

Unlike most of our Northeastern cities - excepting Boston, NYC, Phila - Montreal has grown to over 4.4m in Greater Montreal & nearby population is fairly significant. That's a 20%+ growth since 1999. The Land by the Bell Centre? Sold to the big developer Cadillac Fairview in 2008. Been talking stadium ever since.

 

[whaler11]

I’ve been in Tampa all week. You’d have no idea they have an MLB team - forget that it’s an excellent one.

 

[Woof 101]

Reports say the Tampa Bay Rays may relocate. What about the Rent as its new home? An MLB team would be a welcome addition to CT. Is it possible to use a football stadium for a pro baseball park? If not, what about Bridgeport Hartford or Danbury?
Tampa Bay Rays: Relocation is all but inevitable at this point

Without being critical NO....They can squeeze football ugly as hell on a baseball field but not the other way around. The Rent is built for football American or European and maybe concerts that's about it.
That and the two adjacent powerhouse icons of the sport would never let it happen.

 

[Purple Stein]

They absolutely belong in Montreal. MLB needs to get it done.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

No

 

[Vowelguy]

The Tampa Bay Rays Are Not Moving To Montreal Anytime Soon

 

[Uconnalliance]

Is the Rent equipped for baseball? Dimensions ?

 

[Vowelguy]

What about the Rent as its new home?

No
No
No
No
No

and
No

 

[uchusky32]

Could be a possibility if they like to increase the fan base by 1. 1 more fan in the seats.

 

[Purple Stein]

The Tampa Bay Rays Are Not Moving To Montreal Anytime Soon

According to this article, Rays can’t move until 2028, so plenty of time to get the XL Center ready.

 

[UconnU]

No pro team is moving into a small, shrinking, oversaturated market like Hartford. I don’t know if Montreal makes any sense ether, they couldn’t support the expos and their business environment is totally non-competitive. The city that makes by far the most sense to me is Charlotte. It’s a growing, competitive market where baseball is popular and they have no pro teams anywhere near them, they can draw from place like Greensboro, Asheville and upstate SC as well.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Would Sox and Yankees fans drop their teams for the Hartford Handmaids?

 

[Vowelguy]

No pro team is moving into a small, shrinking, oversaturated market like Hartford. I don’t know if Montreal makes any sense ether, they couldn’t support the expos and their business environment is totally non-competitive. The city that makes by far the most sense to me is Charlotte. It’s a growing, competitive market where baseball is popular and they have no pro teams anywhere near them, they can draw from place like Greensboro, Asheville and upstate SC as well.

Charlotte, Indi, and Austin were the top 3 minor league markets in terms of attendance. Charlotte's issue is whether it can support a 3rd pro franchise.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Charlotte, Indi, and Austin were the top 3 minor league markets in terms of attendance. Charlotte's issue is whether it can support a 3rd pro franchise.

It’s certainly more capable of it than Hartford is. Much bigger, growing much faster, much less competition from other MLB teams. Hartford already has three within a short drive.

If you put a team in Austin, it would draw from San Antonio and Waco.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Please move them to Montreal. I need another excuse for a road trip. The Montreal/Toronto rivalry would be awesome.

Been saying this for years. Canada needs a second team and I love the expos in the al east. Nice summer trip for baseball for Yankees.

 

[Mano]

I’ve been in Tampa all week. You’d have no idea they have an MLB team - forget that it’s an excellent one.

Are you enjoying your power outage?

 

[freescooter]

No but a few years ago there was interest in getting an NL team in Boston. Obviously not the AL Rays but there was interest in building a park in Portsmouth NH area. If they could get the Braves there would be a serious move to do something.

 

[UConnRock]

Montreal more than supported the Expos. They drew well over 2 million fans for several years. The had very poor ownership and an absolute monstrosity of a stadium.

 

[whaler11]

No but a few years ago there was interest in getting an NL team in Boston. Obviously not the AL Rays but there was interest in building a park in Portsmouth NH area. If they could get the Braves there would be a serious move to do something.

The Braves that just opened a 1.1 billion dollar stadium in 2017? I’d get cracking on the blueprints.

 

[Vowelguy]

It’s certainly more capable of it than Hartford is. Much bigger, growing much faster, much less competition from other MLB teams. Hartford already has three within a short drive.

If you put a team in Austin, it would draw from San Antonio and Waco.

San Antonio yes.
Waco is closer to DFW than it is to Austin.