The St. Petersburg Times has an article in todays paper pertaining to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays spending some 10 million dollars on Tropicana Field in renovations… Routine maintenance to the building has been lacking over the years, which has been routinely griped about by fans (effprts to find a St. Pete Times article of the past with fan complaints were futile) .
…Well, the ones who bother to attend games at least. The Devil Rays have drawn 3,457,895 fans total between 2003 and 2005 — That’s less than the total number of fans who attended games at Yankee Stadium or Dodger Stadium in 2005 alone (and perilously close to the total attendance at Busch Stadium in St. Louis as well). Of course, some will argue that the Rays aren’t anywhere near the Yankees, Dodgers or Cardinals in their history and heritage (as well as their competativeness at current) but that’s not the point of this article… The point is the Rays are routinely in the bottom of attendance rankings and Stuart Sternberg and his crew are trying to mend that problem through upgrades at the park.
Of course, the team has already made many-an-upgrade in an effort to lure back fans… But stadium renovations are another attempt…
