NS. PETERSBURG, FL – Hours before the Rays clinched the American League East Division title on Saturday, team president Matt Silverman said on a podcast that fans attending playoff games will see a sign inside the stadium indicating the upcoming split -Season team leader touts planned with Montreal.
Little was communicated to the public this baseball season about the plan for a split season with Montreal. Silverman said he wanted to keep his focus on the Rays games.
Talks two years ago about the Rays sharing the team with another city, including Montreal, have been put on hold, ESPN reported.
Fans and the media saw little of owner and former Wall Street investor Stuart Sternberg during the regular season. Shortly after the start of the 2021 season, the Tampa Bay Times reported a lawsuit against Sternberg by minority owners alleging that he was secretly negotiating a deal with Montreal. They claimed his talks with Canada began in 2014.
“We’re working away and making progress, both here and in Montreal,” said Silverman Neil Solondz on Saturday’s This Week In Rays Baseball podcast. “But you know this wonderful season has turned out on the field. We wanted to be very considerate, focus on that, not our efforts.”
The Tampa Bay Times reported that the plan calls for the Rays to hold spring training and the first part of the regular season, likely through early June, in the Tampa / St. Pete area. Home games would then be played in Montreal for the remainder of the season. Postseason games would likely be rotated from year to year.
He said in November the Rays organization would announce further plans for the possible split season, which will take place in 2028 after the Tropicana Field lease expires. According to Silverman, they are facing a time constraint.
“I wanted to add for the postseason that with a very simple Tampa Bay / Montreal graphic, we’re adding a sign in the right panel of the foul territory. Especially with the eyes of baseball on us in October, we want that visible symbol.” of our plan and our enthusiasm for it. It will subtly underscore the effort and focus on winning and winning games in October and perhaps reaching the final game and home win for the first time in franchise history. “
Rays President Matt Silverman said the sign will be in the right area of foul territory. (Skyla Luckey / Patch)
A patch reporter noticed a large blank space in the Rays press box on Saturday night near the spot where Silverman mentioned the sign was being displayed. Right next to the Feeding Tampa Bay sign.
“It’s about a connection with Montreal that just adds to our local economy in terms of jobs, tourism and commerce, and Montreal is the best city for us to partner with because of the weather conditions and the east coast time zone, knowing Canada’s historic presence on the tourism market and as a business partner. These things may not be a top priority for our fans, but it is very important to our elected officials who stand behind us. ”
Silverman said they believe in the sister plan and that Major League Baseball fully supports it. He believes this is the only way to keep baseball in Tampa Bay. Participation in Rays’ games has been an ongoing problem for many years.
According to Steven Carney, a Rays reporter for St. Pete Nine, 1998 holds the record for most home games of the season at 2.5 million. Carney tweeted on Sunday at the end of her last home game for the regular season game against the Marlins, the total number of visitors to the home game in 2021 is 761,072. Sunday’s game had 20,826 fans in the stadium. On Monday, the Rays will fly to Houston for a regular season game.
Rays kick off the postseason division series on Thursday, October 7th. Ticket sales begin on Thursday, September 30th.
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