The Tampa Bay Rays are going to buy the Tampa Bay Rowdies and gain control of Al Lang Stadium.
The news comes three months after the baseball club announced wishes to build an $892M stadium in Ybor City and 10 years after the the Rays couldn’t get a deal for a waterfront stadium on the Al Lang Stadium site it is slated to gain control of (via WTSP). It’s also been almost a year since the Rowdies were officially removed from a list of teams being included in an expansion of Major League Soccer.
RAZE UP
Build a Stadium, Raze a Neighborhood: Memories of Gas Plant haunt the Rays’ latest plans (2007).
Rays officials said that today’s news would have no effect on plans for the Ybor stadium or a possible relocation of the team’s spring training home in Port Charlotte.
Rowdies owner Bill Edwards (who, in February, said he was not selling the team, but looking to bolster the ownership group) declined comment Monday, and we all expect to know more when the teams hold a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 5, 2018.
