Ken Welch, former Pinellas County commissioner and the top vote-getter in Tuesday's St. Petersburg mayoral election, is no stranger to the Rays' Stadium Saga. SPOILER ALERT: he hasn't won th...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2021/08/what-st-petes-election-results-mean-for.html
Even after striking out on finding a way to pay for a new Rays stadium in Ybor City, some Hillsborough County leaders still say they know how to make a ballpark work in Tampa. But they didn’t s...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/10/what-exactly-is-hillsborough-paying-its.html
Six years ago this fall, an incumbent mayor, who had just taken a big bite out of his city’s homeless problem and was enjoying a downtown resurgence unlike any other in West/Central Florida, wa...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/08/kriseman-vs-foster-six-years-later-who.html
Introducing Pransky on Politics - an occasional newsletter that's heavy on facts, light on partisan tilt, with a moderate level of snark. Much like its sister newsletter, published by Shadow of...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/08/introducing-pransky-on-politics.html
In case your summer reading list didn’t include my column on Wrestlemania’s inflated economic impact , here’s a Super Bowl-style remix: big events make ya feel good, but they don’t typica...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/08/no-super-bowl-isnt-going-to-bring-400m.html
Stephen Ross, who has faced his fair share of criticism for the Miami Dolphins’ mediocrity over the years, found himself facing a different kind of scorn this week, criticized as a “hypocrite...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/08/floridas-sports-owners-flex-their.html
Hillsborough Commissioner Ken Hagan told his counterparts Wednesday he wants to move forward with plans for a new Tampa stadium in Ybor City -- even without 81 Tampa Bay Rays home games. County...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/08/even-without-mlb-hagan-wants-tax.html
Forbes’ 2019 list of the world’s most-valuable sports franchises is an embarrassment of riches, from the top-ranked Dallas Cowboys to the 50th-ranked New Orleans Saints. But you’ll be hard-...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/07/forbes-not-kind-to-floridas-pro.html
With his pitch to cut short the Rays’ tenure in Tropicana Field and start summering in Montreal, Stu Sternberg solidified his place atop the region’s rankings of least-favorite franchise owne...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/07/can-stu-sternberg-shed-title-of-tampa.html
USF's new president, Steve Currall, dealt a dose of reality last week to football fans hoping for a new on-campus stadium. Currall was lukewarm at-best about the potential of a new home, sa...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/07/why-usf-wont-follow-ucfs-lead-on-campus.html
> Expect a tug-of-war: first between two local communities, then two > communities separated by thousands of miles. Blogs, petitions, > editorials, and maybe even a full-p...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/07/yes-rays-stadium-campaign-is-following.html
Stu Sternberg has stated it simply: without a new stadium, the Rays won’t be playing any baseball in Tampa Bay much longer. It really isn’t any change from what’s the franchise owner...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-look-back-at-stu-sternbergs-2005.html
Stu Sternberg rolled out his "sister-city" idea Tuesday afternoon, pitching the Rays split their 81-game schedule between new, open-aired stadiums in Tampa Bay and Montreal, possibly as soon as ...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/06/did-stu-sternberg-admit-to-violating.html
The latest overtures from Rays' owner Stu Sternberg - that the only way to keep MLB in Tampa Bay long-term is a longshot plan to share the team with Montreal - appear to be little more than a re...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/06/stu-sternbergs-latest-pitch-is-just-his.html
Just as President Trump can dictate an entire news cycle with a single tweet, the Rays have done the same in Tampa Bay, sending the entire region (and baseball world) into a frenzy by leaking new...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/06/what-exactly-is-stu-sternberg.html
Florida State University is embarking on perhaps the darkest chapter in its athletics department’s history, which is significant for a program that has endured a massive cheating scandal, multi...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/06/fsu-privatizing-its-athletics.html
Hat-tip to the Tampa Bay Times' Kirby Wilson, who wrote Tuesday about how a new spring training economic impact report from the city of Clearwater contradicts a similar report from just one year...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/06/new-clearwater-spring-training-report.html
Top question I get regarding the Rays Stadium Saga: "Where will the team be playing in 2027?" Answer: I don't know. Second most-frequent question I'm asked about the Rays: "Do you think the...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/05/are-tampa-bay-rays-actually-rooting-for.html
Hillsborough County didn't appear to come close to luring the Tampa Bay Rays over to Ybor City during a three-year negotiating window, but it isn't stopping Tampa's biggest stadium cheerleader, C...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/05/hagan-and-kriseman-are-still-squabbling.html
The USF Bulls announced Thursday, to the delight of their football fans, an agreement to play three games again perennial powerhouse Alabama. The teams will meet in Tampa in 2023, then Tuscaloosa...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/05/why-usf-is-right-and-ucf-is-wrong-about.html
Cross-posted from FloridaPolitics.com The Tampa Bay Rays may have struck out in getting Hillsborough County to help them build and finance a new stadium in Ybor City, but it hasn’t stopped th...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/05/yes-hillsborough-tampa-are-still-trying.html
In case you missed it, I penned a piece for FloridaPolitics.com recently that explained how economic impact claims are mostly made up from bogus non-science and aim to trick taxpayers into supp...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/03/no-wrestlemania-isnt-going-to-bring-150.html
More than 1,500 articles over 10 years. This blog has seen a lot of writing...but unfortunately, still not a lot of closure on the Rays stadium saga. Much of my writing has been moved over to ...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2019/01/bringing-magic-back.html
As I prepare for the ninth anniversary of Shadow of the Stadium, I've reflected on how much time and effort (1500 posts!) have gone into providing context and perspective on sports business issu...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2018/04/farewell.html
Tampa Bay Rays 2020, the Rays-backed nonprofit cheerleading for a new baseball stadium in Tampa, held an invitation-only event to unveil the "Rays 100" yesterday, a list of business & community ...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2018/04/local-business-owners-will-support-rays.html