A quick note about this silly infographic from Rick Kriseman’s office

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

As first reported by SPB’s Janelle Irwin, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman on Friday  provided the City Council an updated Memorandum of Understanding with the Tampa Bay Rays that is meant to allow the team to explore new stadium opportunities in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

To sell the Council on the deal, Kriseman’s office offered this not-so-fancy infographic (h/t to Shadow of the Stadium blogger Noah Pransky).

Note the blurb on the bottom right about what might happen if the Council rejects Kriseman’s latest offer:

baseball infographic

“The Tampa Bay Rays would likely leave St. Petersburg and the region following the 2027 season.”

Well, if we had ham, we could have ham-and-eggs, if we had eggs…

Meaning, how can anyone reasonably project what might happen to a baseball team in 2028?

A better question might be, how can Rick Kriseman’s office confidently forecast that the Rays will leave the region 12 years from now? That’s not just scaremongering, that’s silly.

There are probably better odds that Tropicana Field will be overrun with zombies in 12 years than whether there will or will not be a baseball team playing there.

Mayor Kriseman’s office should stick to what it can reasonably predict rather than crystal-balling a decade into the future.

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including SaintPetersBlog.com, FloridaPolitics.com, ContextFlorida.com, and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. SaintPetersBlog has for three years running been ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.