Noah Pransky - page 2

The chairman of St. Petersburg’s Chamber of Commerce, David Punzak, penned a Letter to the Editor in response to Cathy Peek McEwen’s Op-Ed earlier this week entitled, “MLB has duty to help free Rays from financial prison.” There was one seemingly glaring factual inaccuracy in the story about Rays ticket-holders, but Punzak was even less impressed: As a 16-year Rays season-ticket holder and the current chairman of the St. Pete Area Chamber of Commerce, I was very disappointed to see the above-referenced article printed in the…

Keep Reading

Just thinking out loud here, but sooner or later, the Rays will probably need to hire alobbyist governmental relations expert. Hillsborough County’s biggest pot of money possibly available for a new stadium would be in new rental car taxes, which tend to be easy pills to swallow politically, because they put most of the burden on out-of-towners (even if those visitors have no clue the region has a MLB team). However, new rental car taxes at Tampa International Airport are currently illegal.  So the…

Keep Reading

You can’t blame the Rays for trying to maximize every revenue opportunity they have, but apparently the State of Florida does. According to the Tampa Tribune, the team’s 34-by-64 sign above I-275 was never permitted as a billboard.  While businesses are allowed to advertise their own events, the Rays sell space on theirs to other companies, which would required billboard permitting.  And because its too close to other billboards, the Trib reports the team’s permit is likely to be turned down: The Rays…

Keep Reading