The Braves want to move their spring training home from Disney to St. Petersburg. That was news to the Tampa Bay Rays, who didn't know the Braves might get a government handout before them.
This morning MLB released a pithy statement reacting to the news:
"Earlier this week, Major League Baseball and the Tampa Bay Rays learned of the St. Petersburg Sports Park proposal for the first time. Major League Baseball appreciates the support that it has received for the construction of Spring Training facilities throughout the State of Florida. The most pressing need, however, is the construction of a Major League-quality facility for the Rays.
"Major League Baseball is committed to working with the Rays to secure a new ballpark in cooperation with the Tampa Bay region. This can only happen with the support of local political and business leaders."
As a public service, I ran this statement through the Ballpark and Stadium BS translator. Here are the results:
"Major League Baseball and the Rays didn't know about this St. Petersburg Sports Park proposal—not cool. MLB appreciates the government handouts it has received for the construction of spring training facilities throughout the state of Florida. The most pressing need, however, is the construction of private infrastructure for the Rays at taxpayer expense with no commensurate financial benefit to the public.
"Major League Baseball is committed to working with the Rays to secure a new ballpark in cooperation with the Tampa Bay region, whose cooperation will not be rewarded with any of the profits that will flow to the Rays. This can only happen with the support of craven political leaders and shameless business leaders who benefit from public spending while decrying socialism."
What's happening here is MLB is trying to navigate the tricky politics of making sure the corporate welfare is spread around to all of its teams in Florida. It must advocate for the Rays getting their piece of the stadium scam while being careful not to offend the Braves for getting theirs. It probably would have been easier if the Braves had just given MLB a head’s up.
Florida has a state fund set up for building or renovating spring training facilities for major league teams. The Astros and Nationals are getting $108 million from Palm Beach County and $50 million from the state for their new facility.
There is lots of evidence that spring training stadiums are a bad investment for taxpayers, even worse than the bad investment of stadiums in home cities. But if you know anything about how this scam works you know that doesn't matter. The Braves will get public money for their St. Pete facility, the Rays will get public money for their stadium in Florida or elsewhere, and the public will get screwed.
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