Pitch Manatee as new home for Tampa Bay Rays baseball team

I was watching a Tampa Bay Rays game on TV a couple of months ago. "The Trop" was like a ghost town, with scores of empty seats. News has it that the Rays want "out."

I have just the solution for them: Move them to Manatee!

Build a new stadium on the site of DeSoto Square. There's more than ample space for the facility and parking. If you look at a Google Earth map of the mall area, you scale the mall to McKechnie Field and see what I mean.

The development and exposure for the area would be fantastic. New restaurants, shops, etc., not to mention the potential for an All-Star game, playoffs, a World Series. Even the possibility of hosting a college bowl game like Yankee Stadium does.

This would also put Manatee County and Bradenton on TV fairly often, and for better reasons.

William Battersby

Palmetto

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Pitch Manatee as new home for Tampa Bay Rays baseball team ."