Expansion Committee Warms Up to Tampa

An unspoken message appears to be seeping through the National League Expansion Committee’s public dialogue: It’s going to be an uphill struggle for Washington to obtain one of two teams that will begin play in 1993.

For a second consecutive day, the committee visited a potential baseball facility, and for the second consecutive day it came away impressed. A few concerns about parking and road access remain, but the Florida Suncoast Dome basically passed inspection Tuesday.

That is bad news for Washington, but it was welcome news to a prospective Tampa-St. Petersburg ownership group headed by Washington attorney Stephen Porter. The Tampa Bay area, which nearly wooed the White Sox from Chicago and once seemed certain to get an expansion team, no doubt is feeling pressure from Blockbuster Entertainment Chairman Wayne Huizenga’s effort to get a franchise for Miami.

Huizenga’s bid received an enormous boost Monday, when the Expansion Committee visited football-focused Joe Robbie Stadium and found it suitable for baseball now that Huizenga is putting millions into refurbishing it.

After visiting Orlando on Monday afternoon, the committee -- Douglas Danforth of the Pittsburgh Pirates, NL President Bill White, Bill Giles of the Philadelphia Phillies and Fred Wilpon of the New York Mets -- came here Tuesday morning. They viewed the parking and access situation from a helicopter, then toured the domed stadium that was built with $110 million in public funds. At a news conference, local politicians held their collective breath.

“Except for needing more parking, I really didn’t see any negatives here to be honest about it,” Giles said. “I think the stadium will be fine for baseball. I think the seating here is terrific. The fact that there’s only 42,000 seats to me is better than having a larger stadium. That’s a positive. The ownership group is impressive. I just didn’t find too many negatives.”

Neither did Danforth, who provided little detail about the next stage of the decision-making process. It seems likely the committee will make a report at baseball’s quarterly owners meetings March 6-7 in Dallas. Also, it will visit Washington, Buffalo and Denver, although those trips remain unscheduled.

“It’s early for us to make serious comparisons,” said Danforth, who has said the franchises may be awarded as early as June. “We’ll meet and talk about the things we saw and heard and then decide what the next step will be.”

Danforth good-naturedly took note of the enthusiastic welcome the area extended to the group. It began Monday with a full-page, color advertisement in regional editions of USA Tuesday’s sports section. Tuesday it included a red carpet leading to the stadium’s main entrance, American flags, bunting and floral arrangements near the door.

Danforth said he was “especially impressed by the common goals of the public officials, the business sector and the prospective owners.”

Wilpon, whose club conducted spring training here for years before moving to Port St. Lucie on Florida’s east coast, also praised the area. “My impression is that this city and its people are as qualified as any city I’ve seen,” he said.

Porter said his group “came in cautiously optimistic and came out cautiously optimistic.” He said there is no wavering concerning finances. “We are prepared to go forward,” he said. “I think this is a wonderful market. Notwithstanding the risks and the realities, I think this will be a successful business venture.”

But parking, and the related problem of access, could be nettlesome. Although a stadium brochure boasts of more than 25,000 parking spaces within a 10-minute walk or shuttle ride, there are only 4,500 on-site spaces for a facility that will seat about 42,000.

“We’ve been assured that additional land has been purchased around the stadium, that additional spaces will be provided,” Danforth said. “But we would prefer, frankly, more parking facilities contiguous to the stadium. That may not be possible here.”

He said road access does not appear to be a great problem but also said the committee suggested the group have a consultant do a traffic pattern study.

The committee’s remaining concerns were about baseballs being invisible against the stadium’s fabric roof and about the Florida climate. Tampa-St. Petersburg advocates say a domed stadium is necessary because of summer heat, humidity and rain. Miami and Orlando would have open-air stadiums. Danforth said the committee may return to Florida during the baseball season to experience the climate for themselves.