New Park in Tampa?

Winston-Salem, NC -- The Tampa Bay Rays would like to move from the outdated Tropicana Dome to a new waterfront ballpark in downtown St. Petersburg. I've always been a proponent on new ballpark construction, mainly because it stimulates the economy of an otherwise barren section of town. The advent of the "new old" ballparks began in Baltimore with Camden Yards both mirroring parks constructed at the beginning of the 20th century and incorporating shops and restaurants downtown. We've seen new ballparks succeed (Baltimore, Cleveland, Seattle, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Houston, San Diego, Colorado, San Francisco) and some parks fail (Detroit at first, Atlanta a little bit, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh (economically)).

I've attempted to attend as many new parks as possible. After all, one of my life goals is to visit EVERY major AND minor league park in America. Look, you can conduct all of the economic studies and investigations that you want to see if a ballpark will or has failed, but I personally believe that it all has to do with the surroundings of the park. Out of the ballparks I've visited, here's what surrounded the successful ones.

• Baltimore -- Inner Harbor
• Houston -- Downtown area, surrounding Union Station
• Cleveland -- Downtown area
• Colorado -- "LoDo"

Turner Field in Atlanta is too far removed from downtown. As Tom Nickens points out in his St. Petersburg Times article, "The Trop" has failed mostly because of empty lots and little development around the park.

Larger crowds will obviously turn out if the team is winning, but what do they do before and after the game? I believe that the attendance at the Nats' new digs would be higher if the area on South Capitol Street was developed; plenty of bars, restaurants, and other attractions to do. Taking the congested Metro to see a lousy team essentially offsets the honeymoon of the new park, as showed by the pock-marked seats at yesterday's game against the Cardinals.