I kinda get it. The city of St. Pete has the Rays by the nuts until 2027. They have to play all their home games there until that date unless St. Pete gives them permission otherwise.

But I think the Rays would be willing to stay in the area if they could move to Tampa (or maybe even closer to Tampa).

This next sentence I type is the most important point about the attendance problems with the Rays:

The biggest mistake they made was building the stadium so far away from the center of the population.

It's not that fans aren't interested. I believe were among the top teams in terms of TV viewership and I recently saw that Tampa/St Pete is like 11th in media market size.

It's not because the Trop is a bad stadium. I attended games in Miami when they were at Pro Player and that was just a miserable experience. There's also the issue of the unpredictable summer storms. You just can't play in an uncovered stadium in Florida. We know the Trop isn't fancy. But it's comfortable.

No one in Tampa is willing to make the drive to St. Pete for a weeknight game. The traffic plus the bridge limitations make it almost impossible. If you leave Tampa at 5PM, there's a chance that you may get to your seat by first pitch at 7:10. And that's maybe a 20 mile drive.

I work across the street from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, roughly 4 miles from the bridge. I get off work at 5:30. Me & the lady tried to get to St. Pete on a weeknight, leaving straight from my office. We didn't even hit the the bridge until 6:30.

Locals love the Rays. But people in Tampa have mostly given up going to St Pete for weekday games. It's not worth the trouble. I believe that if they put the stadium in Tampa, they'd do much better. This is where the center of population is. St. Pete is surrounded by water & hard to get to.

If they don't get a new stadium in Tampa (or significantly closer to Tampa), they're gone in 2027. That's my prediction.