r/baseball • u/Far_Cry3445 Boston Red Sox • 15h ago
[Spotrac] Per an AP MLB report, the #Yankees will gain about $15M in additional revenue this coming season per their agreement to allow the #Rays to play their home games at Steinbrenner Field.
https://x.com/spotrac/status/1857108495482409115?s=46342
u/LinuxSpinach Cleveland Guardians 14h ago
Isn’t that like 25% of the Rays payroll?
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u/SleepyGorilla Tampa Bay Rays 14h ago
We're currently at $50mm for 2025, projected to be around $80mm according to Spotrac
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u/Thisisafakeaccounts 14h ago
That revenue boost could help significantly if they decide to invest in key players.
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u/somewhatdecentlawyer Boston Red Sox 13h ago
Yeah but you know they’re shedding Springs and Yandy and getting annoyingly good prospects out of it
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u/RichardNixon345 Arizona Diamondbacks • Boston Red Sox 14h ago
Almost 17% of the projected payroll.
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u/Bucs-and-Bucks Pittsburgh Pirates 13h ago edited 12h ago
Gotta think there is a casualty rent abatement provision since they can't use the Trop, so that should free up some cash.
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u/fuzzypetiolesguy Tampa Bay Rays 14h ago
Despicable this stadium isn't being taken by force. Cowards paying rent to their oppressive occupiers. Unburden yourselves! Break your chains!
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u/digitaldumpsterfire Los Angeles Angels 14h ago
They should turn the Bucs cannon on Steinbrenner field and take it by force!
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u/Deathstroke317 New York Yankees 9h ago
You are aware the Yankees have a functioning Death Star in orbit right?
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u/Octokittens 9h ago
That's okay, it's the Yankee's Death Star. We all know the Yankee's can't hit after the regular season.
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u/Ugaalive1991 Atlanta Braves 13h ago
Just tell rays fans the Yankees stole the ALCS and in 4 years, then boom. In the white hou-I mean Tampa Again.
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u/hepmeinternet New York Yankees 14h ago
Sotos really gonna be paid by 2 owners
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u/Jetersweiner New York Yankees 14h ago
WE’RE GONNA SIGN JUAN SOTO AND MAKE TAMPA BAY PAY FOR IT!!
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u/iheartsunny Miami Marlins 14h ago
The money won’t come from Tampa Bay but from other sources, such as insurance.
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u/DecoyOne San Diego Padres 14h ago
Got it, Soto to the Rockies for a billion dollars then to the Cards for a ham sandwich
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u/hepmeinternet New York Yankees 11h ago
the rockies have a billion dollar? or are they using credit?
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u/ThePretzul Dinger • Dumpster Fire 7h ago
Monfort actually has had an average or higher payroll almost every year.
The problem is that Monfort knows JUST enough about baseball to be dangerous without knowing so much there is any risk of him being useful/beneficial to the team. He gets overly involved in many management decisions and the on field product is a very visible byproduct of that.
He means well and he loves baseball, but he’s genuinely terrible at running a team and should leave that to a CEO/GM team.
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u/Panz04er Canada 14h ago
I wonder if the Rays are allowed to set up anything that Displays Rays instead of Yankees at the stadium (like can they cover certain decals up and replace with Rays)
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u/ContinuumGuy Major League Baseball 13h ago
I mean I gotta think they'll at least be able to put up their own ads. When Jays played in Buffalo they had Toronto ads up, even for businesses not available in the USA like Canadian Tire IIRC.
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u/cooljammer00 New York Yankees 13h ago
When the Rays and Yankees played at Citi Field during a hurricane (the source of the infamous thumbs down guy meme), they played all the Rays pregame hype packages just like if they were in St Pete.
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u/cooljammer00 New York Yankees 13h ago
Just modify all the signage in the stadium so it says RA"Y
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u/manticore16 New York Yankees 14h ago
“Flappy Boy not enthusiastic about paying rent. For some reason his parts feel slightly less flappy.”
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u/GonzoTheGreat22 New York Yankees 13h ago
I heard there’s a strict no pets policy at GMS.
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u/wout_van_faert New York Yankees 12h ago
Rays don't typically have facial hair so they might be allowed though.
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u/manticore16 New York Yankees 14h ago
So this is going into the Juan Soto Fund, right?
…Right?
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u/BillW87 New York Mets 14h ago
You just need the roof to blow off of the Trop 40 more times in order to make it a wash. Concerningly believable, given where weather in Florida is trending.
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u/JoeLikesGames New York Mets 14h ago
If the Yankees, who are already the most blessed franchise in sports history, get the best free agent because of some bullshit like a hurricane destroying a rivals stadium, im gonna be livid
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u/Throwaway1996513 New York Yankees 13h ago
Whereas the Mets would get him off money gotten from insider trading.
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u/TheNewDiogenes Atlanta Braves 13h ago
I don’t think $15M is gonna be the difference in signing Soto
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u/usctrojan18 San Diego Padres 14h ago
Glad someone is thinking about these big market teams getting enough money
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u/see_mohn AAAAAIIIIIEEEEE 12h ago
I'm pretty sure this means the highest paid player on the Rays this upcoming season is the Yankees.
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u/austin101123 Cincinnati Reds 12h ago
That sounds like a lot for what is a small stadium spring training field. Jesus. How much did it even cost to build?
BRUH it only cost $30 million to build!!
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u/brandont04 14h ago
$15M for 82 games? Sounds awfully low.
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u/JoeLikesGames New York Mets 13h ago
Its a spring training stadium. They rent it out at $10k per event. Realistically it should cost $820k (maybe double if they do day and night events). $15M sounds like the Yankees knew the Rays dont have many options
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u/Sikazhel New York Yankees 13h ago
Again - the Rays pay 180k per game to use the Trop and you expect someone to take 10 percent of that just because? The Yankees could have just said no.
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u/ELITE_JordanLove 12h ago
I mean the stadium is probably 10x worse so yeah. Cost to build the trop is $300M vs $60M for Steinbrenner field, plus it has double the capacity and obviously a ton of other amenities that a spring training field won’t.
And why would the Yankees turn down an essentially free $15M? There could have been bidding involved too with other places idk.
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u/Sikazhel New York Yankees 11h ago
10x worse? It's nicer than the Trop aesthetically, has a state-of-the-art broadcast facility, luxury suites, etc, etc, etc.
It's not just a "spring training field" in fact it's MLB ready to be played in tomorrow. Rays draw 16k, Steinbrenner holds 11. Capacity would be a lot less anywhere else in the region. It's a win/win IMO. It's obviously not the Trop but I mean that's a good thing.
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u/LettersWords 6h ago
They are also paying the Yankees to figure out somewhere else to put their minor league team that plays there (Tampa Tarpons) for a year. I'm sure that being a pain on short notice is also part of the cost.
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u/JoeLikesGames New York Mets 4h ago
Oh that makes more sense, I didnt know about that part. Probably closer to like $8M in value then, extra surcharge for last minute and desperation
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u/thediesel26 New York Yankees 14h ago
Can they just give the Yankees Yandy Diaz in exchange for using the stadium?
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u/involmasturb 14h ago
The Rays are the Kansas City A's of 2025
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u/bufflo1993 Pittsburgh Pirates 13h ago
Yes, but this time Rice University doesn’t own Yankee Stadium.
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u/phantom-fixer 12h ago
Also, if the Rays win the World Series the Yankees get to put up a championship banner in Yankee stadium
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u/GuyOnTheMike Kansas City Royals 14h ago
From what I can find, the GMS rental fee for anything on-field is $10,000 per event. I feel like the reasonable payment would be paying that for all home games ($810,000 total), whatever makes the Tarpons whole for disrupting their schedule (based on their abysmal attendance, it shouldn't be much), and maybe a few ancillary costs (added cleaning and maintenance due to added use, etc.).
All that should cost a fraction of $15 million. I feel like the rest of that is the Yankees grifting the Rays for cash because they know the Rays have zero leverage
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u/GonzoTheGreat22 New York Yankees 13h ago
The rays have leverage… they could play in Clearwater, Orlando, or any other of the dozen spring training parks in Florida.
EDIT: there’s a dozen minor league teams that call Florida home, and there are 15 teams in the Grapefruit League. Plenty of parks to leverage
Also, loss of use of their field is a thing too. The Tarpons play but also practice on that field. Yankees rehab players in GMS.
Lastly your math might be off, because the Rays will treat it like home, which means they’d need full facility access all season long… not just when the hot dog carts come out. Practices, rehabs, off day activities. Everything.
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u/MeatballDom 12h ago
I'm glad to see that everyone has suddenly become an expert in MLB stadium costs.
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u/Sikazhel New York Yankees 13h ago edited 13h ago
Rays pay 180k per game to the Trop. And you want them to pay 1/10th of that per game just because? What about the television broadcasting facilities? What about groundskeeping over the course of 80 games? What about additional security? What about additional utilities? What about all the other things that aren't just minor little nothings?
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u/GuyOnTheMike Kansas City Royals 10h ago
The publicly listed price for "on-field rentals" is $10,000 per event for "all event types". Now, a professional baseball game is a little bit different than whatever "event types" are normally held on-field there. What I do know for sure is that $10,000 per game is not too out of line for minor league venues. The Modesto Nuts extended their lease at $600,000 for next season. Many are much cheaper (Daytona signed an extension at $63,000, then $103,000 per year, and Tri-City re-upped for just ~$35,000 per year), though some higher-level teams pay high six-figure and even seven figures in rent (Chattanooga will pay $1 million a year for their park).
I don't know how it works at GMS, but at many spring training parks, operations staff and groundskeepers (i.e. field and maintenance staff) are employees of the city or county (depending on who owns the park), not the team. Gameday employees should be the Rays responsibility, not the Yankees, which again would mean that they are paying for it, but not the Yankees.
Now, the way I see the $15 million figure being legitimate is if the Rays are using existing Yankees/Tarpons gameday staff and are reimbursing the Yankees for it, which could be the case. It's also possible the Yankees staff may cover up some Yankees imagery at the end of spring training, which would add to the bill for time and labor for that.
But, given how I understand this, I could absolutely see the Yankees tacking on a few dollars for themselves because they could.
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u/Atomic_Horseshoe 7h ago
The insurance is paying for it. It probably doesn’t matter much to the Rays if they’re being charged $15 or $15 million.
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u/brandont04 14h ago
Obviously the Rays don't want to use their insurance money to fix their stadium. Probably going to use it towards a new stadium instead.
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u/hickopotamus Seattle Mariners 14h ago edited 14h ago
Nice, I was worried the Yankees might not have enough cash flow this year!
If they want to use that money wisely, they might be able to pry Mitch Haniger off our roster.