Ultimate Standings 2009: No. 16
Tampa Bay Rays
Last Year's Rank: 75
Title Track: 35
Ownership: 48
Coaching: 25
Players: 23
Fan Relations: 19
Affordability: 1
Stadium Experience: 106
Bang for the Buck: 21
What do you get when you charge fans the fourth-cheapest admission ($18.35) in MLB to see the defending AL Champs? A 59-slot bump in the Standings. Even with a 24.3% hike in the average fan cost per season ($2,962.35), the Rays are still the most gently priced team among the Big Four sports, thanks, in part, to free parking and programs. But even young superstars Evan Longoria and David Price can't fill the seats at Tropicana Field. The club averaged just 22,259 fans during its 2008 World Series run and is drawing only slightly better this season. Sparse crowds are a big part of the reason fans rank the Trop's Stadium Experience so low. And plans to build a new $450 million ballpark on the waterfront in downtown St. Pete are off the table (the team is looking for alternative sites), while developers court needed public support. Until then, don't think of the Trop as half-empty. Think of it as half-full.
