Some out of the Box Ideas for the Tampa Bay Rays New Ballpark

The St. Petersburg, FL City Council voted down a new ballpark today for the Tampa Bay Rays. This puts the long-term viability of a team in the Tampa region in question. What could the Rays do?

The common ideas will get a lot of discussion. Amongst them:

• Find another spot in the Tampa region along the Bay.
• Charlotte, NC will get a lot of press. The Braves will not like this.
• Las Vegas, NV always comes up too, though I doubt MLB would ever allow it.
• Portland, OR has been coming up for years. I don't know how much baseball will love re-alignment though.

These ideas, while all plausible, are mostly unlikely. The option of trying to find another spot near Tampa is the most likely, obviously, because it's most convenient for baseball. The Rays staying there for now is likely, if only because nothing else is.

There are some out of the box ideas out there though. Here's a few ideas I have come up with:

• Montreal has had it's issues keeping a team in the past, but it also is no worse than Tampa for baseball, and would probably like a second crack at it now.
• If they can wait out a few more years, the possibility of moving to Havana, Cuba may be a reality for the Rays. 
• Moving into a large, stand-alone market could be considered. I guess this basically leaves Philadelphia. I'm not sure the Phillies would like this idea, though I think it would work. It's unlikely though.
• San Antonio is discussed less, but it could be the spot. Of course, it also would cause some re-alignment.

Havana and Montreal are my most favored options. I doubt they actually are selected, but they beat continuing to play in the conditions they're in.