The Tampa Bay Times last week asked around to businesses, politicians and others to gain a sense of who holds season tickets to the Tampa Bay Rays. Here are the results.
CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG
City-owned tickets from Tropicana Field contract: 16 suite tickets, 10 field seats.
Mayor Bill Foster: Partial season package of two tickets, section 316.
Council members Bill Dudley, Wengay Newton, Leslie Curran, Jeff Danner: None.
Council member Charlie Gerdes: His law firm has a weekend package. Also in group that shares four tickets behind home plate.
Council member Jim Kennedy: Four tickets in section 108.
Council member Karl Nurse: Two weekend tickets for his business on the lower level, first base side.
Council member Steve Kornell: "I'm not going to comment on my leisure activities."
Rick Mussett, senior administrator for development, and city Administrator Tish Elston: Part of group with four tickets in lower bowl.
St. Petersburg City Attorney John Wolfe: None.
Former Mayor Rick Baker: Did not respond.
Pinellas County officials
No county commissioners have season tickets.
Clearwater officials
Mayor George Cretekos: None.
Former Mayor Frank Hibbard: None.
Hillsborough officials
County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan: None.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn: None.
Tampa Bay legislators
State Sen. Jack Latvala: In group that shares four tickets in lower bowl on third base side.
These legislators do not have tickets: Rep. Richard Corcoran, Rep. Janet Cruz, Rep. Dwight Dudley, Rep. Mike Fasano, Sen. Bill Galvano, Rep. Ed Hooper, Sen. Arthenia Joyner, Sen. John Legg, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, Rep. Kathleen Peters, Rep. Jake Raburn, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, Rep. Darryl Rouson, U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, Sen. Wilton Simpson, Rep. Jimmie Smith, U.S. Rep. Bill Young, Rep. Carl Zimmerman.
All other Tampa Bay legislators could not be reached.
ABC Coalition
(Studied stadium issue four years ago and angered St. Pete officials by raising possibility of Hillsborough sites.)
Craig Sher, former CEO of Sembler company: Two tickets, lower bowl.
Alan Bomstein, president of Clearwater's Creative Contractors: Two personal tickets, two corporate tickets and two others as part of a group, all in Section 111.
Chuck Sykes, president of Tampa's Sykes Enterprises, chairman of the Tampa Bay Partnership and co-chair of chamber task force on stadium financing: Four corporate tickets in home plate club.
Russ Kimball, general manager of Clearwater's Sheraton Sand Key Resort: None.
Barbara Heck, former president of St. Petersburg's Council of Neighborhood Associations: None.
Charlie Harris, coalition attorney and managing partner for St. Petersburg's Trenam Kemker law firm: Four corporate tickets in lower bowl.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/3KMXMNZYE5ATTCL2AYP224QPHU.png "Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene")
Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene
Subscribe to our free Sports Today newsletter
You’re all signed up!
Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.
Explore all your optionsBusiness groups
Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce: None. President Bob Rohrlack: None. Chairman Gregory Celestan, of Celestar Corporation: Did not respond.
St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce: Receives numerous tickets from the Rays for free for recruiting businesses to town. President Chris Steinocher: None. Attorney Dave Punzak, chamber chairman: In group that holds four tickets in section 115.
Tampa Bay Partnership: None. President Stuart Rogel: None.
Businesses
Tampa's Debartolo Development: No suite for Rays but has them for Lightning and Bucs.
St. Petersburg developer Echelon, which proposed a stadium in Carillon Business Park: Four corporate tickets in section 110.
Jabil: Four field-level seats.
Duke Energy: Did not respond.
Tampa Electric: None.
Clearwater's Tech Data: 12-16 corporate seats on third base side.
Bloomin' Brands: CEO Liz Smith, four personal tickets.
Fifth Third Bank (Tampa Bay): Season tickets, wouldn't say how many.
Cornerstone Community Bank: Four tickets.
Bank of Tampa, which recently branched into St. Petersburg: None.
Bank of America: Suite.
Hospitals
Bayfront Medical Center: None.
Tampa General: None.
Sponsors
(These packages are part of broader agreements for joint marketing and services.)
Times Publishing Co.: A suite with 16 tickets and four seats in the Whitney Bank Club.
St. Anthony's Hospital: Eight full season tickets, plus hundreds of individual tickets for special promotions. Uses Trop for corporate events.
Kane's Furniture: 12 tickets spread throughout the stadium.
Others
Mark Ferguson, owner of Ferg's sports bar: Four season tickets in Section 301. Also buys 50 tickets to four other games for marketing.
Ed Armstrong, Clearwater lawyer who advises the Rays: His law firm, Johnson, Pope, Ruppel & Burns, has four tickets in Section 112.
Robert Byelick, chairman of the Clutch Hitters, a St. Petersburg group that promotes baseball: Shares four tickets in section 111 with two law partners at Abbey Adams Byelick & Mueller,
Bill Edwards, former owner of St. Petersburg mortgage company who is involved in many St. Petersburg civic ventures: Did not respond.
Former Gov. Charlie Crist was out of the country and could not be reached.
/www.tampabay.com/resizer/tKC0fTJp0ZKRCobT0LdyF6x-2ak=/1200x675/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/YZFTOTQMV5HRJBDNEAZTYRUGDE.JPG "Things to do: Top Tampa Bay area events for Nov. 27-Dec. 3")
/www.tampabay.com/resizer/bpkpP2zsnxY2cqIZ2wUGwsxRyyI=/1200x675/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/LJDGFOX365DJ5PMAAX22Z4YIGE.JPG "Hillsborough to keep cold weather shelters open Wednesday night as temps plunge")
/www.tampabay.com/resizer/DDVk1PLGwJ4e4wGo65FbK-Q_NMg=/1200x675/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/U26BKPFEH7YIGMOJJ5Q5J5L46A.jpg "There are problems beyond just the Mideast | Letters")
/www.tampabay.com/resizer/ti6i-fwh4hMMSFsUkZz7BnZ5uGo=/1200x675/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/YXUOJZGEQ4I6TKTRIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Festivus: Share your complaints and grievances for 2023")
/www.tampabay.com/resizer/anRT0QxGXaMPeP1jGOrz-FQQKEs=/1200x675/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/H2ZYY5XULZHQVHUKHZDNRGH2F4.jpg "FSU football: Tate Rodemaker’s status uncertain, Brock Glenn next up")
/www.tampabay.com/resizer/bluKm5aPVKygnNGqPv4Cx4oZE84=/1200x675/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/GCAGRRBWXVDCTIFOHJQWRDTWYU.jpg "Trash Wolf prowls the streets of Tampa Bay. Who is he?")
/www.tampabay.com/resizer/poj0jEOVR9_aH1-OqTl893Xu-4M=/1200x675/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/XL3MEY7KELSSYQJ54MZLEBZ6ZQ.jpg "Florida Supreme Court rules that police can’t hide identity behind Marsy’s Law")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/4KEINRSHGREJVJDGN5IYBZ5CZU.jpg "Tampa’s Lou Piniella misses out on Baseball Hall of Fame again")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/CMKSZ77WJFG2DPPPZY4NWHNGJA.JPG "Why Rays have a lot to think about as they head to winter meetings")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/VINOVQSUWBBVTJI4YGLOTF72TY.JPG "Good grief, are we now having a petty argument over the St. Pete Rays?")