Major League Baseball has given the Tampa Bay Rays permission to explore the possibility of becoming a two-city team, commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday.
Though the plan would face several significant hurdles, the Rays would split home games between Tampa and Montreal, which is approximately 1,500 miles north of Tampa.
The Rays are committed to playing at Tropicana Field through 2027, said Manfred at the owners meeting in New York.
Rays officials won’t comment until a media session planned for next week.
The apparent impetus for the idea is Tampa Bay’s continued attendance struggles, and inability to build a new stadium in the area. The Rays rank 29th in attendance per game so far this season, according to data compiled by ESPN, and they ranked 29th and 30th in each of the past two seasons, respectively.
The low attendance prompted the team to renovate Tropicana Field over the winter, removing at least 5,000 seats to create what one team official called a more “intimate” atmosphere.
The two-city structure would also bring MLB back to Montreal for the first time since 2004. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 and became the Nationals.
One of the more significant hurdles would be for the measure to be approved by the MLB Players Association.
(AP)
