ICYMI: Rays Want Your Stadium Ideas

TAMPA BAY, FL — As the Tampa Bay Rays continue their search for a new location to call home, the team is hoping to get fans involved in the process. With that in mind, the Rays launched “Ballpark Reimagined” on Monday.

The website, located at BallparkReimagined.com, is meant to serve as an informational resource during the search for a new park. The site includes two feedback tools that enable fans to share their ideas for what they want to see at the new ballpark. There’s also a poll fans can vote on that contains words fans think best describe a new park.

"The next Rays ballpark will be a community asset, and we need to capture the community's imagination to help create something we're all proud to call home," Melanie Lenz, the Rays' senior vice president of strategy and development, said in a statement about the website’s launch. "Forming a collective vision is crucial to determine what will benefit the community most and be a defining icon for the Tampa Bay area. We invite fans to get involved, and we are listening to any and all ideas."

The Rays have been on the prowl throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas counties looking for a site to replace Tropicana Field. The search began in earnest back in January after the city of St. Petersburg gave the team a green light to find a new home. The team had been searching for a way out of its contract at Tropicana Field for years as its attendance figures slumped. The city agreed to allow the team to begin looking for a new stadium site with the caveat that it cannot leave the Trop before 2018.

The city of St. Petersburg is still holding out hope an agreement can be made to keep the team at Tropicana Field. Even so, it is taking steps to plan for the 85-acre site’s future should the Rays really leave.

The team has yet to select a new site. A parcel of land in St. Petersburg off Gandy Boulevard, however, has received a fair amount of attention in recent days.

To share your ideas for the new ballpark, visit the Rays online.

What would you like to see in a new park? Tell us by commenting below!

Patch file photo