Seeking Stadium Funds, the Rays Faced an Amusing Request: Change Their Name

For a brief moment, Tampa Bay Rays fans faced the prospect of another name change. 

As the Rays ask the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County to cover roughly half the costs of a new $1.3 billion ballpark, a city council member proposed that the MLB franchise be rebranded as the St. Petersburg Rays – which would have given the team its third name since entering the league in 1998 as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before dropping “Devil” from its name in 2007. The Rays have always played at Tropicana Field, which, in fairness to said city council member, is in St. Petersburg.

On Thursday, that council member, Gina Driscoll, softened her proposal, simply asking for more details about how the Rays could “elevate St. Petersburg” after receiving stiff pushback from city and team officials. 

“There will not be a new ballpark nor a redevelopment project if there’s a requirement to change our franchise’s name,” Rays co-president Brian Auld said. St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch chimed in, saying that asking the team to change its name “undermines our progress” and “distracts from our goal.” 

Naming Rights

The Rays aren’t the only professional sports team to struggle with the branding of their locale:

• MLB’s Los Angeles Angels have previously been known as – deep breath – the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Anaheim Angels, and the California Angels. They’ve played in Anaheim since 1966.
• Before moving to Sacramento in 1985, the NBA’s Kings were known as the Kansas City–Omaha Kings while splitting home games between the two cities, then simply the Kansas City Kings after that city built a new arena.
• The Golden State Warriors were known as the San Francisco Warriors from 1962-1971.
• And, of course, the New York Giants haven’t played home games in New York since 1975. The Jets, too, have resided in New Jersey since 1983. Which means that Buffalo Bills fans can call themselves the only NFL team in New York.

As noted above, the Rays rebranded in 2007. But what’s also notable is the fact that the Rays’ jerseys have not featured “Tampa Bay” on them since.