Editor’s note: A few days ago, we asked readers if a new stadium would help boost Tampa Bay Rays attendance — by how much and for how how long? The responses poured in. Here is a sample.

The shininess will dull

I have been a Rays fan since Game 1 in 1998. I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I predict that once the newness of a brand-new stadium has worn off, attendance will be somewhat close on average to what it is now. Sadly, it appears that a deal involving a site in Hillsborough County will not happen, now or ever. Being in Tampa would make driving to games so much more convenient for Pasco and Polk county fans, along with others. I hope I am wrong, but far too many people will continue to watch games on TV rather than drive to the stadium.

Joe Dunn, Sarasota

Not like Atlanta

The people who expect a new Rays stadium to be similar to the Atlanta Braves stadium forget two simple things. The first is the Braves stadium is at the crossroads of two major highways that allow easy access from all sides of Atlanta, while the Rays stadium will still have the current issue of one major highway from the north and south only. The second issue is the Braves stadium is open air so that if you are walking in the Battery Park area or eating in one of the restaurants, you can hear the ballgame and, in some cases, see into the stadium. This allows a more flexible experience where people may be willing to come and have a meal or drink before the game, even if they are not in the stadium for the first inning or two, because they can still hear the game and feel they are part of the experience. The Rays stadium will be indoors, so people will not feel like they are part of the game unless they are inside the stadium, which will cut down on visitors.

Tim Woodall, Valrico

Reverting to the mean

A new ballpark will cause a temporary increase in attendance, but it will revert to the norm within three years just like Miami. The Rays produce an entertaining and competitive team, but most fans prefer to watch games on their TV at home in the comfort of their recliner and the ease of access to the kitchen and bathroom. How many really want to try to cross the bay at rush hour to sit in a slow-moving parking lot, then be gouged on the prices of everything? I love the Rays and consider myself a fan, but the travel (I live in New Tampa) and cost make it undesirable to attend in person.

Ernest Brown, Tampa

Poorly located

One of the old saws about Tropicana Field is that “the old-school domed stadium is soulless and poorly located.” This would change to “the new soulful, marvelous, really cool stadium is poorly located.” I live in New Tampa and have Lightning season tickets. I leave my house at 6:15 p.m., park ($10), and I’m in my seat at 7:05. Heading to the Trop, where would I be in 50 minutes?

Martin Nehring, Tampa

Few go to games

It’s silly and wasteful to think a new stadium will boost attendance. Why should we spend a gazillion dollars for a stadium only a small subset of the population uses? Find something a majority of the population wants as recreation and spend money on that.

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Sue Baldwin, Tarpon Springs

Disappointment ahead

Building a sports stadium as part of a mixed-use project is not a good idea. Revitalization in an underserved area is a project all of its own relying on many entities and sources of monies to bring it all together. It may look good on paper or in a 3-D schematic, but in reality it’s a setup for disappointment when one or the other fails to achieve expectations. Stadiums are points of destination. The existing location has already proven to be difficult based on the number of empty seats even when a team is at the top of its game. I say let those who will benefit financially build it in an area that makes it easily accessible to those who want to patronize it. Then, leave it up to them to make it viable.

Joan Wernert, Zephyrhills

Transit would bring fans

If we’re ever allowed to join the rest of the civilized world with a transportation system of modern trains, trams and tracked trolleys, that’s when attendance would take off like a home run over the wall. Until that time our oppressive gridlock will continue to stifle everything we do.

Gene Hardage, St. Petersburg

Others would welcome the Rays

It is annoying to read letters from readers opposed to the Rays-Hines project and a new stadium for the Rays with comments that make no sense. One reader wants the $600 million contribution from St. Pete and Pinellas County to go toward lowering his taxes. That won’t happen. The county’s share would come from the tourism tax, which would only go to other projects if funding for this one is not approved, and St. Pete isn’t going to send money to lower taxes in another community. A second reader opines the stadium should be in Tampa or farther east. That has already been pursued by the Rays, and Tampa couldn’t or didn’t want to work out a deal. If the proposed deal with Hines falls through, I predict the Rays will leave Florida, not just the Tampa Bay area. There are many other cities that would welcome the Rays and gladly fund a stadium.

Christopher Winters, St. Petersburg

Baseball at what cost?

What’s not to like about having Major League Baseball in St. Pete? We all support it, but at what cost? The Rays and the Hines Development Corp. are profitable businesses. They should be capable of financing their own “place of business.” Numerous economists attest that professional sports stadiums do not provide major economic growth. If the 86 acres were sold to Rays-Hines at market rate, I believe that St. Pete would have adequate resources to repair our infrastructure, create low-cost housing, send kids to local colleges and mitigate the dangers of climate change, without raising our taxes. Our City Council needs to reexamine and renegotiate the deal.

Don LaGrone, St. Petersburg

Two types of fans

There are basically two broad types of fans that attend a baseball game: those who are passionate and will attend no matter what, and those who want a night or afternoon out and happen to enjoy baseball. The first group of sports fans will come to the Rays games no matter where you build. For the second and, by far, largest group of fans (like myself), you are going to have to make it affordable, more than just a game, and very easy to get to and to leave. If you want this second group, you are going to have to build more than just a baseball stadium. I’m thinking besides the stadium a broad range of restaurants before a game and range of night life after the game. I don’t want to spend more than 15 minutes arriving at the event and no more than 15 minutes leaving the event. I would build some “family” recreation into the mix like a miniature golf range, a driving range, a bowling alley, an arcade, etc. To move attendees in and out quickly, I suggest an elevated high-speed monorail, not stopped by traffic, lights or storms, that transfers fans from the stadium to and from remote easy-park locations with a stop in a downtown location for nondriving city dwellers. Build the monorail such that it can easily be added onto with links to Clearwater and Tampa and perhaps other high-density sites.

E. Seward, Odessa

Too much hype

I have read nothing that leads me to believe the proposed new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays will attract more fans. Having grown up visiting Boston’s Fenway Park, I think this proposed stadium is greatly overhyped. It is no closer to Tampa, nor will it entice corporate box purchases. What has changed?

Fred Beatty, Dade City

Bang for the buck

I love the Rays and would go see them play in a sand lot. But if you want the most bang for your buck, it’s in affordable housing for the backbone workers of the city. Take it from me: I was in Manhattan on 9/11. You want to keep those people close who would help you and your family in a flood, hurricane, fire, heart attack, anxiety attack or terrorist attack. How soon we forget who shows up when it really counts!

Lise Beane, St. Petersburg

I love baseball

I think the attendance will stay the same — that is, low. We are in Tampa and go only once or twice per season — and I love baseball. The stadium’s location is just not conducive to getting there on a regular basis from Tampa.

Kelley Howard, Tampa

More commitment, more fans

We can increase the attendance with a new stadium because we would have a total commitment by ownership. Attendance goes down without the total commitment by ownership of the team. Fans no longer allow themselves to make the continued emotional involvement, and they slowly disengage. The shame of it all is it takes multiple generations to build a consistent following. Look at Boston, New York, Philly, Chicago, etc. They all have a substantial fan base. I was a Dodgers fan as a child. When they left Brooklyn, I stopped caring about baseball for a long, long time.

Tom Melega, Wesley Chapel

Back it up

If the Rays believe that the stadium will be full and that there will be an additional 80 nonbaseball events each year (the number from the city’s economic report ) then they should guarantee that and back it up with financial penalties paid to the city. The new stadium will not be full because it is in a terrible location.

Robin Davidov, St. Petersburg

Beyond the car

There is great concern in regard to the funding for a new stadium Teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago teams and many others nationwide use mass transportation for their fans. Cars aren’t the answer. A Times editorial from last May — “Reasons to plot Florida’s future” — regarding Florida’s future was very enlightening. Much of the subject material regarding the influx of new residents and new challenges is worth examination. The answer is not to add more concrete for more lanes, or so-called express bus lanes. The issue that must be addressed is how to help alleviate the excessive automobile traffic that continues to increase every year.

I remember a few years ago when some committees representing Hillsborough went to North Carolina to view their light rail systems. They were very impressed, but nothing ever transpired. Former Gov. Rick Scott refused to accept money from the federal government to start a high-speed rail system between Orlando and Tampa. I believe that would have been a great start, and it would have been in service today. Tampa was considering a light rail extension to Tampa International Airport and the University of South Florida, and Pinellas County was considering extending it to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport and to Tropicana Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays play. Common sense about the overcrowding of the highways is so obvious, so what will it take for governments to realize something other than the motor vehicle will be needed?

Claude Morgan Jr., Crystal Beach

No longer affordable

A new stadium will probably not help attendance overall. Baseball is no longer affordable for the average individual. I am a baseball fan, but I am opposed to being raked every time I want to see a game in person. I am opposed to using tax dollars to build a stadium that rips me off every time I use it.

Vanessa Saenz, Palm Harbor

A logistics challenge

There may be a temporary increase in attendance due to curiosity about the new stadium. However, a new building does not change the fact that St. Petersburg, on a peninsula, will always be a logistics challenge. Whether driving from the east, like Tampa, or the south, like Sarasota, there are bridges that are natural choke points. There are also no good public transportation options such as those available in many other cities with major league teams.

The Buccaneers and the Lightning have no attendance problems. That debunks the theory that the Rays’ attendance problem is because there are so many other entertainment options or because Florida transplants retain loyalty to the team they grew up following. St. Petersburg should take advantage of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the area where Tropicana field exists, and the Rays should move to Tampa.

Diane Ball, Palm Harbor

Not driving U.S. 19

People from Citrus, Hernando and Pasco County are not going to travel down busy U.S. 19 to get to St. Pete. A new stadium will make no difference unless it is located somewhere in Tampa close to major highways.

Robert Van Istendal, Spring Hill

Let us vote

As a taxpayer in Pinellas County, I am disgusted that we are being asked to pay half of a $1.3 billion stadium for the Rays. With a metropolitan area of over 3 million people, attendance of 20,000 people per game amounts to a fraction of a fraction of the population. St. Petersburg already has one of the most dynamic downtown areas in the United States. Why not let the taxpayers vote on this matter? We are the ones that are being asked to foot the bill.

Walt Miller, St. Petersburg

A long trek

The problem is the location is the same. I live in Trinity and it is a long trek through congested roads to go to a game.

Alan Schwartz, Trinity

Wouldn’t last long

The Rays would almost certainly sell more tickets in the first few years at a new stadium. But would the boost last long, or would the Rays become a cautionary tale alongside the Miami Marlins about the efficacy of building new stadiums? It is unlikely the new stadium will boost Rays attendance long-term or increase employment. The city taxpayers would receive many times the economic impact by investing the roughly $860 million from the Trop’s 86-acre sale into helping residents buy and renovate existing housing units throughout St. Petersburg; beginning the $760 million of needed stormwater improvements; upgrading the city’s water and sewer plants; and offering incentives for large employers to relocate here.

Peter Kent, St. Petersburg

What ancient Rome did

The Romans built a stadium that is still standing, and we can’t build one that lasts more than a few decades? I might humbly suggest that you ask the voters if we need to pay for a new baseball stadium built for a team worth more than a billion dollars and played in by millionaires. It could be that baseball is not as popular as it once was and we have more important things to spend taxpayer money on.

John Spiegel, Oldsmar

This time is different?

I live in unincorporated Pinellas County. Why are we rushing headlong to subsidize a team that can’t fill its current stadium? Big sports deals where cities pay for much of it have been shown to never recoup the money spent. This time is different, the developers say, because of the mixed use, office, retail and residential. Don’t believe it. The county and St. Petersburg need affordable and workforce housing. The $1.29 billion they will spend (with interest) could go a long way to solving that problem. Our beaches need renourishment. Our roads need maintenance. And the fact that St. Pete is giving away the land for pennies on the dollar is infuriating. Will the new stadium attract fans? Sure, at first people will want to see the new stadium. But within a year, attendance will fall back down to current levels. We need to spend money on worthwhile projects, not exercises in vanity.

Brian Kelly, Seminole

A development company

Seems the Rays organization has transformed into a real estate investment/development company, thereby guaranteeing profits from publicly owned land for the next 30 years. That’s what’s really at play here. A new stadium is just a pawn in a larger game at the enormous expense to local taxpayers. Attendance boost? A mere afterthought.

Steve Geiger, Tampa

A boring sport

It is my prediction that there will be an increase in attendance at the new stadium for the first year or two. Local people will want to see where their tax money is being spent. But attendance will drop because baseball is a boring spectator sport. Ask a teenager whether they want to go to a baseball game or do something else. This is really just an exercise in corporate welfare and edifice envy on the part of the local politicians. The Rays ownership group will see a huge immediate increase in the value of the team. That’ll be a huge windfall at the expense of the taxpayers in Pinellas County. At the very least there should be a claw-back provision in the contract with the team that if they sell within 10 years or get major new investors that the city and county get back a substantial part of the public investment in this project. But what makes the most sense is to tell the Rays to build their own stadium and local government concentrate on redeveloping the Gas Plant site another way.

Garry W. Miracle, Clearwater

No bonding with players

The issue with Rays attendance is simply that the Rays don’t allow a player to stay long enough to let the fans bond with them. They trade too often. There is no loyalty to the players when so much trading is going on. I’m not against a new ballpark, and I’m hoping it will be similar to what the Atlanta Braves have. But it’s the constant trading of players that lowers morale with the fans.

Terri Anderson, St. Petersburg

Doesn’t work here

Location is the chief complaint when talk swirls around attendance, so building a ballpark in the same location is something out of “Spinal Tap.” The real problem is the fans. They’re apathetic. Baseball doesn’t work here. I mean, fewer than 20,000 fans for a playoff game? I understand it was a day game, but what an embarrassment. So, no, a new stadium won’t draw new fans. The Rays’ days are numbered. Enjoy them — or look for reasons not to — while you can.

John Lawrence Lembo, St. Petersburg

The real focus

Baseball attendance is not the focus of the Rays-Hines deal. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and the Hines group are investors and developers, first. Improved turnstile figures would be nice to have, but rentals and leases of the commercial property will be their priority.

Stuart McKinney, Gulfport

A better price

I grew up in Milwaukee and watched Brewers owner — and later baseball commissioner — Bud Selig and his family play this game. I believe that Rays owner Stuart Sternberg wants a new venue that would allow him to sell the team at a much higher price than he could get for it today.

Kevin Jay, Belleair Bluffs