Sorry, I just can't agree with this. Tampa just isn't a baseball town. And its, just like Miami, are making things worse by building (or trying to build) a new stadium. A lot more money spent for a team that can't sell out when in first place facing the Yankees late in the season just doesn't deserve to be in that city.
I am not dissing Tampa, as I love that city. I also, as a STL Cardinals fan, am flying down there next year to see the Rays/Cards series the first of July. I simply believe That part of Florida historically has had a mixed baseball fan base because of the spring training teams going down there way before the pro teams set up shop (Tampa and Miami are in the same boat.)
But fans of a team don't decide not to go to a game because the stadium is 20-30 miles out of the way. They also don't not go to a game because they can't get the premier food items that some other stadiums offer. FANS go to the games to see their team to play. They could play in a little league park 100 miles down the road and I would still go see my team play. Certainly if they were in the title hunt playing a team like the Yankees. That stadium should have a postseason atmosphere. Not struggling to pull in 29,000.