It turns out St. Pete has a lot of unused parking spaces and the Rays want to use them rather than be forced to build even more parking that will only be used for baseball games. Turns out most of the unused parking spaces are privately owned and the Rays will have trouble getting access to them:
“Anybody that potentially would have spaces available, of course they would be interested,” said Susan Reiter, the facilities director for St. Petersburg College, which has a 170-space garage downtown. The Rays estimate 82 spaces may be available for weeknight baseball games.
“If the stars align, yes we might sit down and talk,” Reiter said. “It would be nice to make money. But to say you’re going to get 82 spaces from us is erroneous.”"
This is, of course, a Coase Theorem problem where the transaction costs for accessing a handful of parking spaces may outweigh the profits for leasing those spots, thereby preventing an otherwise mutually beneficial transaction from occurring. One potential solution is for the government to set the terms of the lease and mandate access to the spots. Thus, reducing the transaction costs and allowing the transaction to occur.
For more on the costs of parking see my earlier posts here.
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