On Tuesday evening, the Pinellas County Commission voted by a 5-2 margin to approve roughly $312.5MM in public funding for the proposed $1.3 billion project to construct a long-term stadium for the Rays. However, the tension between the organization and county officials is far from resolved. Colleen Wright of the Tampa Bay Times and Kate Payne/Curt Anderson of The Associated Press were among those who covered the news.
The Rays did not attend the meeting. Team president Matt Silverman released a statement after the vote that read:
“It was unsurprising to see the Commissioners acknowledge how important the Tampa Bay Rays and our stadium development agreement are to this community and its citizens. As we have made clear, the County’s delay has caused the ballpark’s completion to slide into 2029. As a result, the cost of the project has increased significantly, and we cannot absorb this increase alone. When the County and City wish to engage, we remain ready to solve this funding gap together.”
The dispute stems from the county’s decision to delay previous votes on the stadium bonds, which were initially scheduled for October 29. At the time, the county was in the immediate aftermath of the consecutive hurricanes which devastated the area. The storms ripped the roof from Tropicana Field, necessitating significant repairs to the Rays’ current home. Between the storm damage and a changed council membership after November’s elections, the county decided to postpone the vote on multiple occasions.
Last month, the Rays released a statement criticizing the delays. According to the organization, the postponements made it unfeasible to have the park constructed for the 2028 season. The team wrote that constructing a stadium for ’29 “would result in significantly higher costs,” which the team does not want to fully absorb. The stadium deal had been agreed upon between the county and the Rays in July, with the bonds expected to be rubber stamped at October’s vote. The July deal left the responsibility for all cost overruns on the Rays.
While the team has not publicly stated how much more expensive it believes construction will be, one county official said (via Wright) that the team has privately put that number around $200MM. County officials have expressed skepticism about that sum, arguing that a delay of less than two months could not cause such significant expenditures.
In any case, the ball is back in the Rays’ court. The Tampa Bay Times writes that the Rays have the ability to withdraw from the deal via a termination letter. The organization must meet various benchmarks by March 31, 2025, or the deal will automatically become void. The Rays seem likely to push for more negotiations to try to unlock additional public funding in the coming months. County commissioners and St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch have stated they’re not willing to commit more public money beyond what was approved on Tuesday, according to The Tampa Bay Times.
So the Rays were planning on spending a billion dollars to build a ballpark in a place where nobody goes to the games? It’s got to be much cheaper to buy the Yankees field in Tampa and expand that out to 25-30K.
Yankees would want a gazillion dollars for selling that land to a division rival
To be honest the rays would be better off leaving Tampa instead of building again right next to the trop in St. Petersburg no one goes to games there because of traffic and culture and other reasons
I hope they try to build in Tampa like closer to Raymond James stadium (maybe on the site of the old Tampa sombrero…?)
It’s incredibly important to highlight that if the city or county pull out of the deal then the Rays get to keep the land is St. Pete.
If the Rays terminate the deal then the county/city gets the land.
After Oakland passed a term sheet for Howard Terminal the A’s also came out and said it wasn’t a deal they could agree to.
Same playbook, different team.
I’d be mildly surprised if we see the Rays play in St Pete again.
Childish nonsense from both sides. Apparently Manfred met with the commissioners/councilmen and ‘smoothed’ things over. The contempt that Latvala and Sternberg have for each other is transparent.
Maybe Manfred should give Sternberg a few more bucks to build a stadium in Tampa. The Rays refused to pay to build most of the stadium in Tampa. I don’t think they will find as much money as St Pete/Pinellas County is offering him in a different city. I also just don’t think Sternberg is a particularly nice guy to deal with. The best thing for the Rays would be to get a new owner willing to spend some personal money and commitment to the local area. Vinik committed to the Lightning and area. Sternberg never did, and never will care about the fans or local community. If Manfred convinces him to sell the team to a local owner/company, the Rays would likely become better and more supported by the community.
Florida baseball really should be a spring activity. But the real Rays fans are getting screwed here.
This is one big, long, endless, rolling shi*show.
Baseball fans complain more about the Yankees getting Bellinger than the Rays trying to shakedown tax payers for an extra $200 million. Crazy
The Rays will be playing in a minor league ballpark for the rest of the decade (either in or around Tampa or a different city altogether). What a disaster, mostly caused by the Rays and Sternberg.