(The Center Square) – Like the shredded roof panels on Tropicana Field, a deal to bring a $1.2 billion baseball stadium to St. Petersburg might be blowing in the wind after the Tampa Bay Rays said they’ve halted work.
The Pinellas County Commission voted 6-1 on Tuesday to put off a vote on a $312.5 million bond issue until its meeting Dec. 17. The bonds include part of more than $600 million in taxpayer funds to help build a new stadium for Major League Baseball’s Rays.
The St. Petersburg City Council will vote Thursday to fund the roof replacement of the existing stadium, Tropicana Field. Eighteen of its 24 roof panels were blown off by Category 3 Hurricane Milton, which made landfall near Siesta Key on Oct. 9.
The city says insurance and FEMA funds will cover the $55 million needed for Tropicana Field repairs, with $26.3 million needed in just the roof replacement alone.
The Rays said the team will “work with any willing partners” on a new deal.
The team will play its games next season at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa and will pay the New York Yankees $15 million to do so, a new point of contention with the new stadium deal. The park is part of the Yankees’ spring training complex.
“I’m reading that the Rays will pay the Yankees $15 million to play over in Tampa, but they’re only paying the county $1 million a year if we build a new stadium,” District 3 Commissioner Vince Nowicki said during Tuesday’s meeting. “I mean how does that make you feel like, as a negotiator, like a fair deal, if they’re ready, willing and able to pay $15 million for a year, but yet pay the county a million dollars a year? I mean, to me, that’s like a bad deal, right?”
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch released a statement to WTSP and other outlets that indicated the first-term mayor doesn’t believe the deal is completely done.
“We appreciate the county commission’s partnership and today’s discussion of their participation in funding a new Rays stadium,” Welch said. “We believe the economic fundamentals, and the long-term benefits of the agreements approved in July by all parties, remain valid.
“We are focused on moving forward with fulfilling our obligations under the existing use agreement. Partnership has always been key to this plan, and the success of the plan going forward largely depends on the commitment of our partners to those agreements. We will continue to work with our partners towards that successful outcome.”
Under the deal, the Rays would receive $600 million from taxpayers for the Tropicana Field replacement, which was scheduled to open in 2028 and anchor a $6.5 billion development in the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District.
The letter distributed before the meeting said the commission’s failure to approve the bonds last month “ended the ability for a 2028 delivery of the ballpark” and that they can’t absorb the additional costs due to the delay.
“Now that enormous investment of human and financial capital has been jeopardized by the county’s failure to live up to its July agreement,” Rays co-presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman said in the letter. The team also said it’s spent $50 million on the project already.
