(The Center Square) – The Pinellas County Commission voted on Tuesday to approve a $312.5 million bond issue to finance its part of a $1.3 billion new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays.
The 5-2 vote, delayed twice, means the county can sell the bonds, a move reliant on the Rays meeting their obligations under the deal.
The team said in a statement it can’t absorb the cost overruns from pushing the stadium’s completion back to 2029 and blamed the county for the delay on voting for the bonds.
The Tampa Bay metro area was hit by two hurricanes, Helene and Milton, this year.
“When the county and city wish to engage, we remain ready to solve this funding gap together,” Tampa Bay Rays President Matt Silverman said in a team statement.
The St. Petersburg City Council voted to approve its $287.5 million share on Dec. 6.
The $6.5 billion agreement reached in July with the team, the city and the county would build a new covered stadium and multi-use development in the historic Gas Plant District in St. Petersburg.
“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,” Silverman said in the team’s statement. “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.”
Newly-elected commissioners Chris Scherer and Vince Nowicki voted against the stadium deal.
Commissioner Chris Latvala, previously a stadium opponent, said he changed his vote after Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said he was committed to keeping the Rays in the Tampa Bay area.
Latvala also said the team needs new ownership.
Just a few weeks ago, the Rays’ new stadium seemed dead and the County Commission had given the team an ultimatum to decide if it was withdrawing from the project.
That contradicts a letter distributed by the team before the County Commission meeting on Nov. 19 that said the body’s failure to approve the bonds at its Oct. 29 meeting “ended the ability for a 2028 delivery of the ballpark” and that the Rays can’t absorb the additional costs due to the delay.
Both the County Commission and the St. Petersburg City Council voted in November to delay votes on bonds to finance their part of the stadium, which is to be the anchor of a $6.5 billion development.
The City Council also voted to approve and then delay about $23 million to repair the roof of the Rays’ present home, Tropicana Field, that was heavily damaged by Category 3 Hurricane Milton. The storm tore 18 out of 24 roof panels from the stadium, which was built in 1990. The stadium requires an estimated $55 million in repairs.
The Rays will play their home games in 2025 at the New York Yankees’ spring training park, George Steinbrenner Field, with 69 of its final 103 games to be on the road to avoid the region’s rainy season.
