After nearly two decades toiling for a new stadium, the Tampa Bay Rays finally struck a deal that ensured their long-term future in St. Petersburg.
Thursday, they walked away, leaving $730 million in public funding on the table and the future of the franchise very much in doubt.
The Rays on Thursday announced they would not fulfill their financial commitment to a $1.3 billion stadium project and development deal with the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, putting the franchise on the clock with just two years before their commitment to the region ends.
While the Rays had telegraphed that they might not comply with terms of the deal that required them to commit $700 million to the project by March 31, the move is nonetheless a stunning capper to a six-month saga in which two hurricanes struck Tampa Bay, rendering their current home unplayable, and delayed approval of county bonds to set the ballpark project in motion.
And now the club, whose Tropicana Field lease expires in 2027, faces a familiar interchange to their future.
Owner Stuart Sternberg could sell the team – as Major League Baseball recently indicated it might prefer – or explore relocation. Option No. 3 – Sternberg’s group pursuing another deal in Tampa or St. Petersburg – would seem unlikely, even as the club intimated it would try again.
The Rays released a statement Thursday noting that hurricanes Helene and Milton, which struck in September and October, cast too much doubt on the deal’s viability.
“After careful deliberation,” the Rays said, “we have concluded we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this moment. A series of events beginning in October that no one could have predicted led to this difficult decision.
“Our commitment to the vitality and success of the Rays organization is unwavering. We continue to focus on finding a ballpark solution that serves the best interests of the region, Major League Baseball, and our organization.”
That solution seemed well in hand last July, when the city, county and the Rays announced a deal to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District, an area long neglected after ill-fated economic development in the 1970s and ‘80s left the region bereft, save for Tropicana Field, which brought only a baseball franchise and a massive, almost always empty parking lot to the area.
But this deal was set to revitalize both the low-revenue franchise and the area, with a “public-private” partnership that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred often touts.
A vote from the Pinellas County commission was set to occur in late October to free up the bonds for the deal. But the hurricanes’ devastation – particularly Milton, which shredded the roof of Tropicana Field and forced the Rays to seek shelter in the Yankees’ Tampa minor-league park this year – gave area officials pause.
They canceled the vote on the bonds twice, and even as they were ultimately approved in December, the Rays used the opportunity to sing a different tune – that this procedural delay would somehow imperil their ability to pay for their share of the stadium, plus cost overruns.
The team had until March 31 – three days after the team’s season opener at their temporary home – to commit the $700 million to the project. They decided to pull out even sooner than that, leaving several parties – the franchise, MLB, the cities of St. Petersburg and Tampa and Pinellas County – in more limbo.
St. Petersburg mayor Kenneth T. Welch said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports that the Rays’ maneuver was not surprising, and that the city would welcome new ownership to revive the stadium project and revitalization of the Historic Gas Plant District.
‘The city intends to honor our current commitment to repair Tropicana Field in accordance with the current use agreement,’ says Welch. ‘As for the future of baseball in our city – if in the coming months a new owner, who demonstrates a commitment to honoring their agreements and our community priorities, emerges – we will consider a partnership to keep baseball in St. Pete. But we will not put our city’s progress on hold as we await a collaborative and community-focused baseball partner.
‘We will move forward on the equitable economic development of the HGPD, honoring the 40-year-old promise of inclusive economic development on this historic land. We will consider a phased approach, accounting for the city’s obligations under the current use agreement. After decades of waiting, this sacred land will again bear the fruit of housing, jobs and beneficial community development. We look forward to working with our City Council and the community on the next phase of this important journey.’
The heat has already turned up on Sternberg. The Athletic reported that Manfred and several MLB owners are pressuring Sternberg to sell the club and that a group including former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. and former Yankees minority owner Joe Molloy expressed interest in buying the team.
“I’m leading a group of prominent Tampa Bay-based investors who are interested in acquiring the Tampa Bay Rays,” Molloy said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times this week. “We have assembled an incredible team that shares our vision.”
While MLB hopes to expand to 32 teams in the next decade, Manfred has said that can’t occur until stadium situations in Oakland and Tampa Bay were resolved. With the Athletics moving to Sacramento and then Las Vegas, and the Rays’ deal in hand, that seemed closer to reality.
Now, the situation has once again clouded, even as potential suitors line up to potentially bid on the Rays. Sternberg purchased a controlling interest in the team in 2008 and is now estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.8 billion; the original ownership group paid a $130 million expansion fee.
“Major League Baseball remains committed to finding a permanent home for the Club in the Tampa Bay region for their fans and the local community,’ the league said in a statement. ‘Commissioner Manfred understands the disappointment of the St. Petersburg community from today’s announcement, but he will continue to work with elected officials, community leaders, and Rays officials to secure the club’s future in the Tampa Bay region.”
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