How the Rays lost the new stadium deal: A timeline
Here’s how it all went wrong.
It seems like the death of the Tampa Bay Rays is finally upon us, with the City of St. Petersburg requesting the team formally withdraw from an agreed upon new stadium project.
How did we get here?
The efforts of Rays ownership to find a home field other than Tropicana Field goes back at least to 2008, when the team first proposed building on the site of Al Lopez Park (now the Rowdies home pitch). The section of DRaysBays articles chronicling these efforts, which are all grouped into a section called “Tampa Bay Stadium Saga,” has its first post in 2010; here is an early 2011 post outlining some of the problems with the Tropicana Field site and teasing some great places the team could move to in Tampa.
This is to say: we’ve been at this for a while.
But in the past, the starts and stops of the Stadium Saga occurred with the end date of the Tropicana Field lease agreement (2027) well in the future. We still had 15 years to figure this out! Or at least 10 years to figure this out!
Suddenly, we have no time left at all.
Here’s a timeline of just the latest iteration of the Stadium Saga, which seems to have now hit a (final?) impasse.
June 25, 2019 — Rays announce they do not believe Tampa Bay can sustain a baseball team, and propose a “Sister City” solution of splitting their home games with Montreal
December 4, 2019 — St. Petersburg issues memo saying “no” to the Sister City concept
February 11, 2020 — Rays announce intention to build Sister City stadium in Tampa
January 27, 2021 — St. Petersburg gathers seven Tropicana Field site redevelopment bids without the Rays support. The project eventually goes nowhere due to team’s lack of cooperation.
July 28, 2021 — Rays preferred site in Tampa moves on without a stadium plan
January 20, 2022 — Major League Baseball kills the Rays plan to split their seasons between St. Petersburg and Montreal
June 29, 2022 — New Mayor Ken Welch announces new Tropicana Field redevelopment project, this time encouraging the Rays to bid
December 2, 2022 — St. Petersburg receives four bids to redevelop Tropicana Field’s 86 acres, including a bid from the Rays that includes a full-time baseball stadium
January 30, 2023 — To the surprise of no one, the Rays win the bid to control the redevelopment of the entire Tropicana Field site
September 19, 2023 — The Rays and the City of St. Petersburg reach a tentative agreement for the 86-acre site worth $6+ billion in development including a $1.3 billion stadium (with $750 million in public funding) and selling the Rays the surrounding land for ~$100 million. Crucially, the agreement requires the Rays organization to absorb any cost overruns beyond the public funding requests.
July 18, 2024 — The St. Petersburg City Council narrowly approves the Rays bid for the 86-acre site, including $287.5 million to be allocated through bonds for the stadium.
July 31, 2024 — The Pinellas County Commission agrees to issue $312.5 million in bonds toward the new Rays stadium as well
October 9, 2024 — Two weeks after Hurricane Helene ravaged the Florida coastline, Hurricane Milton effectively destroys Tropicana Field, ripping off the roof and damaging the interior.
October 30, 2024 — The Pinellas County Commission surprisingly delays issuance of their bonds, expressing concern about the costs of beach restoration and whether the Rays (a source of tax revenue that funds bond repayments) would commit to play in Pinellas while the Trop is repaired (a requirement of the new stadium contract, but not the old one).
November 5, 2024 — Elections shake up the Pinellas County Commission (effective immediately) and St. Petersburg City Council (effective January 2025) with new members who oppose funding the new Rays stadium.
November 12, 2024 — Consultants determine Tropicana Field cannot be repaired until March 2026.
November 14, 2024 — Rays announce they’ve reached a deal to play 2025 in neighboring Hillsborough County, at the Yankees spring training complex in Tampa.
November 16, 2024 — Rays owner Stuart Sternberg released statements to the Tampa Bay Times, putting the blame on the County’s 30-day delay in approving stadium bonds for “likely killing the new stadium deal.”
November 19, 2024 (morning) — Rays Presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman issue a poorly worded (and poorly received) warning letter to the Pinellas County Commission, announcing the Rays have “suspended work” on the new stadium, and will now incur “higher costs that we are not able to absorb alone.”
November 19, 2024 (evening) — Pinellas County Commission delays issuing their stadium bonds another 30 days, citing anger at the Rays behavior.
November 21, 2024 — Rays President Brian Auld convinces the St. Petersburg City Council to delay repairing Tropicana Field (link), leading the Council to delay their stadium bond issuance into 2025. Here’s a breakdown of this dramatic turn of events:
- City Council convenes to consider cost to repair Tropicana Field and approve new stadium bonds
- City Council narrowly votes 4-3 to fund $23m to initiate the repair of Tropicana Field’s roof after fierce debate
- Council takes a 15-min recess before considering approval of the new stadium bonds
- During the recess, Auld tells the gathered media that he wishes the Council had not approved fixing Tropicana Field
- City Council returns to session, calls Auld forward to answer questions on the letter he provided to the Pinellas County Commission and his comments during the recess
- Rays president clarifies that, from his perspective, there is no stadium deal anymore and that efforts to repair Tropicana Field on the team’s behalf are not worthwhile
- City Council votes 5-2 to delay bond vote to 2025 so they can seek a legal withdrawal letter from the Rays on the new stadium deal
- City Council recalls the vote on funding Tropicana Field roof repair, striking it down in a unanimous vote of 7-0
There have been no further statements from the Rays about any new plans.
The “use agreement” governing the Rays lease of Tropicana Field has three seasons remaining, and the team’s release from that contract is sure to be a part of negotiations as the city requests the Rays organization terminates the new stadium project.