Are Taxpayers Off the Hook for Tampa Bay Rays’ New Stadium?

Pinellas County, Florida, and the St. Petersburg Metropolis Council lately voted to delay approving the sale of bonds to fund a brand new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, based on Fox 13. Had the funds been launched, county and metropolis taxpayers would have been on the hook for hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to accommodate one of many least attended groups within the MLB.

In July, the town and county authorized a $1.3 billion plan to construct a brand new stadium for the staff. The stadium, which might be part of a bigger $6.5 billion redevelopment venture, could be financed by St. Petersburg ($417.5 million) and Pinellas County ($312.5 million), with the Rays overlaying the remaining portion. After Hurricane Milton final month shattered the roof of Tropicana Area, the Rays’ present house, the staff moved to expedite public funding for the venture.

On Tuesday, Pinellas County Commissioners voted for a second time to push again funding for the brand new stadium. Earlier than the assembly, the Rays despatched a letter stating that the primary delayed funding vote in October pushed again the anticipated opening of the brand new stadium to 2029 (from 2028) and had elevated prices to a degree that the staff wouldn’t be capable of take up itself. After voting to delay, the Rays despatched one other letter stating that they have been suspending their plans for the stadium as a result of determination. St. Petersburg’s metropolis administrator expects the staff to ship an official termination letter to the town, based on the Tampa Bay Occasions. 

Ron Diner, founding father of “No House Run,” an advocacy group in opposition to the stadium, advised Motive that the letter that the Rays despatched to the county commissioners earlier than their funding vote performed a big position within the determination to delay. Diner believes it turned the town and county in opposition to them as a result of it signaled an intention to not comply with up on their promise of paying for price range overruns.

If delays within the building of the stadium have been already inflicting the Rays to not make ends meet, additional overruns in the price, that are quite common in massive tasks like this, would have been left to the county and the town to cowl, mentioned Diner. 

The answer based on Diner could be for the staff to maneuver inland from St. Petersburg, nearer to Tampa. “The stadium must be torn down and the town must redevelop the property,” Diner said. After each Hurricane Helene and Milton, the town ought to make investments the cash that will have been put into the stadium to repair the town’s sewers and sea partitions and put together for future hurricanes, he mentioned.

The congested site visitors of touring into St. Petersburg for video games and the town’s small inhabitants base have been additionally causes that Diner famous for the brand new stadium. “Hopefully they transfer to Tampa,” Diner said. 

Within the 2025 season, the Tampa Bay Rays will play at George M. Steinbrenner Area, the spring coaching house of the New York Yankees. The sphere is about to be the smallest stadium within the MLB with a capability of simply 11,026. Tropicana Area was capable of seat 25,025 folks earlier than it was destroyed. Final yr, the Tampa Bay Rays have been ranked twenty eighth out of 30 groups by way of attendance—simply above the Miami Marlins and the Oakland A’s.

For now, residents of St. Petersburg can relaxation assured understanding that funds that will have been put towards the stadium at the moment are obtainable for repairs that the town wants following Florida’s historic hurricane season.