The Tampa Bay Rays may yet play in St. Petersburg once again. That's because Pinellas County commissioners on Tuesday agreed to help pay for a new baseball stadium.
The 5-2 vote came after two commissioners flipped their earlier opposition to the deal. Dave Eggers said the county has an obligation to uphold the deal that was signed over the summer to help build a replacement for Tropicana Field.
Eggers said he did so reluctantly.
“I suspect that the deal — they'll want to change the deal,” Eggers said of the Rays' leadership. “And when the deal wants to be changed, all bets are off because the deal that was approved back in July, I honestly feel there's some responsibility we have to honor that.”
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Commissioner Chris Latvala said he changed his mind because of the possibility that the team could still redevelop the Tropicana Field site without building a new stadium — if the bonds were not forthcoming.
"I think it is very possible that (Rays principal owner) Stu Sternberg will try to keep the land development deal and use the hundreds of millions of dollars that he will receive from that to move the Rays out of this market if we do not pass the bonds," Latvala said.
“The land deal was one of the reasons why I voted no in the first place, but I will not allow the owner of the Rays to reap the profits of that land deal while the Rays are not even playing in Tampa Bay.”
He then called for new ownership that is committed to staying in the Tampa Bay area to take over the team.
"Because at the end of the day, Stu Sternberg will always care about his bottom line above all else," Latvala said. "I urge Mr. Sternberg to sell the team to someone who lives here, works here, and truly cares about our community. An owner who won't threaten to take his bats and balls or change the rules when the game he agreed to play isn't going his way.
"Stu," Latvala said, "you're up."
Since St. Petersburg council members have approved their portion of the funding, the ball is now in the Rays' court to fulfill their obligations in the contract.
"All eyes will be watching to assure that the Rays uphold their part of this deal," said Commissioner Rene Flowers.
The two no votes were from new commissioners Chris Scherer and Vince Nowicki. They said the more than $300 million in bed tax money would be better used to help communities and beaches devastated by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
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The tourist tax — a 6% surcharge collected from short-term accommodations — can be used only for tourist and economic development expenses. That would include the stadium and the beach communities recover.
Milton destroyed the Teflon roof of Tropicana Field, among other damages. It has been estimated to cost at least $55 million to repair the building, which would then be torn down for a new stadium.
The team has since agreed play its 2025 regular season outdoors at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The 11,000-seat facility is the New York Yankees' spring training home. That arrangement aroused the ire of Latvala, who said the team should play in a spring training stadium in Pinellas County.
The Rays have said the original deal was effectively dead because of cost overruns from the delay and damages to Tropicana Field. But they recently said they're willing to work on finding new funding sources.
