Another crucial vote on the future of the Tampa Bay Rays is coming up Tuesday.
Pinellas County commissioners will vote on whether to issue up to $335 million in bonds. The bonds will be paid off with bed taxes levied on hotel stays. Commissioners deferred the vote twice after two hurricanes damaged beach communities.
But two new commissioners have said they oppose the deal, so one board member would have to flip their previous vote for the current deal to stay on track.
During their last regular meeting, Commission vice chair Brian Scott said it appeared Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg is looking to back out.
“At this point, you can only conclude one of a couple of things,” Scott said. “Either Sternberg wants out of the deal, he wants to renegotiate the deal, and he wants to hang the failure on the county commission, particularly I believe on our newest members.”
The Rays have said the 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.
Commission Chair Kathleen Peters wants to move forward, saying the team would have to follow specific legal terms if the bond issue is approved. She spoke during a workshop last week.
“Our very awesome legal team would make sure all of that is followed to the letter of the law on the contract,” she said, “so if they aren’t meeting their objectives, it comes back to us, and that’s when we make a decision.”
The commission voted 6-1 last month to delay a bond vote over concerns over where the Rays would play in the upcoming season after Hurricane Milton damaged Tropicana Field.
The team has inked a deal with the New York Yankees to play its 2025 regular season outdoors at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The 11,000-seat facility is the Yankees' spring training home.
St. Petersburg City council members approved issuing bonds to cover their portion of the stadium earlier this month.
The 4-3 vote came two weeks after the council delayed a decision on the bonds.
That came after the Rays said they could not go through with the deal because of cost overruns on a new stadium due to delays from Hurricane Milton.
If either the city or county officially backs out of the deal, it could allow the Rays to still develop the Tropicana Field site — without building a stadium.
The team says they're willing to work on a plan to come up with alternative funding. But nothing will happen unless Pinellas commissioners agree to allocate county bed taxes to pay off the construction bonds.
