The city of St. Pete has struck a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to allow the Major League Baseball franchise to look outside the city for a new location for a stadium. The deal comes after more than four years of failed negotiations.
“I’ve long recognized that had this continued for several more years, the Rays would be wise enough to simply wait out the contract and move away, leaving us with nothing but a vacant building,” St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman said during a press conference at Tropicana Field Tuesday.
The Rays have struggled with the worst home game attendance in the entire league. That prompted the league to put pressure on the Rays to get out of their deal with St. Pete to play ball at the Trop and start looking elsewhere. But the team’s contract with the city to play at Tropicana Field through 2027 had prohibited the franchise from even discussing possible options with localities anywhere outside St. Pete.
The agreement is not a change to that contract, rather a Memorandum of Understanding that allows the team’s owners and leadership to have non-binding conversations regarding other possible sites in Pinellas or Hillsborough County only.
“I am committed to ensuring there is always a TB on the players’ hats,” Kriseman said.
The MOU, if approved by city council on Thursday, allows the Rays to begin evaluating other possible stadium sites. Should the team find a new place to call home, the MOU would require them to pay a fee each year they play any home games outside of St. Pete through 2026. The Rays would pay $4 million per year through 2018, $3 million through 2022 and $2 million per year through 2026. The team would not have to pay the city anything for its final year of the contract.
There’s also a provision requiring the Rays to provide up to $1 million worth of in-kind services like signage or stadium use per year. If the team were to choose a stadium site outside of Pinellas or Hillsborough County, the MOU would be void and only the original contract would be valid.
Kriseman said ensuring there were no changes to the original agreement with the raise was a key point during negotiations. That’s one reason the agreement doesn’t include any up-front fees charged to the Rays to look outside the city. Many have criticized Kriseman for letting the Rays off easy. Not only does it lack a search fee, it also does not include demolition costs should the Trop fall victim to the wrecking ball. The depreciating annual fees if the Rays move out of the Trop are also counter to inflation.
Kriseman has an answer to all those arguments. He says the demolition costs were factored into the new agreement and takes into account the depreciating value of the Rays contract as time wears on. Rays President Brian Auld hinted that asking any more of the franchise may have been a sticking point for the Rays.
“Had these payments been significantly higher, they would prohibit us from being able to do a new deal,” Auld said. “They could be crippling to whatever business needs we had going into a new ballpark.”
Auld wouldn’t say whether or not the team was leaning toward one side of the bay or the other, just that they would begin a “fresh look” at all options. He did say St. Pete is not off the table. When asked if the agreement could be seen as the beginning of the end for baseball in St. Pete, Kriseman shrugged it off, maintaining confidence that the team would ultimately choose to keep its home in St. Pete.
“All you have to do is look what’s happening in the city right now – especially in this area of town that we’re in in the Edge district and what’s happening a little west in Grand Central,” Kriseman said. “This area is on the rise. Places like Ferg’s they’re jamming right now and it’s going to continue to grow.” Added Kriseman, “if anyone has been to a Lightning game you know how difficult it is for ingress and egress. It’s very easy getting in and out of Tropicana Field when you go to a game.”
Kriseman wouldn’t say whether the city has plans for the land around Tropicana Field if the site gets vacated by the Rays, but said his staff is prepared to look at all options.
The new agreement hinges on a City Council vote Thursday. Both Kriseman and Auld said they’re optimistic council will approve the MOU. Once city council member, Karl Nurse, was at the press conference. He said he wouldn’t vote in favor of the current language because it doesn’t give City Council enough of a say.
He explained the final page of the agreement allows City Council to vote on the MOU once and any negotiations not approved by council after that can be taken to court. It’s a small tweak in language Nurse thinks will pass.
“I think St Pete could make a pretty good argument that this is still a logical place for a stadium, particularly as you look at the alternatives and see how difficult they are,” Nurse said. If the Rays ultimately relocate across the bay or somewhere else in the county, though, Nurse isn’t too worried about that either. “I think it’s possible to redevelop this site with or without the Rays.”
Kriseman had promised to reach a deal with the Rays by Christmas and has said all along his main goal was to protect St. Pete taxpayers. Kriseman said he’s done that and called the deal “good and fair.”
