(The Center Square) — The Tampa Bay Rays said in a letter released Tuesday that the team has suspended work on a new $1.2 billion stadium in St. Petersburg, but say they’ll “work with any willing partners” on a new deal.
The letter came as the Pinellas County Commission voted 6-1 to postpone a $312.5 million bond issue for the stadium at its meeting on Tuesday. The commission delayed the vote previously on Oct. 29 and punted the issue to its next meeting on Dec. 17.
According to commission attorneys, the previously touted March deadline was not for the county to issue bonds, but for the Rays to honor their obligations.
Team officials were present at the meeting, but didn’t answer any questions from commissioners.
They distributed a letter before the meeting shown by a WTSP reporter on X that said the commission’s failure to approve the bonds last month “ended the ability for a 2028 delivery of the ballpark” and that they can’t absorb the additional costs due to the delay.
“Now that enormous investment of human and financial capital has been jeopardized by the county’s failure to live up to its July agreement,” Rays co-presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman said in the letter.
“I’m very disappointed that the Rays are forcing this issue today,” newly-elected District 1 Commissioner Chris Scherer said. “I don’t see that it’s required, it’s not a condition of our contract. I don’t even see that it’s needed. Why do we even need to float bonds? I don’t know that we do.
“This is an egregious demand and it reeks of corporate selfishness. I have a lot of questions about the feasibility of financing a new stadium and our infrastructure needs. If I’m going to make an error, I’m going to err on the side of caution.”
Under the deal, the Rays would’ve received $600 million from taxpayers for the Tropicana Field replacement, which was scheduled to open in 2028 and anchor a $6.5 billion development in the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District.
Category 3 Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on Oct. 9 and tore 18 of the 24 panels on the roof of Tropicana Field, the home for the Rays since the inaugural 1998 season.
The team will play next season at the New York Yankees’ spring training park, George Steinbrenner Field, in Tampa.
The St. Petersburg City Council will take up the issue at its Friday meeting on whether to replace Tropicana Field’s roof for two seasons before a new stadium was scheduled to open.
A report released by the city of St. Petersburg and written by Hennessy Construction Services says Tropicana Field repairs could cost $55 million, with $26.3 million needed in just the roof replacement alone.