Rays Reversal: St. Pete Approves $287M Stadium Bond Package

The Rays’ proposed $1.3 billion ballpark received a big dose of resurgent energy Thursday when the St. Petersburg (Fla.) City Council voted to approve public bonding toward the ballpark. 

The 4–3 vote will authorize the issuance of $287.5 million worth of bonds, a crucial piece of the $600 million in public funding for the stadium. 

The approval arrived two weeks after these same public officials delayed a vote on the stadium bonds. After that postponement and a similar and prior one by the Pinellas County commission, the Rays were asked by local leaders to make a clear statement on their intentions to build a stadium and instead responded by saying the public sector has failed to meet their obligations. Subsequent negotiations between city officials and the Rays executives yielded a more positive tenor. 

“We wanted to find out if the Rays were on the verge of sending a termination letter,” said councilmember Gina Driscoll, referencing the prior delay. “It turns out that they weren’t. The Rays are still in, and so am I.”

Rays executives were not present at the council meeting Thursday, though city administrator Rob Gerdes said he told the team appearing was not necessary. 

“When our partners are not here, it’s not an indication of a good relationship,” said councilmember Lisset Hanewicz, an opponent of the stadium bonding. 

Looking Ahead

The stadium was originally intended to open in 2028. Hurricane Milton and the resulting delays with the bond votes, however, have pushed that timetable back by at least a year, the Rays have said, and introduced additional costs that the team is responsible for and says it cannot afford.

Even with the approved city bonding, how the additional costs will be absorbed and what the final stadium construction timetable will be is yet to be determined, though Gerdes said there have been recent discussions about looking at other private sources to help make up a funding gap. 

Pinellas County also has yet to formally revisit their portion of the bonding, and will meet next on Dec. 17. The city will return next week to the issue of rehabilitating Tropicana Field while the team plays next season at the Yankees’ George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. 

The city council’s renewed debate on the stadium bonds also came with some additional controversy as the matter was not even placed on the agenda for Thursday’s hearing until the day before. Several councilmembers and numerous residents complained about the relative lack of notice for such a large-scale public outlay, one in a community still reeling from the hurricane and rebuilding its infrastructure.