July 29, 2010

Rays stadium talks put off till November

At least the city of St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay Rays agree on one thing: They'll be putting off any stadium talks until November, after the conclusion of the World Series. This follows the last week's debacle in which St. Pete Mayor Bill Foster offered to allow discussion of stadium sites just north of his city limits, and the Rays responded with a metaphorical raised middle finger.

This will give both sides time to prepare for what could be an ugly November. City attorney John Wolfe has already talked about getting court injunctions to prevent the Rays from negotiating stadium deals with other cities (something that's prohibited in their lease), and additional court battles could ensue over how much the team would have to pay the city for breaking its lease early.

"I'm not looking forward to the fall," Wolfe told the St. Petersburg Times. "I'm not sure what they're going to do. I don't know what their real plan is." Wanna bet it'll include sending Selig back to town at some point — maybe for the postseason if the Rays get there as expected — to make his usual vague threats?