August 03, 2011

St. Pete talkers talking about Rays talks

There's very little going on on the Tampa Bay Rays stadium front right now, but the St. Petersburg Times isn't letting that stop them from reporting on what could be going on.

On Sunday, the Times reported that with four of the eight seats on the city council up for re-election this year, new faces could vote to amend the Rays' lease at Tropicana Field to let them out of it early. All it would take would be for five members out of eight to vote to change the lease, then six to vote to override Mayor Bill Foster's certain veto ... okay, the math doesn't really work, but they did manage to collect a bunch of quote from council candidates saying, "We and the Rays should be talking." (Though it's worth noting that Foster, currently seen as the main roadblock to a new stadium deal, said similar things when he was running for office.)

Which, incidentally, even Foster says:

"I know a lot of people are discouraged that the two parties of the contract aren't talking," Foster said. "And I will say that no one is more discouraged at the lack of communication than I am."

That's part of another Times article today that mostly focuses on how a Rays booster group made of local business leaders is going to meet with Foster to try to get him to open talks with the team about a new stadium. Which would be easier, of course, if the Rays owners would agree to talk without dropping their demand that Foster first let them out of the lease provision that precludes them from negotiating with other cities.

Foster, for his part, seems to be determined to hold tight to the lease, knowing full well that it's the best leverage he has in his negotiations with the Rays:

Foster said Tuesday that any proposal for a stadium must recognize the investment taxpayers put into Tropicana Field, and the city's relationship with the team.

"And then it's got to get sweeter," he said of a stadium proposal detente.