Now’s here some quality clickbait, courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times (“Winner of 10 Pulitzer Prizes”!):
Rays owner vows stadium search by 2022, with or without St. Pete’s okay
Whoa, Stuart Sternberg is throwing down the gauntlet! He’s going to straight-up ignore his lease with St. Petersburg and, wait, why 2022?
Sternberg made his unusually frank comments in a question-and-answer session with the Tampa Bay Times while he was in town for an annual Fan Fest celebration…
Assuming it takes at least five years to build a new stadium, will you start a regional search without St. Petersburg’s permission by 2022?
Absolutely. Before that. I haven’t thought of a timetable, but five years is a minimum from the time you would start the process to when you would ring the bell.
So: The Tampa Bay Times asked Sternberg if, given that it would take a few years to build a stadium, and the Rays‘ lease is up after 2027, he’d start looking around for stadium sites a few years before then. And Sternberg said — wait for it! — yes, he would. Though given that, as Noah Pransky (yes, him again) points out, Sternberg can’t actually start negotiating with any other cities before 2028, as spelled out in that lease (which the St. Pete council is refusing to let him out of), he’d be limited to just looking. Which you have to figure he’s doing already anyway, right? So, not much of a story, probably the kind of thing you’d bury in the back—
What the #Rays headline isn't telling you is the deadline is 7yrs away! http://t.co/5oaqjyOrbT pic.twitter.com/weGrIHWFKK
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) February 22, 2015
They don’t make Pulitzer Prizes like they used to.
Wait, does that mean we can blame Obama for this?
Reads like a Python sketch and the local rags are all a-twitter “…I’m warning you!…” and Stew just stews.
The reality is that Sternberg is going to be stuck in the Dome until 2028 unless: 1: The Politicians give in to him. 2: He sells the team. 3: He declares Bankruptcy and wins in Court. As for 2022, that is a long way away, so he might as well shut up and suck it up.
I thought the TBT had won ‘Pullitzers” not Pulitzers. But maybe that’s just me…
Hey! I know where Stu is coming from. Last time I threatened a guy I said he’d be dead in less than a century if he didn’t cool it.
Don’t mess with Stu, man… or when his contract ends he’ll just damn well let it.
If he were to build his own arena free and clear of any government subsidies would he be free to leave then?
More a curiosity for me.
Nope. The lease precludes the Rays from leaving Tropicana Field for any reason before 2027.