Pinellas County commissioners took no action on the controversial Atlanta Braves spring training proposal that would eat up between $6.5 million and $10.5 million in annual subsidies, plus a prime development site, and they know who they want to blame for this: The St. Petersburg city council for not letting them know if they should save the land and money for a potential Tampa Bay Rays stadium.
“We are being held hostage not being able to make a decision, and we have a responsibility to our taxpayers to do that,” Commissioner Janet Long said. “We can’t just be held hostage forever because some partner can’t make a decision, and there’s a difference between being a partner and practicing extortion.”
Chairman John Morroni said the St. Petersburg council elections in November could sway the longtime stalemate on negotiations with the Rays, which could immediately impact the county’s decision on Toytown.
That word “stalemate” showed up in just about every news story on the Pinellas talks today, and it’s dead wrong: The St. Petersburg council isn’t stuck making a decision, people. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg has a lease that runs through 2027, and he asked to buy his way out of it, and the St. Pete council said, “No, thanks.” A stalemate implies an impasse toward a needed decision, but a decision’s been made here — Sternberg isn’t happy with it, but it’s done unless he chooses to make another offer.
Anyway, the Tampa Bay sports media are all awful (okay, not you, Noah). But then, that’s nothing new.
“Stalemate” my arse. It’s called a LEASE, a LEGAL and BINDING CONTRACT. Next?
Does any team reallly need 20 practice fields? I supposed if they share the facility then that would be 10 per team – enough for roughly 180 players to practice simultaneously.
Stalemate – when someone doesn’t like an already-binding answer?
Andy
Hi Neil,
You state:
“Anyway, the Tampa Bay sports media are all awful (okay, not you, Noah). But then, that’s nothing new.”
In addition to Noah, columnists Joe Brown and Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune are definitely NOT awful.
Nobody appreciates hyperbole anymore.
@ALK – I think they’re both trying to lure a second team the facilities and the use it as a community facility for the rest of the year outside the Rookie league games. If the second one is actually the case, having 10 fields wouldn’t be too unusual. The 15,000 seat field house, aquatic center (with a hockey rink), and a 20,000 seat track and field house leave me scratching my head more than the 10 fields, especially if from the drawings most of them are just fields without a lot of supporting infrastructure.
One quibble (you can check this with Noah): The Rays’ owner has not offered to buy out his use agreement with St. Pete. He has refused to consider *any* site for a new stadium unless St. Pete amends that agreement to let him play Tampa off against St. Pete. He has refused to pay even one thin dime for that consideration. I guess he figures, “why pay for what I can get for free?”. We’ll see if he can.