St. Pete council looks set to approve MLB-record $1.6B subsidy for Rays stadium

Charlotte wasn’t the only city holding a stadium hearing yesterday: The St. Petersburg city council also met to discuss the proposal to build a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium that could cost the public almost $1.6 billion in cash, tax kickbacks, and land discounts. And while public comments weren’t on the agenda for this one, the tea leaves are saying the plan looks likely to be approved:

There was a marked shift in tone from the May council workshop that addressed the terms of redeveloping the property surrounding the ballpark. … Council members seemed largely focused on ironing out details surrounding sustainability, parking, securing a non-relocation agreement, and ensuring the city would take as few risks as possible under the agreement. They also want any major changes to go back before them for approval rather than to be approved administratively.

Five of eight city councilmembers are required to vote for the stadium bill for it to pass, and according to Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano, they seem to have met that threshold:

Council member Lisset Hanewicz, who appears to be a clear “no” vote, thanked city administrator Rob Gerdes, who has been the point man on negotiations. Rays president Brian Auld came over to joke with council member Richie Floyd, who is another vocal opponent. Council member John Muhammad is something of a wild card, but the other five members seem generally supportive.

“I think most of us are kind of in the same place,” said council member Ed Montanari. “I’ve generally been for this agreement and I’ve been working on (a stadium search) for 15 years. I think there’s a general consensus for where we are.

“The analogy I’ve used before is this is kind of like buying a house. You have a willing seller and a willing buyer and you’re going to closing to make sure all the documents are right, and that’s kind of what we were doing here today.”

That’s a bit of a weird analogy — holding the first public hearings on a multi-billion-dollar stadium deal is like going to the closing of a house purchase where you’ve already agreed on the price? — but it does seem to be where things stand. Floyd, the main critic of the deal, is all over the news outlets today, saying, “It’s one of the largest stadium subsidies in MLB history, and there is no revenue return to the city from it” and “if we can’t get the stadium subsidy under control, if we can’t make sure this project doesn’t run a deficit then I can’t support it,” but also “if this passes, even if I don’t agree with it, I’m planning on being around this city for the next 30 years and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure this is successful,” which certainly sounds like someone who sees the writing on the wall.

A final council vote is set for July 11, but the paperwork needs to be finalized by two weeks before that so the lawyers can look at it, so realistically there’s only two weeks left for the council to make changes. Unless somebody comes up with a surprise amendment, it sure looks like Rays owner Stuart Sternberg is looking at receiving the largest stadium subsidy in MLB history — which, given where things stood just two years ago, will be a pretty impressive feat.