If there’s one thing that Tampa Bay Rays management has been consistent about since their stadium’s roof was blown off by Hurricane Milton in October, it’s inconsistency: First came a month of mostly silence, followed by team owner Stu Sternberg threatening to move the team if a new stadium wasn’t promptly approved, then team presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman sent a letter to the county commission complaining that delays had “ended the ability for a 2028 delivery of the ballpark” and saying they had “suspended work on the entire project,” then when that didn’t change the county’s vote Silverman said they’d never really abandoned the project, then when the county did change its vote Silverman said thanks, but taxpayers would have to help fill an unspecified “funding gap” first. The whiplash has been palpable, and even in a world where team execs sometimes end up playing good cop and bad cop at the same time, there’s a sense that Sternberg and Co. haven’t quite settled on whether they’re trying to get the stadium deal revived or back out of it.
Meanwhile, the Tropicana Field roof remains shredded, and Silverman has addressed that situation with oh jeez it’s another letter:
We would like to clear up any uncertainty relating to the repair and reconstruction of Tropicana Field. While we had been open to considering a scenario in which the City bought out of its obligation to rebuild the ballpark, the Rays support and expect the City to rebuild Tropicana Field in accordance with the terms of the current Use Agreement…
As I am sure you can appreciate, there is a very significant difference for the Rays between the repairs being completed for Opening Day on the one hand and a completion date later in the season on the other. A partial 2026 season in Tropicana Field would present massive logistical and revenue challenges for the Team. It is therefore critical that the rebuild start in earnest as soon as possible, that a realistic completion schedule be developed quickly and that the City diligently pursue the reconstruction as required by the Use Agreement.
Yeahhhh, about that use agreement: It actually only requires the city to use insurance proceeds to pay for stadium repairs, and the insurance money doesn’t look like it’ll be enough, in part because the city downgraded its insurance coverage last spring to save money. The agreement contains a clause (8.03, if you’re scoring at home) that says Sternberg can sue for damages if the city is in default of the agreement, but it’s not entirely clear whether refusing to cut a blank check for repairs would actually represent a default.
So we have Silverman’s latest nastygram, which was dated December 30 but only surfaced publicly yesterday. The Rays co-president didn’t mention anything about whether the team plans to move ahead with its new stadium or keep demanding more than the $1 billion in public subsidies they’re already set to receive — or how much more money they want, even. If that seems like a weird way to win friends and influence people, well, Rays management is clearly deeply weird.
The St. Petersburg mayor’s office, for its part, replied with a statement that “we look forward to continuing to work with the Rays — through participation in a collaborative working group — and with City Council to return Major League baseball games to St. Petersburg.” So ,ball’s in the city council’s court, yet again; if they don’t act soon to approve the roof repairs, it’ll be interesting to see whether Silverman’s next letter is more conciliatory, or if he threatens to hold his breath until he turns blue.
In what Bizzaro universe does doubling the number of seats and moving to an air conditioned stadium generate “massive…revenue challenges”?
I don’t think the use agreement has one of those “keep the place at superduper first class top of the line in the league condition” clauses. So St Pete should do the absolute minimum in repairs, including:
-Repair the roof with the cheapest low quality one-ply material possible. It doesn’t need an “acoustic layer”. It doesn’t even need to be translucent.
-Make the a/c operational enough to cool things off to the second level. No sense cooling the third deck since it’s been unused (and covered with blue tarps :)) for years.
-Fix the field lighting to broadcast levels.
And that’s it.
Anything else Stu wants, he can pay for.
Heck. Figure out how to make it playable without the roof. And they can suck it up. ;)
It might be cheaper to just replace the roof.
A domed stadium is not just a regular stadium with a roof stapled to it.
It was not built for drainage and a lot of the offices and what not relied on the roof to keep the water out.
The reason it had a roof is because it pours down rain almost every day there. It’s going to be hard to make the season work outdoors, unless they want to play in the hottest part of the day, which will deter fans even further.
There’s no good solution. As much of a fiasco as this is, St Pete is still closer to getting a new ballpark built for the Rays than any other city thinking about doing that, so this is where they are.
The major error the city/county made was to allow the Rays to include redevelopment rights in the “new” stadium deal.
It really is just an extension of the original lease (with some changes – which should also have not been included…) in which the Rays had the right to share in any profit from redevelopment rights.
If wishes were horses… but had the city & county required that the Rays surrender any legacy rights to redevelopment as part of the $1bn subsidy they are getting, literally none of this standoff would be happening.
It seems clear the Rays do not want a new stadium nearly as much as they want the redevelopment rights. It is also clear they have no intention of honouring their side of the agreement on maintaining/repairing the Trop and would like the public to believe that the obligation is all on the city & county. They are clearly trying to force their ‘partners’ to withdraw from the agreement so they can claim the redevelopment rights and leave town (despite there being nowhere better to move to – at least that the team can get to without paying someone else for the rights).
This is not an organization anyone should do business or enter into any kind of contractual agreement with. Period.
Lots of questions and afterthought s:
Why aren’t there performance deadlines in the contract for both parties ?
Didn’t the Rays as tenants have insurance too?
Who made the decision to not insure the structure appropriately?
Is retaining the Rays worth all this abuse?
Which contract, it wasn’t their responsibility to, the St. Petersburg city council, and probably not.
With respect to the Rays holding tenants insurance, it’s a good question.
Assuming they were aware they were on the hook for any repairs not covered by the landlord’s insurance (which is the case for almost all tenants in commercial or residential buildings… you are not covered for personal loss on your landlord’s policy), it would have been prudent for them to take out their own insurance – or at least ensure that their landlord’s insurance DID cover them.
Yet they appear not to have thought of this, preferring instead to demand that the building owner make them whole despite not being obligated to do so.
Hmmmn.
Why can’t they simply spend the money to repair the current stadium? I see no need to build totally anew. Create a more sturdy, lasting roof design based on what didn’t hold the first time through. Grow up those of you in charge of doing something to move forward. St Petersburg IS the home of our team; keep their game playing in the Trop and fix it to long-term perfection! STAY RAYS!
As a former Oakland baseball fan, I feel you. I can also tell you that it ain’t happening.
Tear it down and rebuild the new design on this site. You already have parking, water and electricity at this site, and it is right off 275. Duh
Then play in a temporary venue for what…4 years? 5? More?
At this point it’s just a matter of time when another city, other than a Florida one, will offer the Rays what they want and they will be gone.
There are no other available cities the size of Tampa-St. Pete. Nor any that are in a position to offer anything close to a billion dollars. though I guess there are suckers born every minute. Can you think of any obvious candidates?
Quebec City, Greensboro, Ogdenville, North Haverbroook. I’m sure there are lots.
Montreal. The silence is deafening there, n’est pas? Beaucoup d’argent with Bell and Bronfman name to open up Peel Basin federal lands behind the scenes. And a rapport with Stu. Montreal Baseball Project just wants a team brought in and Cromartie will cheerlead the rest
several years ago there was an OP on this forum who regularly advised us to stay tuned for an imminent announcement from Mr. Bronfman.
I am still waiting for that announcement. News outlets that have contacted Mr. Bronfman in the mean time advise he says he ‘no longer thinks about MLB’.
Sorry, none of those seem likely to put up $1billion.
Hey, why doesn’t anybody suggest Atlantic City? Since there’s no team physically located in Jersey.
Always thought what Stu really wanted was to own the Mets.
Bronfman said he won’t be the money man, but boy Bell Media and other major companies could easily have $1 billion for baseball because Bell Media needs content, just like Rogers has the Blue Jays https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article143778.html
Until they remove the Montreal Baseball Project website, Montreal cannot be discounted
https://montrealbaseballproject.com/en/