Rays St. Pete stadium deadline passes. What’s next?

Rays miss termination letter deadline

FOX 13's Genevieve Curtis reports on the Tampa Bay Rays missing the deadline to send the City of St. Petersburg a termination letter for their new stadium agreement in the Gas Plant District.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The March 31 deadline came and went and the City of St. Petersburg never got a termination notice from the Tampa Bay Rays. The $1.3 billion dollar deal officially died, without the fanfare of its coronation.

That’s now opening conversations about what happens next, now that there is no last-minute play.

What they're saying:

"(The Rays) called it a dream come true, and now they decided that they didn't want to go through with their commitments," said Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala.

As of April 1, the team and its owner, Stu Sternberg, are free to pursue other locations, including across the bay.

File: Rendering of proposed Rays stadium in St. Pete, which has been taken off the table.

"As long as he's the owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, I don’t believe he will ever get a stadium finalized in Tampa Bay because nobody wants to deal with him. His word means nothing," said Latvala.

In a statement, the city said while it never received anything in writing from the Rays to terminate the agreement, it's now moving forward.

As of April 1, the Rays are no longer due any profits from redevelopment of the land where Tropicana Field sits.

The roof of Tropicana Field was badly damaged during Hurricane Milton.

"We are well positioned to move forward. All that background work that we did has really put us in a good place. And most importantly, that land comes back to the city and we'll move forward based on the community's priorities," said Mayor Ken Welch when asked about the plans last week.

On Thursday, city council will vote on spending more than $22 million to replace the roof on the Trop, giving the Rays a place to play through 2028.

It's also led to questions as to whether the Rays will try to extend the lease at the Trop, a proposal which has been floated in the face of the deal's implosion.

"Stu’s fifth proposal was to get $200 million for the county to give him $200 million for the city to give him and then return he would sign a 10-year lease, um, and you know, frankly, that's laughable," said Latvala.

Latvala said they are still totaling up the hundreds of taxpayer-funded hours spent on the deal.

"I think the first thing that they should do is repay the taxpayers," said Latvala.

Pictured: Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg.

The Rays have repeatedly said the team is not for sale, though they have said they are pursuing minority partners.

On the county side, FOX 13 asked Latvala what they’ll do with the money earmarked for the stadium.

"Just because we have it doesn’t mean we have to spend it," he said. "Tourist development tax money and the bed tax money will keep replenishing. And so, if and when there's a new ownership with the Tampa Bay Rays and that new ownership group, if they want play in Pinellas County and they want to stay in Pinellas County, I think our local government will, and our county would love to talk to them," said Latvala.

The Rays declined to comment on why they didn’t send a termination notice.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Genevieve Curtis.

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