The USL Tampa Bay Rowdies yesterday "scored a major win" in their quest to become an MLS team, after St. Petersburg voters "overwhelmingly approved 87 to 13 percent a referendum allowing the team to enter into a long-term lease with the city at its home, Al Lang Stadium," according to Janelle Irwin of the TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL. The referendum "allows the team to sign a lease of up to 25-years." City charter "requires voter approval for leases longer than five years on city-owned downtown waterfront property." The Edwards Group, run by team Owner Bill Edwards, "needs a long-term lease" in order to pursue $80M in renovations to the stadium to attract MLS. The Rowdies are "one of 12 teams vying for an MLS slot." The Edwards Group is "privately funding renovations" to increase capacity from 7,000 to 18,000 and "open the stadium to views of Tampa Bay." However, the positive referendum result "does not guarantee a long-term lease on the property." Instead, it "gives the city the go ahead to begin negotiations" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 5/2). In Tampa, Charlie Frago in a front-page piece reports despite the "landslide vote, nothing will happen unless MLS decides to grant one of four expansion teams to St. Petersburg." The vote "marked a departure from past fights to alter the city's waterfront." Nearly a decade ago, opposition "squashed plans to build a new ballpark" for the Rays at Al Lang. No organized opposition "emerged, in part because the proposed plan wouldn't expand the footprint of the stadium." The team "pledged that a seating deck wouldn't be any higher than the neighboring Mahaffey Theater" and that LED lighting "would be used to minimize glare" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 5/3).
