Since St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch announced last month that he had picked the Rays/Hines group as his choice for the estimated $5B redevelopment of the Rays’ Tropicana Field site, team officials have “expressed reluctance to rush into any commitment contractually to St. Petersburg,” according to John Romano of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred “showed up last week and made a point of saying there are viable sites across the bay in Tampa.” But the reality is, the momentum “still resides in this wide expanse of parking spaces Welch is staring at.” The Rays met with city officials on Wednesday to “start hammering out a timeline for a term agreement and to begin exploring their differences on various issues.” Romano writes neither Welch nor Rays President Brian Auld “wanted to talk in detail about the coming negotiations,” but both “seemed more upbeat and optimistic than any elected official or ownership representative has in the past decade of proposed stadiums and shattered ambitions.” However, that “doesn’t mean this plan will work.” Romano notes there are “countless details and disagreements that will have to be resolved.” Figuring out the proper split for the cost of the stadium amongst the city, county and the team “remains a tricky proposition.” The “real challenge” will be “deciding the how/when/what of the redevelopment.” Because of the “past attendance struggles” at this site, the team is “emphatic that a new complex needs to be structured perfectly to attract businesses and fans to 7 p.m. weekday games.” Romano writes the team “isn’t going to commit to a stadium until the city commits to a master plan.” While the Rays/Hines proposal “included concepts about a museum, hotels, affordable housing, green areas, restaurants and retail spaces,” the exact details are “still open to discussion” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 2/24).
