Chamber official: Only a new stadium can keep Rays in St. Pete

ST. PETERSBURG — The leader of a group studying the Tampa Bay Rays' $450-million waterfront stadium proposal said Tuesday rejecting the plan may be the end of Major League Baseball in St. Petersburg.

Steve Raymund, co-chairman of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce's baseball task force, said that if St. Petersburg won't build the Rays a new stadium, some other city will.

St. Petersburg's lease with the team, which will not expire until 2027, is unlikely to stop the Rays, Raymund said.

"The reality is that the Rays say they need a new stadium to remain viable, that it's critical to their organization," said Raymund, the former chief executive of Tech Data. "If it's not here, it'll be somewhere else."

Officially, the Rays have said they will remain in St. Petersburg if a new ballpark is not approved by voters. But principal owner Stuart Sternberg also has said that the team will not be playing in Tropicana Field in 2027 when the lease expires.

If the team attempts to leave, it would be required to pay the remaining debt on Tropicana Field. Right now, that's about $89-million.

The chamber is studying all aspects of the Rays' plan and has yet to take a position on the proposal, president John Long said.

But chamber officials realize what's at stake, they say. In a letter to Mayor Rick Baker and City Council members Tuesday, Long, Raymund and two other chamber officials asked the council to provisionally place the stadium question on the November ballot at a meeting June 5.

Chamber officials said the city could then delay a final decision on the referendum until Aug. 7 without quashing the Rays' proposal.

Comments on this article

by Dennis	May 21, 2008 12:58 PM
Communities are rated by many things, but JOBS come to places where you have higher marks in everything. A richer quality of life comes with variety, if the Rays go, roll back the clock 25 years, St Pete just went back to the 80's

by ANN	May 21, 2008 12:26 PM
Need help packing?

by Dennis	May 21, 2008 12:26 PM
Let the ones who want it pay for it. Fine, but YOU can never go if I pay for it. Same with the Bayway bridge, make me pay for it, fine, I would now own Ft Desoto since you can't cross my bridge. Your selfish mindset is what is wrong here.

by Dennis	May 21, 2008 12:26 PM
People with no vision only see that this is more money from them, and not what it will bring to them. If you want to live somewhere with nothing, move to Ocala, or even Orlando. I would say open your mind, but most don't seem to get that idea.

by LaMichael	May 21, 2008 12:25 PM
If it all fails for you guys in St. Petersburg, we would love to see them come to the great City of Charlotte, North Carolina!

by Susan	May 21, 2008 12:23 PM
Wake up voters! Rays management has been shopping the team for years. Couldn't you see this comming? New park or they walk. I say see them play in Orlando.

by kitty	May 21, 2008 12:23 PM
Gosh, I hope they don't get injured as the door hits them on the way out!

by David	May 21, 2008 11:50 AM
The majority of taxpayers don't support the team, don't want a new field and won't miss the Rays. But, government and chamber of commerce never give a hoot what the taxpayers want. So we'll get a new stadium, and we'll pay for it. We're just slaves.

by Scot	May 21, 2008 11:46 AM
I have been in the trop severall times over the 11 years I lived in the TampaBay area and I really do not think it is a bad place to go to see a game and we are much better off than the Marlins have been with out a Dome in Miami area.

by wazzamattaU	May 21, 2008 11:46 AM
Let the ones who want it pay for it.

by Mike	May 21, 2008 11:12 AM
We should have a right to vote. St Pete is the one that lured the team in the first place and I for one am glad. I live in Orlando and have been to 6 games this year already. For all the games ive seen there hasnt been more than 1000 actual residents

by Dan	May 21, 2008 10:45 AM
Tropicana Field is currently and always has been a dump. It was built on the cheap and looks it. I wouldn't blame them if they left in a year or two.

by K	May 21, 2008 10:45 AM
If that's what the Rays will do, don't let the door hit you on the way out! Oh and the City/County should not, absolutely NOT allow them to get out of the lease without paying it in full!

by justme	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
I just love being threatened like this. What a joke. Just blackmail us with giving them a new stadium when Tropicana Field is ONLY 18 yrs old. These types of threats are only going to hurt the attendance. Hey Thanks Chamber!!

by chris	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
ever since the 20's, st pete has been trying to attract folks down here...building the stadium will continue to do this as well as create a wonderful scene for local residence...let's just vote on it, build it and enjoy it.

by Harold	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
Goodbye Rays! Freeloading is becoming less acceptable in our communities. I pay my mortgage; I expect the Rays to pay their own. Corporate welfare is destroying the prosperity of America for the middle class.

by Damien	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
Sounds like hyperbole designed scare people into voting this thing in. Build it in downtown SP all you want -- that makes it harder for people to get there, and no one wants that hassle to see a 7pm game on a weeknight.

by Bobby V.	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
Leave, leave, leave, please go, gift your presense to some other "lucky" community. Get off the public dole. [Submit rant]

by David	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
And THAT is just plain blackmail and conspiracy to defraud. Even the most ardant fan has to resist this kind of "business as usual". It looks like a class action suit between the fans and a team they love for the sake of $$ for an impatient owner.

by Aaron	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
The Rays will gladly pay the 89 million to leave instead of the 150 million if St. Pete/Pinellas won't build a new stadium...

by Donald	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
Goodbye

by Chip	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
Mr Raymound look at how long it took us to get a team after we built the stadium. The games MLB played with us. What about MBL's antitrust exemption, and the other owners. Move the team? When? Get the other owners to agree? Right. We all can't be #1

by Truth	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
Buh-bye!

by Jerry	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
Whatever public money is spent on a new ballpark should be converted to equity in the franchise, with a provision for the team to "buy back" the city's stake. Anything else amounts to corporate welfare.

by Gary	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
C-ya.. /story

by Richard	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
If there's any chance more money can be funneled into already wealthy pockets the Chamber of Commerce is all for it. "Greed above all else" is their motto.

by ED	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
Let 'em leave after they pay off the Trop! Got along without 'em before, can get along without 'em now! We can't afford Progress Energy & the Rays too! You can only dig so deep.

by oscar	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
So let them go. The world will keep spinning

by Jim	May 21, 2008 10:44 AM
I knew the threat was coming and Steve Raymund is the messenger. How about putting together a winning team to remain viable. The current Rays stadium proposal is a bad deal for the city. My vote remians no stadium and my sign stays in my yard.

by Glen	May 21, 2008 10:43 AM
Now we're hearing we have only two choices 1) let the Ray's leave town, or 2) blow $300M-$500M of public money on a new stadium (about $1,200 to $2,000 per St. Pete resident). Thanks for making it so easy for me. Bye Bye!

by Robert	May 21, 2008 10:43 AM
As Sarasota recently learned vis-a-vis the Reds, Raymund is absolutely correct. And although that city may end up with Boston, it's going to cost a heck of a lot more.

by Jean	May 21, 2008 10:43 AM
All I can say to the Rays is "we'll miss you."

by Mark	May 21, 2008 10:43 AM
This is a win-win situation. If the Rays leave, the city would have its debt paid and would no longer have its biggest welfare recipient on the rolls. The Rays would find another sucker to pay them millions. Go Rays!

by Barry	May 21, 2008 10:43 AM
This issue isabout two matters,first do wensupport a new stadium....yes!!!!!secondly dowe support the new stadium atthe proposed site....no!!!!other locations should be considered as is iut is very risky,,,I am a fan and will vote no!!!!

by JC	May 21, 2008 10:40 AM
Oh well if they leave they leave, they do not need another ball park, There is nothing wrong with the Trop. They can even fill the Trop much less filling a new stadium. Besides they will be messing up the waterfront in order to build, No stadium.