Pinellas chair to Rays: ‘Declare your intention’ on stadium deal by Dec. 1

Pinellas County Commission Chairperson Kathleen Peters sent a two-page letter to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday asking the team to put in writing whether it intends to move forward on a $1.3 billion stadium voted on in July or provide a notice of termination by Sunday.“I am requesting that you officially declare your intention regarding this Agreement and whether you intend to see it come to fruition,” Peters wrote.Peters sent the letter to team presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman on Monday morning. They had written a letter last week that arrived two hours before the County Commission met to consider final approval of bonds to finance the county’s share of the stadium. Auld and Silverman wrote that the Rays cannot move forward with a stadium deal under the current terms and the team stands “ready to work on a new solution” in Tampa Bay.“We are eager to work with all partners on a solution for the 2029 season that keeps Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay for generations to come,” Auld said Monday in a text.Peters told the Tampa Bay Times she worked on the letter over the past few days with Assistant County Attorney Don Crowell. Due to Florida’s public meeting laws, Peters cannot communicate with other commissioners regarding items that would go before the board. She said she and County Administrator Barry Burton “talked extensively” about what was in the letter.“They’re doing a lot of verbal statements and no one really knows what the true intent of those statements are,” Peters said, referring to the Rays. “If (team officials) put in writing they want out of the contract, the deal’s dead. It’s not dead on our side or on the city’s side.”Following the letter’s release, four other commissioners — forming a decisive majority — said they agreed with Peters’ ultimatum.“The pressure is really on them,” said Commission Vice Chairperson Brian Scott, referring to team officials. Scott and Peters support the deal.In a text message to the Times, Pinellas Commissioner Chris Latvala said he agreed with the letter “100%.” Commissioners Chris Scherer and Vince Nowicki are new to the board and are skeptics of the deal. Scherer complimented the letter and Nowicki said he agreed with Peters that the Rays have done a poor job of communicating.The commission voted 6-1 last week to delay issuing bonds to provide the county share —$312.5 million — paid for with hotel and short-term rental taxes. The commission is scheduled to vote on the bonds Dec. 17. Peters said the county could be in a position to offer bonds for sale before the Rays deadline.Auld spoke Thursday at a St. Petersburg City Council meeting, where that board was scheduled to vote on bonds to finance its share of stadium costs, as well as funding for roads and sewers in the surrounding Historic Gas Plant District. Auld would not say definitively if the Rays were backing out but said he didn’t believe the team could make the economics work.The City Council voted 5-2 to delay a vote on bonds until no later than Jan. 9. At that meeting, City Administrator Rob Gerdes also asked for a written notice of termination from the Rays.In a texted statement, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said Monday he supported Peters’ letter. He said that while his recent conversations with each county commissioner have been productive and promising, Auld “clearly stated” that, from the Rays’ perspective, there is “no deal” and they do not intend to move forward. He explained his support of her letter by pointing out that the city and county have spent a lot of time investing in the Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment.“Our community deserves certainty, so that we can chart our path forward,” Welch said.In Monday’s letter, Peters referenced a conversation Scott mentioned he had with Auld the night before the Oct. 29 meeting. Scott said he wanted Auld to make a public statement that the Rays would try to play locally as they looked for a new venue for the 2025 season while Tropicana Field is closed. Scott said Auld told him he was doing everything he could “to hold this deal together” because the Rays’ revenue was down and construction costs may rise, jeopardizing the project.“Therefore, the notion that it was the County that ‘killed the deal’ is categorically false based on the Rays President’s own statements prior to the county’s action,” Peters wrote.She called out Auld and Silverman for making “demonstrably false” statements that contradict the agreement voted on in July. The county is not required to approve bonds by a certain date. She lambasted Auld and Silverman for saying it was “clear” that a “2029 ballpark delivery would result in significantly higher costs that we are not able to absorb alone.”Peters said that, per the agreement, the Rays are responsible for all cost overruns and the agreement cannot be terminated by the city and county unless the stadium project is not completed by Feb. 1, 2030. She noted Auld and Silverman were silent at the county’s meeting.“Nevertheless, two days later, President Auld spoke at the St. Petersburg City Council meeting making it clear that the current agreement is ‘dead’ due to the Rays’s assumed omniscience about votes that have not been taken,” she wrote, adding that the upcoming bond vote on Dec. 17 “appears to be futile.”Auld has said the Rays can’t afford to open a new ballpark in 2029 instead of the previously planned year, as the team was counting on a windfall from the new stadium’s debut. Plus, he said, the delay could cost the team $100 million or more in increased construction costs. Peters said she spoke with another MLB team that said the Rays’ projections were probably low because costs to play out of a home stadium are significant.“It’s [the Rays’] problem,” Peters told the Times. “If they didn’t insure loss of business, just like any renter does, they should’ve had insurance and they should have loss of business insurance. How they finance and meet their financial obligations, that’s their business. I’m not privy to that.”Asked what would happen if the Rays do not give an answer by Sunday, Peters said she’ll discuss what’s next with Crowell and Burton.

Pinellas chair to Rays: ‘Declare your intention’ on stadium deal by Dec. 1

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