Jane Castor to Stu Sternberg: Kriseman? ‘You know me ... I can work with anybody’

TAMPA — It probably wasn’t the question Jane Castor wanted at a Thursday morning news conference to unveil her ambitious 58-point road map for her city’s resilient and sustainable future.

But the mayor of Florida’s third-largest city gave the open for business signal to Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg when asked if she agreed with Mayor Rick Kriseman’s comments that he can no longer work with Sternberg while the Rays owner is embroiled in a law suit with a small group of minority team investors.

Asked if she cared to comment on Kriseman’s stance, Castor declined, saying the issue was between the outgoing mayor of the smaller city across the bay and the owner of that city’s nearly quarter-century old major-league baseball franchise.

But when queried if she could work with Sternberg, Castor didn’t hesitate:

“You know me ... I can work with anybody,” Castor said.

Last month, Castor confirmed to the Tampa Bay Times that she’s restarted conversations with the team, which has an agreement to play at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg through 2027.

This is a developing story. Check back to tampabay.com for the latest developments.