Pinellas County delays bond vote as Tampa Bay Rays seek new stadium deal

Tensions between Pinellas County Commission, Florida, and Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays appeared to have increased Tuesday as the team seeks a new financing deal and the commission declined to vote on $312 million of bonds for a planned stadium.

“The county’s failure to finalize the bonds last month ended the ability for a 2028 delivery of the ballpark,” the team told the commission in a letter sent Tuesday. “As we have made clear at every step of this process, a 2029 ballpark delivery would result in significantly higher costs that we are not able to absorb alone.”

The county commission is considering the financing for the stadium to replace Tropicana Field stadium along with a separate but related development plan for the Historic Gas Plant District.

They voted 6-1 Tuesday to delay the vote on the bonds until a Dec. 17 meeting.

“This is one of those situations where timing is everything,” said Joseph Krist, publisher of Muni Credit Today. “Two months ago this was a team announcing a new stadium and huge redevelopment project, and now the election happened after the hurricane. It’s clear that support in the post-hurricane environment is going to be low.”

“MLB will have a lot to say,” he added. “The Tampa-St. Pete TV market is the 13th largest. Baseball won’t want to walk away from that.”

Several commissioners criticized the Rays’ tactics with regard to the stadium and for failing to be good corporate citizens after damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Some commissioners said the county should support the bonds, others said they opposed the proposed bond and the related deals.

The stadium and historic district development deals were somewhat but not completely independent, and in some circumstances the failure of one deal would affect the other, said Chief Assistant County Attorney Don Crowell.

County Commissioner Chris Sherer expressed disappointment that the Rays were pushing for a vote on the bond at Tuesday’s meeting, which he called insensitive because the county is still recovering from the recent hurricanes.

In the deal, the Rays agreed to bear all cost overruns, noted County Administrator Barry Burton.

County Commissioner Kathleen Peters said she favored the stadium because the return on the county’s investment in economic activity would generate enough tax revenue to keep taxes at current levels for many years.

But a survey showed only 3% of the city’s tourists visited a Rays game, County Commissioner Vince Nowicki said, so he doesn’t see the value of spending the hotel tax money on a stadium bond.

The Rays did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hurricane Milton damaged Tropicana Field stadium’s roof and on Tuesday the Rays announced they would play the 2025 season at George Steinbrenner Field, a minor league complex with seating for 11,026. Last year attendance at the Trop averaged 16,515.

The roof repair is expected to cost about $56 million, with the facility unavailable until 2026.

St. Petersburg put in an insurance claim and expects Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, but there’s a $22 million deductible and some costs won’t be covered and will fall on taxpayers.

The Rays have been seeking a new stadium for years.

Stadium costs are mounting for local and state governments across the United States.