Simply hours after voting to finance repairs to the house stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays, the St. Petersburg Metropolis Council reversed course.
The Rays will now pay the division rival New York Yankees $15 million to play their house regular-season video games at New York’s spring coaching ballpark. That’s now the one sure house the Rays may have till additional discover.
The stadium’s fiberglass roof was ripped clear off Oct. 9 when Hurricane Milton swept ashore simply south of Tampa Bay. Then got here the damaging water injury contained in the venue, inflicting an estimated $55.7 million in injury. The in depth repairs can’t be completed earlier than the 2026 season, metropolis paperwork present.
The town at the least would have provided some funding and began the method with its preliminary vote, which was a 4-3 resolution.
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A drone picture exhibits the dome of Tropicana Area, which was torn open by Hurricane Milton in St. Petersburg, Fla., Oct. 10, 2024. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP through Getty Photographs)
The preliminary vote Thursday was to get shifting on the roof portion of the restore. As soon as that was achieved, crews would start engaged on laying down a brand new baseball area and fixing broken seating and workplace areas and quite a lot of digital techniques, which might require one other vote to approve cash for the remaining restoration.
Members who opposed it stated there wasn’t sufficient readability on quite a few points, together with how a lot could be lined by the ballpark’s insurance coverage and what quantity could be supplied by the Federal Emergency Administration Company.
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The reversal on fixing Tropicana Area got here after the council voted to delay consideration of income bonds for a proposed new $1.3 billion Rays ballpark. Simply two days earlier, the Pinellas County Fee postponed a vote on its share of the brand new stadium bonds, leaving that mission in limbo.
“This can be a unhappy place. I’m actually disenchanted,” council Chair Deborah Figg-Sanders stated. “We received’t get there if we preserve discovering methods we are able to’t.”
The Rays say the shortage of progress places the brand new stadium plan and the way forward for Tropicana Area in jeopardy.
“I can’t say I’m assured about something,” Rays Co-President Brian Auld informed council members.
Cots at Tropicana Area earlier than the arrival of Hurricane Milton in St. Petersburg, Fla., Oct. 7, 2024. (Reuters/Octavio Jones)
The reversal now means town and Rays should work on another within the coming weeks in order that Tropicana Area can presumably be prepared for the 2026 season.
“I’d prefer to pare it down and see precisely what we’re obligated to do,” council member John Muhammad stated.
A number of council members stated earlier than the vote on the $23.7 million to repair the roof that town is contractually obligated to take action.
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“I don’t see a method out of it. We’ve got a contract that’s in place,” council member Gina Driscoll stated. “We’re obligated to do it. We’re going to repair the roof.”
The staff’s deliberate new stadium could be prepared for the 2028 season, if that mission advances, the staff stated Tuesday.
Rays high executives stated in a letter to the Pinellas County Fee that the staff has already spent $50 million for early work on the brand new $1.3 billion ballpark and can’t proceed additional due to delays in approval of bonds for the general public share of the prices.
The broken roof of Tropicana Area, house of Main League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, after Hurricane Milton made landfall in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., Oct. 10, 2024. (Reuters/Octavio Jones)
“The Rays group is saddened and shocked by this unlucky flip of occasions,” a letter, signed by co-presidents Auld and Matt Silverman, stated. They famous the general mission was beforehand accepted by the County Fee and the Metropolis of St. Petersburg.
Requested if Main League Baseball can survive long run within the Tampa Bay space, Rays Principal Proprietor Stuart Sternberg stated the outlook is “much less rosy than it was three weeks in the past. We’ll do all that we are able to, as we have tried for 20 years, to maintain the Rays right here for generations to return.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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