It has been a busy week for the Tampa Bay Rays, Pinellas County, and St. Petersburg as far as discussing what the team’s future holds for them. Will they be in the Tampa Bay-St. Pete area in the next several years? Will they have their new $1.3 billion ballpark that had been agreed upon previously?
A lot was still left up in the air on Thursday during the most recent meeting. One thing that was decided was the delay to move the bonds vote. In other words, the vote on the county paying to help get the Rays’ ballpark project up and running.
On Tuesday, the commissioners of the county decided to delay their vote until Dec. 17. Then on Thursday, the city officials of St. Pete elaborated further and voted 5-2 to move their vote to no later than Jan. 9, 2025.
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Simply put, this puts the new ballpark project more up in the air and in jeopardy and it may greatly affect the Rays’ future in the area. More news on whether or not Pinellas County approves to help pay for it will have to wait about a month.
The other major topic about the Tampa Bay Rays that came up was whether or not to repair the roof of Tropicana Field that was damaged by Hurricane Milton back in October.
An estimate came out after the hurricane went through St. Petersburg saying that a repair of the roof would cost around $25 million. Initially, the commissioners voted 4-3 to spend about $23 million to repair the roof of the domed ballpark. The plan would be to have it ready for the 2026 Major League Baseball season.
However, a little bit after that decision was made, the council went back to reconsidering putting money into roof repairs.
Then, Tampa Bay Times writer Marc Topkin reported that the council will readdress the issue of roof repairs in January. All the while, their plan is to have it ready for the 2026 season.
https://x.com/TBTimes_Rays/status/1859745331766010196
Summing it up, both Pinellas County and the City of St. Pete have pushed votes on bonds for the new project and repairs to Tropicnaa Field back further.
The Rays will hear more news about the bonds from Pinellas County commissioners on Dec. 17 and the city council of St. Petersburg as soon as Jan. 9.
