Rays Baseball: Could This Be The End of The Rays?

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The Tampa Bay Rays thought that their stadium deal was all but done but that is still up in the air. The organization pushed Pinellas County and the city of St. Petersburg to get their end of the deal done. They were the first to get their end done and now it is time for the organization to get it done. There is a deadline of March 31st for the deal to get done. What is starting to upset fans is that ownership is the one delaying the deal from being done. This all started with Hurricane Milton destroying Tropicana Field. Currently, owner Stu Sternberg and executives Brain Auld and Matt Silverman continue to point the finger at the city. City commissioner Chris Latvala was against the deal to start but changed his mind and approved the bonds for the deal to move forward.

Latvala did not want Sternberg to still be making money from the land deal that Tropicana Field was a part of. He was trying to protect the county and the city of St. Petersburg to see if there was a way that if the team moved, Sternberg could still make money. They blame the city for delaying the vote for the bonds by a month but that is because two hurricanes hit the area. They are upset because it will cost more and they must fix Tropicana Field. The city approved the funding for that as well. The franchise is hoping the stadium will be reopened for the 2026 season. If the stadium deal goes through the new stadium will not open until 2029.

Many believe that Sternberg does not want to team to play in the city of St. Petersburg. He was hoping that the city would not approve the new stadium. Well too bad they did, and they have a plan in place no matter what happens. Tampa Bay Rays fans would like Sternberg to sell the team before the area loses the team. Many believe that the organization does not have the finances on its end to make the deal go through. Like they are trying to come up with every reason to delay it. If the organization takes the risk of allowing the deal to not happen, the state could lose the franchise.

This is an interesting situation because Sternberg wanted the city to deny the deal so he could blame them. If the deal does not go through it will be on him not on the city or county. At the end of the day, it looks like Sternberg does not care about the fans. Many on local radio stations are not going to be fans because of how the whole situation is shaping out. The Tampa Bay Rays will be playing at Steinbrenner Field home of the Tampa Bay Tarpons. The Tarpons are the low-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. Most games should sell out for the Rays this year as they averaged just over 17,000 per game at Tropicana Field. As of right now, the Rays could be done in the state of Florida.

Is this the end of the Tampa Bay Rays as a franchise in the state of Florida? Leave a comment below.

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