Just one more vote.
If Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays’ ownership group was playing football, it would be first and goal to goal for the Rays’ offense in the stadium game. Rays’ ownership is on the verge of getting all of the public money it needs. Rays’ ownership needs to get the ball into the endzone and it will win the stadium game. All Rays’ ownership has to do is get one yard and that may be coming soon from Pinellas County, Florida politicians. Pinellas County Commissioners need to approve a $312.5 million expenditure with that money coming from a Tourist Development Tax fund to help pay for the ballpark. If the commissioners say yes, the long trek to get a new ballpark built in St. Petersburg, Florida will be over. The Rays’ ownership will have won the most important game in franchise history.
On July 18th, the St. Petersburg City Council in a 5-3 vote approved plans for a new ballpark and development. The city’s present ballpark is located in the same area. The St. Petersburg council approved a measure to spend nearly $430 million over the length of the deal and sell 65 acres of public land to the Rays ownership group. It will cost $6.5 billion, which includes the $1.3 billion ballpark, to build a stadium-village and the project needs Pinellas County money. Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth in the late 1980s told St. Petersburg not to build a stadium. Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf in the late 1980s pitted St. Petersburg versus Chicago in the stadium game as he wanted a new ballpark. San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners ownership threatened to move to St. Petersburg in the stadium game. MLB gave St. Petersburg a franchise in 1995 in a two team expansion with Phoenix getting the other team. A new St. Petersburg stadium is just a vote away.
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Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com