Current:Home > ContactCharles H. Sloan-St. Petersburg seeks profile boost as new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark negotiations continue -FinanceMind
Charles H. Sloan-St. Petersburg seeks profile boost as new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark negotiations continue
Burley Garcia View
Date:2025-04-10 04:46:08
ST. PETERSBURG,Charles H. Sloan Fla. (AP) — Officials in the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, want to make it clear that their city is the current and future home of the Tampa Bay Rays as negotiations continue on details surrounding a proposed new $1.3 billion ballpark that would be ready for the 2028 season opener.
The Rays adamantly oppose changing the team name to the St. Petersburg Rays, as some on the city council and in the business community have suggested as a way of raising the national profile of the tourism-dependent city and its nearby Gulf Coast beaches.
The council heard Thursday from city officials about other marketing and branding options, including at least one home game a year in which alternate team uniforms would sport the St. Petersburg name, said Doyle Walsh, chief of staff to Mayor Ken Welch. The talks include allowing the city to have input in naming the ballpark, placing prominent St. Petersburg signs inside the park and a marketing plan that would “promote the team, the stadium and the destination jointly,” according to city documents.
The alternate uniforms with the St. Petersburg logo would be sold year-round as another way of branding the city, Walsh said.
“We get a lot of value having the team in St. Pete,” he said.
No final decision was made Thursday by the city council, which must ultimately approve the new 30,000-seat ballpark as part of a broader $6.5 billion plan to redevelop an 86-acre (34-hectare) downtown tract that will also include affordable housing, office and retail space, a hotel, a Black history museum and more. The deal also has to be approved by Pinellas County officials.
The goal is to break ground in the second half of this year. Welch, the city’s first Black mayor, has made the project a top priority for an area called the Gas Plant District. Once a thriving Black community, it was displaced by an interstate highway and Tropicana Field, the Rays’ home since their inaugural 1998 season.
City council member Ed Montanari said he’d like to see the new ballpark deal include a more robust plan to boost St. Petersburg’s profile.
“I’m a little disappointed in what’s been brought to us. I expected something more,” he said. “There’s a lot of value to us to have the name incorporated in some way. I’m looking for a lot more of that.”
Tampa and St. Petersburg are about 25 miles (40 kilometers) apart, separated by Tampa Bay. Two other local professional sports teams, the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL, play their home games on the bay’s Tampa side.
St. Petersburg officials want greater geographic recognition in return for the public money involved in the deal. The financing plan calls for St. Petersburg to spend $417.5 million, including $287.5 million for the ballpark itself and $130 million in infrastructure for the larger redevelopment project that would include such things as sewage, traffic signals and roads. The city intends to issue bonds to pay its share, according to city documents, with no new or increased taxes envisioned.
Pinellas County, meanwhile, would spend about $312.5 million for its share of the ballpark costs. Officials say the county money will come from a hotel bed tax largely funded by visitors that can be spent only on tourist-related and economic development expenses.
The Rays will be responsible for the remaining stadium costs — about $600 million — and any cost overruns during construction.
veryGood! (89889)
Related
- Trump's 'stop
- Transcript: John Bolton on Face the Nation, April 2, 2023
- Facebook Gets Reprieve As Court Throws Out Major Antitrust Complaints
- FKA twigs Reveals Her Romance With Jordan Hemingway to Take “Control of the Situation”
- 'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
- Fake photos of Pope Francis in a puffer jacket go viral, highlighting the power and peril of AI
- Allow Kim Kardashian to Give You a Tour of Her Jaw-Dropping Home Garden
- Oil prices soar after OPEC+ announces production cuts
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Garcelle Beauvais Has Thoughts About Her Son Oliver Saunders Kissing Raquel Leviss on VPR
Ranking
- Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
- El Salvador's President Proposes Using Bitcoin As Legal Tender
- Influencer Rachel Hollis Recalls Conversation With Ex-Husband Dave Hollis One Day Before His Death
- Rita Moreno Reveals the Hilarious Problem of Working With World's Tallest Person Jason Momoa
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Brittany Snow Reflects on Her “Hard” Year Amid Divorce From Selling the OC’s Tyler Stanaland
- India stepwell temple collapse death toll jumps to 35 in tragedy that hit Hindu worshipers
- A college student asked ChatGPT to write a letter to get out of a parking ticket – and it worked
Recommendation
Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
Pentagon Scraps $10 Billion Contract With Microsoft, Bitterly Contested By Amazon
Wake Up With Perfect Hair Every Morning and Extend Your Blowout When You Use Sleepy Tie
Transcript: John Bolton on Face the Nation, April 2, 2023
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
Biden Tells Putin To Crack Down On Ransomware. What Are The Odds He Will?
Oscar Pistorius denied parole a decade after murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in South Africa
Royal Family Website Updates Line of Succession to Include Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet's Titles