ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It’s been six months since the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch announced the team is “Here To Stay” with a brand new stadium.
A deal for that stadium is not yet done, but Rays’ principal owner, Stuart Sternberg, remains confident it will be approved.
“I feel as positive as I have in any point in time,” Sternberg said. “I know there are still a lot of hurdles to go forward, an enormous amount of work just to get to those hurdles.”
The $1.3 billion new, state-of-the-art domed stadium would be built as part of an 86-acre development of the Historic Gas Plant District and the current Tropicana Field site.
The Rays have committed $700 million to the project, but the remainder still needs to be approved by the St. Petersburg City Council and the Pinellas County Commission.
“We are working feverishly as if we are going to be building this stadium and this project," Sternberg said. "We are thinking about this in a five to 10-year slug right now.”
As for the public investment in the stadium, Pinellas County would contribute $312,500,000 using tourist development tax dollars and other funds.
The City of St. Petersburg would contribute $287,500,000 using revenue bonds.
“Teams of dozens of people working on this,” Sternberg said. “We’re proceeding as if it’s going to happen. We are preparing for success. It doesn’t mean it will. There are obviously some hurdles to get over. When that happens, we are going to be prepared for success.”
Sternberg added that he has been “touring stadiums and arenas all over the country.”
