Pinellas County Commission again delays bond resolution for Rays stadium deal

Not going away anytime soon.

On Tuesday, the Pinellas County Commission voted to postpone its vote on the bond resolution needed as part of the financing agreement for the Tampa Bay Rays to build a new stadium at the site of the existing Tropicana Field. 

The vote to postpone was 6-1, with Commissioner Rene Flowers the only no-vote. 

The Commission agreed to hold a new discussion at the board’s next meeting on Dec. 17. The board determined that despite the Rays’ pleas, waiting until then would not pose any problems or create additional delays because the appellate period for bond validation will not be over until Jan. 14 anyway. 

In a statement, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch emphasized the importance of partnership moving forward.

“We appreciate the County Commission’s partnership and today’s discussion of their participation in funding a new Rays stadium. We believe the economic fundamentals, and the long-term benefits of the agreements approved in July by all parties, remain valid,” Welch said. We are focused on moving forward with fulfilling our obligations under the existing use agreement. Partnership has always been key to this plan, and the success of the plan going forward largely depends on the commitment of our partners to those agreements. We will continue to work with our partners towards that successful outcome.”

The vote included two new Commissioners. Vince Nowicki, who replaced Charlie Justice after defeating him in the Nov. 5 election, and Chris Scherer, who won the race to replace Janet Long, were sworn into office Monday evening ahead of Tuesday’s marquee vote. 

Both asked many questions regarding the deal between the city of St. Pete, the County and the Rays, and developer Hines. Both were critical of the plan, with Nowicki sometimes combative about the deal. At one point, he argued taxpayers would be better served by selling the land on which Tropicana Field sits to reap an immediate fiscal benefit and use the proceeds to address infrastructure needs within the community. 

Scherer, meanwhile, expressed concern that the bond vote felt rushed. 

Nowicki, however, took issue with being made a “scapegoat” for postponing the vote, arguing that the original vote had already been delayed before he even won his election.

Indeed, the vote came after the Commission had postponed its planned Oct. 29 vote on the bond resolution. 

ABC Action News reported this week that “some leaders” were “souring on the deal after the Rays chose to play in Tampa next season instead of a stadium in Pinellas County,” though the outlet did not cite sources. 

Team leaders had previously said the deal was already in peril.

After Hurricane Milton damaged the Tropicana Field roof in October, the Rays were forced to find an alternative location to play the 2025 season as plans for repairing the field were laid and carried out. 

Before the discussion began, the Rays leadership sent a letter to the Pinellas County Commission cautioning that the current deal to build a new stadium is in jeopardy without the bond agreement. 

“The county’s failure to finalize the bonds last month ended the ability for a 2028 delivery of the ballpark,” Rays Presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman wrote. “As we have made clear at every step of this process, a 2029 ballpark delivery would result in significantly higher costs that we are not able to absorb alone.”

Auld and Silverman added that they have “suspended work on the entire project,” including the new ballpark and affiliated Historic Gas Plant District. 

“We informed our many architects, builders and consultants that our agreement had not been honored by the county,” they wrote. “There were dozens of people who were about to relocate to St. Petersburg and their families.”

The MLB organization leaders said they had already spent “more than $50 million to bring this historic project to reality,” adding that the “enormous investment of human and financial capital has been jeopardized by the county’s failure to live up to its July agreement.”