St. Pete City Council delays Rays stadium bond vote, reverses course on Trop roof repairs

Not going away anytime soon.

Two days after Pinellas County Commissioners for the second time delayed a vote on a bond resolution needed for the public financing portion of the deal with the Tampa Bay Rays and developer Hines, the St. Petersburg City Council has done the same.

And even though the board had previously, in the same Thursday meeting, approved about $24 million in roof repairs, they later reneged on the vote. While that means repairs cannot begin, the city can still work on architectural plans, which could satisfy the city’s obligation under the use agreement with the Rays.

Rays President Brian Auld said after the meeting that the deal to build a new stadium and redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District is dead, an eventuality that occurred with the County Commission’s vote earlier this week because it delayed the project and would mean the team could not be in a new stadium in time for the 2028 season. Auld said the cost overruns, which under the agreement the team would be required to absorb, made the deal no longer viable.

Still, the Council voted 5-2 to delay its bond resolution until no later than Jan. 9. Only Council members Brandi Gabbard and Copley Gerdes voted against the delay, indicating two possible vote flips on the dais, Gina Driscoll and Council Chair Deborah Figgs-Sanders.

And the vote delay means it’s possible the vote could happen after two new Council members are sworn in. Mike Harting, who replaces Ed Montanari in the Council, and Corey Givens Jr., who will replace John Muhammad, are both likely to oppose the Rays deal. Harting had support for his campaign from the anti-stadium funding group No Home Run, while Givens reportedly said on the trail, “people over baseball,” according to Tampa Bay Times reporter Colleen Wright.

Other signs were on display Thursday evening that the Rays deal was in peril, including an indication from City Administrator Rob Gerdes that a bond resolution delay would allow the city to negotiate an automatic termination letter with the Rays regarding the stadium deal. Doing so would kill the entire deal.

If a new deal were to be negotiated, Mayor Ken Welch told the Council it would not include “anything that has a higher contribution from the city.”

Also during Thursday’s meeting, Council members voted 4-3 to approve about $24 million to begin repairs on Tropicana Field’s roof that was damaged last month during Hurricane Milton. Richie Floyd and Lisset Hanewicz, both frequent critics of the Rays deal, joined Muhammad in voting “no.”

Council members in favor pointed to the use agreement with the Rays to play at city-owned Tropicana Field, which requires the city, as landlord, to make repairs in a reasonable time frame. But because there will be at least a season where the Rays are unable to use the stadium, the use agreement stipulates that the contract will be extended, moving the Rays obligation to Tropicana Field from 2027 to 2028. 

But after delaying the bond resolution vote, Gabbard asked to revisit the repair funding, leading the Council to rescind its approval. She said the uncertainty of the future with the Rays became too cloudy to warrant action on repairs at this time.

A damage report that the city commissioned pegged total damages to the Trop at nearly $56 million.

The city’s insurance on the Trop includes a $22 million deductible and provides just $25 million in coverage, levels the city dropped from $100 million in order to save $275,000 on premiums.