St. Pete officially terminates stadium deal with Tampa Bay Rays

Image via city of St. Pete

The St. Pete City Council has voted to officially terminate its agreement with the Tampa Bay Rays and development partner Hines after a stadium deal fell through this year amid project delays associated with hurricane damage sustained late last year.

The vote was largely procedural — the Rays announced in March they were backing out of the agreement — and was unanimous.

In addition to terminating the stadium agreement, the City Council also approved two license agreements for the Rays to have exclusive use of four parcels of city-owned land surrounding Tropicana Field, largely for parking, but also for storage, an exterior marquee and special events.

As part of the use agreements, the Rays will pay an annual license fee of $400,000. The Rays will be responsible for all maintenance, utilities, fees and taxes associated with use of the parcels. That fee, which serves as rent to use the Tropicana Field site and stadium, is included in the use agreement for three of the parcels.

The fourth parcel comes with a just $12 licensing fee, and where the agreement for the other parcels is tied to the current Tropicana Field use agreement with the Rays that runs through the 2028 baseball season, the fourth parcel agreement can be terminated as early as after the 2026 season.

The agreements were necessary because those four parcels were carved out for construction as part of the new stadium development deal. The new agreement allows the Rays to continue using the site as they had before the stadium deal was reached, and then subsequently fell through.

The Council included the new agreement vote with the termination agreement, meaning both were unanimous.

The termination agreement was necessitated after the Rays, citing cost overruns related to project delays, said they would not be moving forward with the $1.3 billion stadium and related development project.

“This time last year we celebrated the culmination of years of research, collaboration, debate, and negotiation with the signing of agreements between the City of St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, Hines Development, and the Tampa Bay Rays on the development of the Historic Gas Plant District. It was an achievement that had been pursued for nearly two decades,” Mayor Ken Welch said in a statement following the vote. “We know, however, that after the celebration, the circumstances changed, and the Rays eventually informed the City that they would not move forward with their commitment on this project.”

“While the Rays’ decision is terribly disappointing, our mission was to adapt and refocus on our primary objective – the progress of our city. And part of that mission is accomplished by today’s City Council vote. At this moment, the most important step for our City is coming to closure on this agreement so that we can begin to move forward on developing portions of the Historic Gas Plant District,” Welch added. “Our initial focus will be on housing, our commitment to the Woodson Museum, and the advancement of a workforce development ecosystem. We are also working with the County on a feasibility study for a right-sized convention center on a portion of the Historic Gas Plant property.”

Rays’ leadership blamed “a series of events beginning in October” for its “difficult decision” to withdraw from the stadium deal. That’s in reference to Hurricane Milton, which blew the roof off the Rays’ current home at Tropicana Field and led to approval delays for bonds necessary to move forward with the deal.

Roof replacement is already underway at Tropicana Field, with a crew now installing netting that will be used as a work platform to replace the iconic domed roof. The roof is expected to be complete in December, with turf installation and major interior work to begin after the roof project concludes.

The entire Tropicana Field repair project is expected to be complete by April 2026.

The timeline comes after the St. Pete City Council approved $22.5 million to replace the roof and conduct other needed repairs to the building. But even with repairs underway and a tentative timeline in place, the future of the Rays in St. Pete is uncertain.

The Rays are currently playing the 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa and are expected to return to Tropicana Field next season after repairs are complete. But even with a one-year extension to the team’s contract to play ball at Tropicana Field — added in response to them playing this season elsewhere — the team is only contractually obligated to play at the field through the 2028 season.

The latest news on the team’s plans suggests they may not stay in St. Pete after that.

Rays owner Stu Sternberg is reportedly closing in on a sale of the team to a group led by Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski. Zalupski is expected to keep the team in the Tampa Bay area, but he has a strong preference to move the team to Tampa.

Sternberg has been under pressure to sell the team after the St. Pete stadium deal fell through.

Despite questions about the Rays’ future, the city of St. Pete is contractually obligated to make repairs to Tropicana Field to ensure the team is able to play there for the duration of its contract.