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Brief of diving:
- With the open day two weeks away, the major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay rays are removing From a $ 1.3 billion stadium agreement with the city of Saint Petersburg, Florida, according to a statement published in X, before Twitter, by the main owner Stuart Sternberg.
- The team had it previously stated concerns about the agreementAfter the votes to ensure the financing of the Commissioners of the County of Pinellas were delayed as a result of the economic uncertainty arising from the uncertainty damage to the current stageTropicana Field, sustained in Hurricane Milton when it dropped on October 9, 2024.
- On Thursday, Sternberg called Ken Welch, Saint Petersburg Mayor, and said the rays would not meet the term of March 31 To move forward in the new Stadium Agreement, Tampa Bay Times reported.
Divide vision:
The future ray house that once planned would be a dance megaproject that anchoring an even more massive redevelopment of $ 6.5 billion from the historical property of the gas plant.
“Although Tampa Bay Rays’s property decision to terminate agreements for a new stage and a new development is a major disappointment, it is not unexpected. It is not the end of the historical history of the Gas Plants District,” Welch said in a comment shared with the construction divine.
The mayor’s statement said that the city will continue to pursue the property of the Gas Plants District to fulfill “promises of economic development and 40 -year opportunity in the African American community of St. Petersburg”.
The Skanska USA building had been signed as owner’s representative for the Design and construction of the new stadium. Skanska refused to comment on this topic.
In July 2024, Pinellas County Commissioners approved public funding for the New Stadium, which would have replaced Field Tropicana, where the rays could still be played until 2028.But in October, county curators voted to delay the approval of bonds, claiming uncertainty after Milton left the Trop’s roof.
In a letter sent to the Council in November, the presidents of the RAYS team, Brian Auld and Matt Silverman, said that the delay had put the construction in danger, making their time line of 2028 impossible. The delays turned out to be too much for the team.
“After careful deliberation, we have concluded that we cannot advance the new development and development project at this time,” Sternberg said in his statement. “A series of events that began in October that no one could have predicted led to this difficult decision.”
St. Petersburg’s city continues to work to restore the TRO, so it can be used for the 2026 season, Sternberg said, and the team will play its home games in the George M. Steinbrenner field, the 11,000 -seater spring house in New York in Tampa, Florida.
The rays would play three more seasons to the TRO after their repair, according to their current contract with St. Petersburg, reported AP. After that, the future house of the rays, both the physical stage and the city they would represent, is now unclear.
“With regard to the future of basketball in our city, if in the coming months, a new owner, who demonstrates a commitment to honor his agreements and our community priorities, we will consider us an association to maintain basketball in St. Pete,” says Welch’s statement. “But we will not launch the progress of our city, as we wait for a collaborative and community -centered baseball partner.”
