Mayor Rick Kriseman speaks to reporters gathered at Tropicana Field on Tuesday morning as Rays president Brian Auld listens on. The city of St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay Rays announced an agreement which allows the Rays to look at potential new stadium sites outside the city. (Maurice Rivenbank/Tampa Bay Times)
Mayor Rick Kriseman speaks to reporters gathered at Tropicana Field on Tuesday morning as Rays president Brian Auld listens on. The city of St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay Rays announced an agreement which allows the Rays to look at potential new stadium sites outside the city. (Maurice Rivenbank/Tampa Bay Times)

In a press conference at Tropicana Field Tuesday afternoon, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman laid out his plan to allow the Tampa Bay Rays explore new stadium sites in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, with the hope of not only keeping them in the region, but in St. Petersburg. Making good on his campaign promise of finding a resolution that would benefit both the team and the citizens of St. Petersburg, Kriseman’s “memorandum of understanding” would give the Rays three years to analyze possible sites in Hillsborough and Pinellas. In kind, Kriseman and his staff are committed to making an aggressive pitch for a new stadium at another St. Petersburg location (such as Carillon/Gateway), on the Tropicana Field acreage, or a complete renovation of the Trop itself.

The agreement — scheduled to be voted upon Thursday, December 11th — would give the Rays the opportunity to look outside the city of  St. Petersburg without having to pay an exploration cost, and pay minimal amounts to the city for each year departed from the current lease at Tropicana Field.

The pay-out structure for each year, should the Rays choose to leave St. Petersburg, follows:

2015 – 2018: $4 million per season, totaling $16 million
2019 – 2022: $3 million per season, totaling $12 million.
2023 – 2026: $2 million per season, totaling $8 million
2027: No payout required for the final year of the lease.

In turn, the city would pay for demolishing The Trop, estimated by city officials at $4.8 million — the costs would be covered by tax gains from redeveloping the Trop’s 85 acres. When viewed in its totality, the Rays will face a maximum payout of $20 million to be released from their contract if they were to play outside of St. Petersburg (including in another location in Pinellas but outside of the city).

While the fee is surprisingly low, years void of granting the Rays the opportunity to look elsewhere led to declining leverage with the organization — ultimately limiting the Mayor’s ability to secure a deal, and outweighing the risk of continued negotiation.

It’s worth noting: per Stephen Nohlgren of the Tampa Bay Times, if the Rays do find a new stadium site, they will have to negotiate a second agreement with Kriseman to terminate the current contract on the Trop. That will require another City Council vote, but this week’s memorandum would prevent the council from altering the compensation terms or injecting any new requirements. That provision was requested by the Rays so they wouldn’t end up spending time and money on a plan, only to have the council change the terms of the deal.

Under the Mayor’s memorandum (seen in its entirety below), the Rays will have until December 31, 2017 to declare a date of termination for the lease contract, or they will be bound to the remaining ten years of the lease from that date.

Rays, City of St. Pete Memorandum of Understanding

As I mentioned Monday night, there are some questions that beg to be answered:

  1. Will the team finally indicate how much they’d contribute toward a new stadium?
  2. Will the Rays open their books if they want public subsidies?
  3. Will it make a big enough difference in attendance?
  4. How the heck will Tampa (or St. Pete for that matter) come up with enough tax dollars to pay for it?

Reactions to Tuesday afternoon’s presser

More than half of the City Council said they aren’t ready to say yes. All five council members said they will spend the next two days studying the documents. Nevertheless, per the Times:

  • Karl Nurse said he opposes the agreement as it is written.
  • Jim Kennedy said he will move to delay the vote to give the council and the public time to understand the proposal.
  • Amy Foster said she’s not sure the compensation Kriseman negotiated is enough.
  • Steve Kornell said he thought Kriseman had secured a good deal for the city, but he isn’t quite ready to cast a yes vote.
  • Council chairman Bill Dudley said he wants to make sure city taxpayers are getting the best deal.
  • Wengay Newton said the Rays should honor their existing contract on the Trop.
  • Darden Rice and Charlie Gerdes expressed support for the mayor’s plan on Monday.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn responded to the new deal in a news conference this afternoon. Though Buckhorn excitedly reiterated his belief that downtown Tampa is an ideal location for the Rays, he was quick to note that the team would have to come to the table with cash, not just interest.

If the tweet above indicates anything, Jeff Vinik wants nothing to do with the Stadium Saga. I’ll cede the point, while that assertion could be called into question considering Vinik’s business partners are the same guys who built Coors field in Denver, and as Danny Russell argued, that may simply be an early negotiating posture. Yet there are a couple of contrary ideas that shouldn’t be overlooked. First, Vinik is a minority owner of the Red Sox, and what effect that could have remains uncertain. Secondly, from a financial point of view, smaller market teams like Tampa Bay generally break even at best. Why would Vinik risk becoming a landlord housing a non-money making venture, when he could develop Channelside into an entertainment and hotel destination?

Noteworthiness

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