Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg says the team’s search for a new ballpark could be completed before the end of the year, with the team ready to take quick action once a site is selected.
The team is reviewing sites in Pinellas (St. Petersburg and environs) and Hillsborough (Tampa and environs) countries, with Hillsborough County still finalizing site recommendations, according to Sternberg. Another complicating factor: St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman is up for reelection this fall. Kriseman is running against Rick Baker. (Then again, perhaps Kriseman knows the Rays won’t be participating in any new St. Pete ballpark site, at least not at the Tropicana Field location: he floated the possibility that the Trop site could end up hosting a new MLS-quality stadium.) From the Tampa Bay Times:
“We have sites in mind, and it’s a question of what will get done around the site and how are they going to get paid for,” he said. “And once municipalities are able to line those things up, not completely buttoned up but at least to a good extent, then we’ll be able to make a decision.”
Sternberg said they were hoping to have a decision by the end of the season, but the end of the year may be more likely.
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