Stadium coalition to Rays: Talk to St. Pete

A representative of the civic group pushing for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium exhorted the baseball team to open a dialogue with St. Petersburg, which is demanding the park remain in the city.

"It's the Rays' responsibility to engage in this discussion,'' Craig Sher told Pinellas County's Tourist Development Council this morning.

Sher is a member of the ABC Coalition, which is recommending the stadium not stay in downtown St. Petersburg. Instead, the group is recommending one of three areas - mid-Pinellas County, downtown Tampa and Tampa's West Shore area.

But the Rays have a contract with the city of St. Petersburg to continue playing in Tropicana Field through 2027. The main reason the city of St. Petersburg has refused to listen to the ABC Coalition's presentation on the three recommended sites is that none of the options keeps the park in the city.

St. Petersburg City council member Leslie Curran is a member of the Tourist Development Council. She used Sher's presentation this morning as an opportunity to call Rays representative Mike Kalt, who was sitting among the spectators, to the speaker's podium.

"Do you want to stay in St. Pete?" Curran asked him point blank. Kalt is the Rays senior vice president of development.

"That's not a question we're prepared to answer right now," Kalt said. "We want to stay in the Tampa Bay area and find the best place to play."

He said the team is waiting for the ABC Coalition to make its round of presentations to various groups, and see what those groups' responses are, before taking more of a public stance.

The Pinellas County Tourist Development Council helps decide how tourism taxes are spent, and some of those taxes have been spent on debt service for Tropicana Field. That's why it was important for the ABC Coalition to make a presentation before the board, Sher said after his presentation.

He joked to the council that he wasn't asking anybody at this point to cough up half a billion dollars, a rough figure for a new stadium.

Sher did say after his presentation, however, that at some point some money - maybe $200,000 or so - would be needed to do additional research on the three suggested sites.

While the city of St. Petersburg has declined to listen to Sher's presentation, the Pinellas County Commission did give him a hearing March 16 but refused to follow up with any questions or discussion, out of respect for the contract between St. Petersburg and the baseball team.

The group is scheduled to make a presentation to the Hillsborough County Commission on May 19 following an invitation from commission Chairman Ken Hagan.