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Rays Target New Stadium For 2012

Tribune file photo

In recent months, the team has intensified planning for an open-air ballpark projected to cost about $450 million to be built along the St. Petersburg waterfront on the site of the team's current spring training stadium, Al Lang Field.

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By MARC LANCASTER and CARLOS MONCADA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 9, 2007

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Map: Al Lang Field

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ST. PETERSBURG - If the Tampa Bay Rays have their way, outdoor baseball will come to downtown St. Petersburg by 2012.

Despite pouring millions of dollars into improvements at Tropicana Field the last two years, the Rays have long pined for a more welcoming and traditional setting than the multipurpose dome that was part of the Bay area's admission ticket to Major League Baseball.

In recent months, the team has intensified planning for an open-air ballpark projected to cost about $450 million to be built along the St. Petersburg waterfront on the site of the team's current spring training stadium, Al Lang Field. The Rays acknowledged the project at a Friday night news conference after details of the plan appeared in Internet reports.

''We are excited about these potential developments and the all of benefits that they would bring to our community,'' said team president Matt Silverman, reading from a statement. ''Anything we do would certainly involve significant public input in all aspects of process.''

Rays officials declined to comment further on the matter. They are expected to make a full public announcement of their plans, including unveiling artists' renderings of the stadium that already have been reviewed by city and state officials, within the next few weeks.

For the moment, it is nothing more than a concept – financing plans remain murky and local voters and the state government must approve certain aspects of the plan for everything to fall into place. According to a person familiar with the situation, the Rays hope to provide the bulk of the money necessary for stadium construction.

News of the new stadium caught several St. Petersburg council members by surprise, including chairman James Bennett.

"We need to be briefed,'' Bennett said after a special council session where council members received team jerseys with the new Rays logo. "This is a shock to me.''

Mayor Rick Baker was unavailable at city hall and later could not be reached for comment.

City Development Administrator Rick Mussett, a member of Baker's cabinet, said he ''can't comment one way or another'' when asked if the Rays made a request to the city for a new stadium.

Unlike in 1986, when city leaders cast their controversial vote to use tax money to build the $138 million domed stadium despite the absence of a baseball team, a new stadium on city-owned waterfront property would require a referendum and likely would not involve tax dollars, council member Bill Foster said.

''The days of publicly funded stadiums are behind us,'' Foster said. ''There is a tax revolt. So it would have to involve no new tax money.''

Tropicana Field Through The Years

1986: Groundbreaking for $138 million domed stadium west of downtown St. Petersburg, designed to lure a major-league baseball franchise.

March 3, 1990: The Florida Suncoast Dome opens.

April 23, 1996: Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers play before the largest indoor crowd in NHL history (28,183) in Game 4 of a first-round playoff series.

Oct. 4, 1996: ThunderDome is renamed Tropicana Field with $13 million naming rights agreement between Tropicana Dole Beverages North America and St. Petersburg.

Oct. 7, 1996: Groundbreaking for $85 million renovation to prepare Tropicana Field for Major League Baseball.

March 31, 1998: Devil Rays lose to Tigers in Tropicana Field's first major-league game.

April 7, 2000: Tropicana Field's first game is played on FieldTurf, an artificial surface that mimics natural grass.

Winter 2006: Rays spend $10 million on renovations at Tropicana Field.

2007: About $108 million remains on Tropicana Field's public debt.

2012: "Five-year" shelf life for Tropicana Field ends, according to Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg.

2015: About $44 million remains on Tropicana Field's public debt.

2025: Public debt is scheduled to be paid.

2027: Original 30-year lease between Rays and St. Petersburg ends.

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