Rays panel may brief Hillsborough

First, the coalition studying the Tampa Bay Rays stadium options suggested the best stadium location could be in Hillsborough County, to the chagrin of St. Petersburg leaders.

Now the same coalition may present its long-awaited report on stadium options to Hillsborough County leaders as well as Pinellas County ones. In an otherwise subdued meeting Friday, who gets to hear the ABC Coalition's report was one of the few issues sparking lively debate.

The group was formed more than a year ago at the urging of St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker to determine whether the Rays need a new stadium, and if so, where it should be. Friday's meeting in Clearwater was to hammer out some final details of its stadium report.

Coalition members largely have been in agreement on the stadium options, and on Friday the group unanimously approved a set of general recommendations. The coalition is only an advisory panel and has no authority to make final decisions about the Rays stadium.

Among its recommendations: the three best locations for a new stadium are the Mid-Pinellas area just over the Howard Frankland Bridge, downtown Tampa and Tampa's West Shore area because of those areas' strong demographics. It didn't rule out two other potential locations, the Florida State Fairgrounds area in Hillsborough County and downtown St. Petersburg, the home of Tropicana Field.

However, the group said the two latter locations suffer from weaker demographics, including less business activity and lower incomes. To be successful there, any stadium would have to be "iconic" enough to overcome the location's weakness, the report said.

The ABC Coalition also found that bringing Tropicana Field up to current Major League Baseball standards would cost $200 million to $475 million. That is nearly the cost of building a new stadium.

Spending so much would only be justified if the Rays were locked into a much longer contract, the report says. Currently, the team's stadium use agreement ends in 2027.

This week, a St. Petersburg development official, Rick Mussett, wrote a letter to the ABC Coalition urging the group to respect the city's stadium agreement with the Rays. The city's Economic Development Department also issued a memo picking apart some of the coalition's methodologies in making its recommendations.

Among other things, the coalition compared business activity in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties using data heavily weighted toward retail activity, which benefits Hillsborough and unfairly hurts Pinellas, St. Petersburg officials said.

Jeff Lyash, the chairman of the ABC Coalition and a Progress Energy executive, said the group would take note of St. Petersburg's concerns but wouldn't change its report.

The liveliest debate centered on who would get a hearing on the coalition's final report.

Bob Stewart, a former Pinellas County commissioner who sits on the ABC Coalition, said the group should present its findings only to the three entities that helped fund Tropicana Field: the St. Petersburg City Council, the Pinellas County Commission and the Pinellas County Tourist Development Council.

Stewart noted that the coalition was created at the urging of St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker. Showing up at other government meetings to present the report, including those in Hillsborough County, would exceed the coalition's mandate, Stewart said.

"Who are we answerable to?" Stewart asked.

Other coalition members, though, said the Rays appeal to the entire Tampa Bay region so the group should make presentations to governments and public groups outside of Pinellas County too.

Ultimately, Lyash said, the coalition would appear first before the three Pinellas County government bodies with a financial stake in Tropicana Field, then present to other governments after that.