St. Pete Retaining Bankruptcy Attorney

Remember those "tricks" Mayor Bill Foster said he and St. Petersburg were prepared for?

One of them is the possibility of the Rays declaring bankruptcy to get out of their iron-clad use agreement. The city is in the process of hiring a law firm to monitor the possibility and advise if necessary.

"We have no reason to believe we'll ever need their services," Foster said today of the firm, "but best practices says we should be prepared."

Foster added that he had no indication the Rays had ever - or would ever - consider bankruptcy. But other professional teams have used the strategy to get out of leases in other cities and overtures made by Bud Selig and other high-ranking officials leave the city on alert.