DEVELOPING: Rays, St. Pete Agree to Deal to Explore Tampa

I wasn't even done dissecting Sunday's "possible Tampa sites" story from the Times and boom - at 4:41pm on Monday afternoon - Stephen Nohlgren breaks this:

Rays and Kriseman reach agreement to allow Hillsborough stadium search
ST. PETERSBURG — Mayor Rick Kriseman and the Tampa Bay Rays have reached an agreement to let the team search for new stadium sites in Hillsborough County in exchange for payments to the city if the team leaves before its contract at Tropicana Field expires in 2027.

Kriseman wants to the City Council to discuss the agreement at its meeting on Thursday.

Payments would be based on how many years would remain on the Trop lease if the Rays left, starting at $4 million a season until December 2018, dropping to $3 million a season from 2019 to 2022 and $2 million from 2023 through 2026.

Kriseman's office tells me the agreement is "unprecedented" and won't discuss any more until a press conference tomorrow morning at Tropicana Field.  Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn won't talk either until at least tomorrow.

READ: Memorandum of Understanding

Mayor Kriseman made the agreement a campaign promise nearly two years ago, so consider that one fulfilled.  But he breaks another promise in the process: making the team "pay an exploratory fee in order to look at other locations."

We also may not know for years if the language negotiated into the previously-ironclad contract properly protects the city/regional interests...or if it makes it easier for the Rays to one day leave town.

The team had previously been stuck in the contract because leaving early would require them to pay "incalculable damages" to the city.  But has Pandora's Box been opened now that the city has put a number on those potential damages, as former mayor Bill Foster has repeatedly warned?

The agreement still stipulates that if the Rays leave the region altogether, "the Club recognizes the relocation of the Franchise to a stadium outside of Pinellas or Hillsborough prior to the end of the Term will result in irreparable harm to the City and damages that are not readily calculable."

The payments also seem very low for breaking the contract - less than $3 million a year with little consideration of Trop demolition or site prep (which may cost the city $4-5 million).  Remember, the Rays claimed in 2008 they brought more than $122 million per year to the region.

There also doesn't appear to be compensation to the State of Florida, which will continue paying $2 million per year on the Trop into next decade.

Tweets by @StadiumShadow I've got plenty of questions lined up for tomorrow's press conference - you know the first place you'll be able to read about the answers!

That doesn't even count the obvious questions:

• Will the team finally indicate how much they'd contribute toward a new stadium?
• Will the Rays open their books if they want public subsidies?
• Will it make a big enough difference in attendance?
• How the heck will Tampa come up with enough tax dollars to pay for it?

Which is why I'm saying Tampa shouldn't raise that victory banner yet... it may have tons of potential sites for a stadium, but there's still that pesky issue of paying for a half-billion dollar building.