Proposed by councilman Jim Kennedy, a majority of city council signed off on a compromise that would allow the Rays to explore stadium sites across Pinellas & Hillsborough Counties if they agreed to pay St. Pete $4 million a year for every year they leave before the 2027 expiration of their current deal, plus a one-time $5 million redevelopment fee. If they moved out of the city, but remained in Pinellas County, those numbers would be reduced to $2.5 million and $2.5 million, respectively.
If the Rays threw out a first pitch in Tampa in 2019, they'd owe $41 million.
Here are some of the top takeaways from today's meeting:
Councilman Kennedy says #MLB, #Rays agreed to 30yrs on original deal & suggests they should pay real penalty if they want to break deal.
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
#StPete councilman Kennedy: Using figures #Rays & #MLB have allowed to be repeated, his ~$30M request is only 5% of a new stadium's cost.
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
Council chair @CharlieGerdes wants to make sure #Rays pickup any outstanding Trop bonds if they leave & state doesnt finish paying ($16.6M).
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
Council chair @CharlieGerdes says he's concerned Kennedy's $4M/yr proposal - 2x mayor's negotiated figure - may turn #Rays off completely.
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
.@NEWTFL says #StPete gave up cash during '98 #Rays contract negotiations in exchange for firm 30yr deal. That's why city's owed it today.
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
Re: last tweet - If council isn't negotiating w/#Rays directly, maybe it should ask for more to avoid negotiating against itself?
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
#StPete councilman Kennedy: #Rays were purchased for $200M, now worth $625M. We're talking about buyout differences of just $11M!
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
#StPete Mayor @Kriseman says #Rays could rebuild on Trop site using both county bed tax $$ and county property tax $$ (via TIF district).
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
Mayor @Kriseman says he'll bring any counteroffer to #Rays, but concerned "as time passes, deals don't get better."
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
Councilman @stevekornell identifies problem w/today's discussions - council is essentially negotiating against itself as #Rays sit & watch.
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
JIM KENNEDY PLAN PASSES, 5-3, with Rice, Foster, & Gerdes opposing. #Rays
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
The plan approved by #StPete council is very similar to what #Rays repeatedly rejected from fmr mayor Bill Foster: https://t.co/Rrfculsdlh
— Shadow of Stadium (@StadiumShadow) October 22, 2015
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Now that we have a consensus, what do you think the Rays will do?
ReplyDelete1. Propose/negotiate another offer?
2. Resubmit the original MOU to the council?
3. Negotiate a new stadium on the Trop. site with all those incentives (more public money)?
4. Refuse the offer and wait until 2028 to move the team while refusing any development on the Trop. site in the meantime?
Wait for the election in two weeks and hope they get lucky.
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