What St. Pete's Election Results Mean for the Rays

Ken Welch, former Pinellas County commissioner and the top vote-getter in Tuesday's St. Petersburg mayoral election, is no stranger to the Rays' Stadium Saga.  

SPOILER ALERT: he hasn't won the election yet.

Without getting too into the weeds, Welch has been a consistent, long-time advocate of helping the Rays build a new stadium in Pinellas County with the help of the county's robust bed tax collections (which Hillsborough simply doesn't have). 

He knows baseball deals better than most, having served on St. Pete's "Baseball Forever" group as well as casting votes to send tourist tax cash to the Blue Jays and Phillies. He's also defended Tropicana Field against national critics.

He's suggested in recent forums that the Tropicana Field site may be better-off without baseball, but a new baseball stadium on the Al Lang site could make more sense. 

Like most of his fellow candidates, Welch expressed skepticism regarding big stadium subsidies, but promised to have better relations with the team than previous mayors, each of whom has found negotiating with the Tampa Bay Rays Baseball corporation to be exceedingly tough. 

Welch will be the presumed favorite against city councilman Robert Blackmon, a Republican, in the mayoral runoff this fall.  While St. Petersburg has had Republican mayors in the past (Bill Foster, Rick Baker), Democratic candidates hold a decided advantage in the 'Burg these days. 

Blackmon, whose background is in real estate, told the Florida Soccer Report his existing relationship with Rays ownership could pave the way to a new Rays/Rowdies mixed-use stadium in downtown.  It's not clear how Blackmon proposes the city pay for the stadium.

City Council member Darden Rice, meanwhile, who voted to allow the Rays to talk to Tampa in 2015, did not make the runoff.

She had been generally supportive (albiet measured) of Mayor Kriseman's Stadium Saga handling for many years and even criticized the Rays at times.  But more recently, said it is time to rebuild Tropicana Field once and for all, as she told Axios, "The next mayor cannot kick the can down the road on these issues any longer."

Unfortunately, much like U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, the Stadium Saga has been kicked down the road through three administrations, with a fourth on the way.  Of course - as is the case with Afghanistan - there's only so much a public official can do when dealt a crappy hand.

Here's to hoping the next mayor - along with the Rays - can avoid handing the stalemate off to a fifth administration.

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