St. Petersburg City Council to discuss new stadium bonds December 5

Last minute agenda item was unexpected

The city of St. Petersburg has added the Rays new stadium bonds to the agenda for tomorrow’s City Council meeting.

It’s not immediately clear why this has been added to the agenda, but if any attitudes or perspectives have changed regarding the Rays new stadium debacle, it’s sure to be news. As things stand, even staunch supports of the Rays on the currently seven member council are upset with the team.

As a recap: the previous, dramatic St. Petersburg City Council meeting saw the following events:

• The Council voted 4-3 to initiate repairs to Tropicana Field
• Rays president told the media and the Council that the team doesn’t want the old stadium repaired
• The Council delayed their bond vote to “no later than January 9, 2025”
• The Council recalled its approval of Tropicana Field repair bonds, unanimously

It’s worth mentioning that discussing the bonds does not mean approving the bonds, but with the current composition of the Council favoring the Rays plans generally (4-3) it will be interesting to see if this meeting could represent the start of a ninth inning rally for those who’d like to see the Rays stay in St. Petersburg.

It also bears repeating that the City is less restricted in its use of revenues that would be pledged to pay off the stadium bonds than the County, which would be paying down their bonds with funds restricted to tourism promotion. That adds significant weight to any decision on these bonds made by the City, which still needs to pay for damages from the two hurricanes.

To stream the meeting, log on to this page (which also provides some alternative streaming options)