New-look Rays want a new stadium
11/21/2007 11:34 AM ET
By Bill Chastain / MLB.com
ST. PETERSBURG --
The Rays will announce details and renderings of a new waterfront ballpark and redevelopment of Tropicana Field on Nov. 28, according to a news release by the team Wednesday.
The stadium announcement will take place at 3 p.m. at Progress Energy Park, Home of Al Lang Field.
While the Rays' efforts for a new 35,000-seat, $450-million ballpark on the site of Al Lang Field in downtown St. Petersburg have been widely reported, Wednesday's scheduled event will be the Rays' first official acknowledgment of a proposed stadium.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker are scheduled to attend, as well as Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball president and chief operating officer; Stuart Sternberg, Rays principal owner; Matt Silverman, Rays president; and Michael Kalt, senior vice president of development and business affairs.
According to reports, the Rays might contribute as much as $150 million -- to cover one-third of the costs -- and the team also would seek legislative approval for $60 million of future sales tax revenues from the state of Florida to make the stadium a reality by 2012. In addition, the team wants to find a private developer to construct a large retail/residential complex where Tropicana Field sits so the team could get out of its lease.
Al Lang Field has been the site of the Rays' Spring Training exhibition games throughout the team's history, but the Rays are scheduled to move from the locale on the St. Petersburg waterfront to Port Charlotte for Spring Training in 2009. Because Al Lang Field is housed on public property, voters would need to approve the new stadium. Also, the plan would depend on the city being able to sell the Al Lang site to Pinellas County, which would create a situation in which property taxes could be avoided. If the deal comes to fruition, the Rays would seek a long-term deal.
Approximately $100 million is still owed by the city on Tropicana Field, which will not be paid off until 2025. St. Petersburg could recover what it owes if a private developer purchased Tropicana Field and the adjacent parking lot.
Reports have said the proposed stadium will be an open-air facility, with a plan calling for an available option that would allow it to be covered with a sail-like material on a cabling system in the event of inclement weather.
Under this stadium plan, the design is expected to have a retro look. Longtime fans attending games at Al Lang Field would need to get used to having the playing field face a different direction to facilitate a field that would allow home run balls hit to right field to land in the water, which would be akin to AT&T Park in San Francisco.