Before the St. Petersburg city council meeting on November 21, I spoke to the press.
It was before the council was to vote as to whether to borrow the funds to pay the city’s share of a new stadium’s cost. (The county, which also plans to borrow funds to pay its share of the stadium cost had already deferred a vote until January.)
About a week prior, the team had sent a letter to the Pinellas County Board of Commissioners saying that delays were raising the costs of a new stadium and the team could not absorb these increased costs.
Doesn’t this mean the Rays cancelled the contract to build a new stadium, since the contract states the Rays will pay for any cost overruns?
Doesn’t this mean the deal is dead?
Doesn’t this mean the city needs to renegotiate the deal keeping in mind the risks from future hurricanes – considering the $6 billion needed for infrastructure improvements to protect the city and all of us, and the hundreds of millions the county needs to repair the beaches?
Doesn’t that mean the city (and the county) should not authorize borrowing money for a stadium until we get some answers?
As it turns out the city council voted to delay a vote until January,
Here is what I said at the press conference:
I am part of the No Home Run and the Home Runs Matter groups.
We like baseball – but we opposed the deal to build a new stadium for the Rays as structured, because we did not, and do not, feel that it is fair. It will cost the residents of St. Petersburg $1.6 billion and Pinellas County, $800 million – with very little in return.
The full details can be found at Deal Breakdown on homerunsmatter.com.
I am often asked who we represent.
We represent:
-
-
Everyone who cares about what matters to make life better for all residents.
-
-
-
74% of the voters who responded to the Mason Dixon poll, who said the deal is unfair.
-
-
-
Families like those of Elia (not real name) who I mentor at Lakewood Elementary School, whose family’s home was destroyed by raw sewage from the hurricane.
-
-
-
Families who live around Lake Maggiore, whose homes were flooded when the lake overflowed because of the hurricane.
-
-
-
Everyone who cares about the 68 million gallons of raw sewage St. Pete dumped into our waters.
-
-
-
We represent reason and logic.
-
We are not anti-baseball – we are pro- St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.
We have had two hurricanes that have changed everything.
And at the same time, the Rays presented a bombshell. They have now said that due to various delays, they can no longer pay the increased costs of a new stadium.
But the Rays signed a contract with the city and the county that says if the costs go up the Rays will pay for them.
If it’s true – the Rays won’t pay overruns – how can the city and the county go out and borrow money to pay their share of stadium costs? What if the costs increase? Who will pay for them?
We don’t have a deal to build a new stadium.
What if you signed an agreement with a contractor to build you a new house at a guaranteed price. You go to the bank to borrow the money to pay for it. The day before you are to sign the papers the contractor says he no longer can guarantee the costs. Are you going to still borrow the money, or before you do that are you going to stop and figure out the next step?
That is where the city and the county are now with the Rays. The Rays say they no longer can guarantee the contract. Doesn’t that mean the city and county should hold up authorizing the sale of bonds until we all figure out the next step?
This is no one’s fault. Two major hurricanes have caused delays that will increase the costs of a new stadium. We need to step back and start over. And when we do that, we need a fair deal.
We need a fair deal so that the city has the $1.6 billion it was committing to the stadium deal that we can focus on the $6 billion the city needs to spend on our infrastructure to protect us from the next hurricane. Otherwise how can the city spend all this money on a new stadium, and spend the money we need for infrastructure at the same time and not go broke – or not have our taxes and utilities skyrocket?
And the county needs a fair deal so that it can pay for as much as $130 million in beach repairs and create reserves for future repairs.
Let me add some thoughts about the comments being made that if we don’t go through with the deal – that we backed out and the city can’t be trusted. I say – give me a break. The agreement between the city and the Rays says right in it that it is subject to the city and county approving the financing. And the agreement says that the Rays will pay for any cost overruns.
Doesn’t that mean we don’t yet have a deal? If you sell your house and you have a provision in the contract that it is subject to the buyer obtaining a mortgage, do you have a deal?
One more thing. I sure hope the city did not negotiate a deal that lets the Rays back out of the stadium agreement but still lets them buy all the development land.
The city has said they made a sweetheart deal – sell the Rays the developable land below its market value and give them all the revenue from a new stadium – because the team was taking the risks of cost overruns on the stadium. I sure hope that if the deal for a new stadium falls apart, the city made sure the Rays don’t walk away with land they get at ten cents on the dollar.
