Mayor Ken Welch has now acknowledged what we have been saying all along: St. Petersburg’s future does not depend on a stadium deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. While we did not always agree with his approach, we can respect that he tried and now, like the rest of us, he’s recognizing that the city can and will move on.
In his recent State of the City address, Welch made it clear that while he still hopes for a deal, the city will not pursue it at any cost. He also stated that there are other options and there sure are. The land at the Historic Gas Plant site remains valuable, and if the Rays walk away, St. Pete has an opportunity to do something transformative with it.
We’ve said before that the best path forward is for the city to develop the property itself. Instead of handing all the profits over to the Rays, St. Pete could take full control of this land and ensure that whatever is built truly serves the community whether that means affordable housing, business development, public spaces, or a combination of all three. And with the profits, the city will have more funds to focus on infrastructure needs.
As the Mayor pointed out, the challenges facing St. Pete go far beyond baseball. His speech focused heavily on the impact of hurricanes Helene and Milton, which exposed serious weaknesses in the city’s infrastructure. The slow pace of debris removal, a struggling permitting process, and failures in our sewage system all need urgent attention. Housing remains a critical issue, and long-delayed projects like the municipal marina and the Barack Obama Main Library continue to face setbacks.
If the Rays can’t make their stadium plan work, then so be it. St. Pete has other better options. This is a chance to focus on what really matters: making our city stronger, more resilient, and better for everyone.
Stay tuned. The future of this city isn’t tied to baseball. It’s tied to us.
