Why the Tampa Bay Rays cannot be trusted [View all]

[TheNutcracker]

There was a vote tonight, to allow them to get out of their contract. But where they wanted those contract protections, was only in their best interest. They showed themselves for who they really are in the council meeting tonight! Arrogance does not even begin to describe it! Here is a sample of what was written after the vote tonight.
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http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/romano-city-council-says-no-when-tampa-bay-rays-seek-an-even-sweeter-deal/2210793

Romano: City Council says no when Tampa Bay Rays seek an even sweeter deal

The deal is off the table, and you should blame City Council members.

You might also want to praise them.

For, in baseball terms, they got a save.

An issue raised by St. Petersburg City Council member Karl Nurse revealed that the terms of the city's proposed deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to allow them to look at other stadium sites may have tilted more toward the team's side than previously realized.

And when Rays president Brian Auld was asked about it by Nurse during Thursday night's council meeting, he essentially acknowledged that.

"He killed it right there,'' City Attorney John Wolfe said. "I was watching the faces of council members, and Auld lost a lot of their votes at that moment.''

The question had to do with the redevelopment rights for the 85 acres surrounding Tropicana Field. The original stadium use agreement calls for the city and the team to split profits 50-50 on any development of that land.
So Nurse asked if the Rays still expected the city to split redevelopment profits if the team had a deal to move to Tampa. In other words, did the Rays expect to make money off the Trop land even on their way out the door?

As long the Rays are in the Trop, Auld said, they would expect the city to live up to the terms of the original use agreement.

"He didn't just say no, he said hell no,'' said council member Jim Kennedy. "It was a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, and that's not the best way to do business.''

Here's the basic problem with the team's stance:

The city has two incentives to allow the Rays to shop around Tampa Bay for stadium sites 12 years before their agreement at Tropicana Field is up.

1. It lessens the possibility the Rays reach the end of their lease and decide to look in Montreal or Nashville or San Antonio or anywhere else.

2. If the Rays do decide to move to Tampa, then St. Petersburg can start redeveloping the 85 acres surrounding Tropicana Field.

But St. Pete's incentive to build on that land is not nearly as attractive if the Rays are still able to claim 50 percent of the redevelopment profits.

So the city would be faced with the choice of delaying redevelopment of the land until the Rays were actually out of Tropicana Field — which could be four or five years after the team decides to leave — or handing money to a lame duck team.

Mayor Rick Kriseman knew the redevelopment rights were going to be a sticking point, but didn't include them in the proposed deal because that would have substantially changed the terms of the use agreement and city attorneys were fearful of that.
There was a possibility of renegotiating that part of the deal in the termination agreement when, or if, the Rays decided to move to Hillsborough.

Auld did not seem to suggest that was a possibility when asked by Nurse.

"That was a deal breaker for me,'' said council member Amy Foster. "He essentially said, 'We want you to abide by the use agreement, but we're trying to get out of it ourselves.' '

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