On Thursday, Dec. 5, St. Pete City Council voted to approve bonds that will pay for $287.5 million of the $1.3 billion new Rays stadium.
The council moved up the vote to this week, after previously delaying the vote on the bonds to January. Don’t worry we know a lot has happened, here’s a recap of the past couple weeks of action + a breakdown of the deal and project.
So what’s next? (as far as we know)
Pinellas County Commission still needs to approve their share — which is ~$312.5 million in bed tax money. The Commission is expected to vote on the bonds at its Tuesday, Dec. 17 meeting.
The Rays leadership shared a letter with the County Commission before its mid-November meeting. Leaders said the delay in funding approval made a 2028 opening impossible + the project unaffordable. The Rays did not send a letter terminating the deal, but they still could pull out of the agreement.
