THE Tampa Bay Rays are facing an uncertain future after hitting a roadblock in building their new stadium.
The Major League Baseball side could be forced to move to a new city after the latest developments.
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Tampa Bay were planning to build a new $1.3 billion stadium in St Petersburg, Florida.
The stadium was part of a larger complex in the city with $600 million of public funding approved.
And the Rays have up until March 31 to meet certain logistical benchmarks to free up the public funding.
But St Petersburg mayor Ken Welch cast doubt on the plans with his latest remarks.
Speaking at his State of the City address on Tuesday, Welch said he was ready to move on without the Rays.
“We will not pursue the deal at any cost,” Welch said.
“The greatness and future of St. Pete does not depend solely on this deal.
“I am confident that we have given this endeavor our very best effort.
“It’s an effort and a process we can all be proud of.
“It’s not like we both haven’t spent a lot of time talking about what the right deal would be.
“So now to say, ‘That doesn’t make sense,’ I think it would undermine any efforts moving forward.”
Another complication for the Rays is they face a $39 million repair bill on their current home.
Tropicana Field had the roof completely torn off by Hurricane Milton last year.
Just $6.5 million of public funding was made available for the repair.
That left the Rays having to fork out the majority of the cost to get Tropicana Field up and running again.
The team will play at the George M. Steinbrenner Field in 2025 – the spring training home of the New York Yankees.
The planned new stadium is scheduled to open in 2028 – if the project goes ahead.
Or the Rays face looking for a new long-term home should the deal fall through.
They have a deal to play in Tampa until 2028.
But they also have one of the lowest attendances in baseball with an average of 16,515 in 2024.
