The current in-force agreement for the Tampa Bay Rays’ use, management and operation (UMOA) of Tropicana Field has a so-called force majeure clause which governs what happens in the event of hurricane damage. With Major League Baseball (MLB) now having officially announced that the Rays will play at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa for the 2025 season, the Rays have automatically agreed to extend the agreement to play at Tropicana Field for one more year.
We report on this aspect of the UMOA because several elected officials who will be making stadium decisions were not aware of this important contractual clause when TampaBayGuardian.Com spoke to them this month.
Subsection 16.03 “DOME [Tropicana Field] Not Suitable For Use” of Article XVI in the UMOA states that “for each Season, while this Agreement is suspended pursuant to this Section 16.03, the Term of this Agreement shall be extended by one Season” (on page page 41). Because section 16.03 has now been triggered, the Rays are now also contractually obligated to play at “the Trop,” as Tropicana Field is often called, for an additional season. In other words: through the 2028 season.
However, the Rays can just pay off the lease and leave early, and it looks like that’s what they plan to do anyway.
Two days ago, Rays owner Stu Sternberg told Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano that the Rays had “lost the county as a partner.” Sternberg tied this breakup to a three week delay in funding approval by the Pinellas County Commission.
“It’s a confluence of events and without the minds here coming together, (relocation) is not an unlikely conclusion,” Sternberg told shill Tampa Bay Times stenographer writer John Romano.
Sternberg’s “relocation not an unlikely conclusion” statement, his “my way or the highway” approach” coupled with blaming the county commission, all this strongly indicates that the Rays have already decided to leave, but won’t say so explicitly.
With “community partners” like the Rays, who needs enemies?
Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused economic damage that has never been seen in the Tampa Bay area’s recorded history, even when measured on a per capita constant dollar basis. Public opinion has shifted and different political winds are now blowing, especially after two new commissioners skeptical of the deal were elected. The Rays may have secretly had a “minds coming together” with another location, but don’t want to appear to be insensitive to the post-hurricane situation. Without clear commitments from the Rays, it is hard to know for sure.
The proposed deal for a new stadium may not be approved by the Pinellas County Commission next week, but it seems that Sternberg may get to keep the deal with the City of St. Petersburg that represents a $1.6 billion giveaway of public funds to him.
Complicating matters, Hurricane Milton destroyed the roof of the Trop last month. The cost to repair the Trop is over $55 million in public funds. Therefore, now might be a good time to negotiate some other deal rather than spending close to $20 million per season for repairs to play just three more seasons at the Trop. After all, the UMOA also shows that by playing at Steinbrenner Field, MLB has tacitly admitted that they don’t need a new stadium because of the plain language of the UMOA.
Terms like “suitable for use” or “suitable for playing home games” are used throughout the UMOA to describe various situations involving the Trop. By playing at Steinbrenner Field in 2025, MLB must have determined that it is “suitable for use by a MLB Franchise as its home field,” which is the language on page 1 of the UMOA.
If Steinbrenner Field in Tampa is “suitable for use” for 2025, it is hard to see why it would not be “suitable for use” for subsequent seasons.
The City if St. Petersburg is in a difficult financial position after they lowered their insurance coverage on the Trop from $100 million to $25 million this past March, a decision that attracted the attention of the publication “Insurance Journal.”
“City officials may be regretting some insurance changes after much of the roof of the Major League Baseball stadium was ripped to shreds in Hurricane Milton,” Insurance Journal wrote this month.
“The reduction,” Insurance Journal also said, “along with a $22 million deductible, saved the city about $275,000 in annual premiums. The city has filed a claim with its insurance carrier but it’s not clear if any indemnity will be available.”
If no insurance proceeds are available to pay for repairs (unclear at this time), then the so-called “Capital Account” for the Trop mentioned in the UMOA may have to be used.
However, it isn’t just the repairs the city would have to pay.
“Any expense incurred by the CITY in assisting the CLUB or any expense incurred by the CLUB in obtaining a substitute location and making it acceptable to MLB baseball shall be paid out of the Capital Account,” the UMOA states in subsection 16.03.
In other words, public funds will be used to make Steinbrenner Field “acceptable to MLB baseball” as well to pay any “expense incurred in obtaining” by the Rays to obtain the “substitute location” that is Steinbrenner Field.
The so-called Hines/Rays proposal was selected by St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, and approved by city council, despite not meeting the requirements in the city’s own RFP (Request For Proposal). The other three bidders all met the requirement that Hines/Rays did not, but none of them filed a bid protest. One of the three other proposals asked for no public funds, yet officials chose the one that some argue is a gift to the Rays and the developers worth in excess of $2.6 billion dollars.
In French, the word “trop” means “too much” — have the Rays become “too much” for local elected officials to stomach? It is well-known that the Rays are for sale, and any public subsidies may now be seen as just adding Trop (“too much”) to owner Stu Sternberg’s profits when he sells the team.
The Rays control the development rights for the property where the Trop sits today. If no stadium is built, the profit they will receive through the giveaway of public assets will only increase.
It therefore appears that tomorrow’s county commission vote is a case of “heads means Sternberg profits, tails means Sternberg profits even more.” Either way, taxpayers lose, and perhaps remorseful City of St. Pete elected officials might only be remorseful all the way to their next job. Or all the way to the bank.
As always….the Guardian reports and the readers decide. Please like our Facebook page to find out when we publish new stories.
