{"id":124488,"date":"2026-01-20T04:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/124488\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T04:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:03:12","slug":"rays-possible-move-puts-st-pete-fans-on-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/124488\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays\u2019 possible move puts St. Pete fans on edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Change could be on the horizon in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Hillsborough College District Board of Trustees will consider a non-binding agreement<\/a> that could move negotiations forward for a Rays stadium at the school\u2019s Dale Mabry campus.<\/p>\n

In St. Pete, the idea of losing the team has long been a fear, but now, it\u2019s starting to feel closer to reality to fans like Bob Simpson.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a purist, it breaks my heart,\u201d said Simpson, who hopes the team will stay in St. Pete. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to picture a life without it. I associate one with the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, beyond the emotional toll, there are growing economic concerns about what a potential move could mean for St. Pete\u2019s downtown.<\/p>\n

Those concerns intensified last season when the Rays temporarily played in Tampa after Tropicana Field was damaged, and some nearby businesses saw a drop in traffic.<\/p>\n

In August, St. Pete city council member Corey Givens questioned what losing the team entirely might mean economically.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to see the Rays go,\u201d he said. But, should the Rays decide to leave, if the Rays decide to leave, I don\u2019t want to wait until the 11th hour of the game and here we are trying to come up with a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same meeting, Deborah Figgs-Sanders, another council member, assured Givens that the mayor\u2019s office is working on a plan, and the Trop site will have new life if and when the Rays leave.<\/p>\n

Pam Sainsbury hopes that will be the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do need to fill it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt can\u2019t just be a white elephant.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, the potential agreement in Tampa doesn\u2019t guarantee a move, but it does push the conversation forward, leaving major questions about the Rays\u2019 and St. Pete\u2019s futures still unanswered.<\/p>\n

As for Tropicana Field, the roof repair was finished two months ago, and the team will play there for at least the next few seasons.<\/p>\n

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Chad Mills calls Polk County home and has witnessed the area\u2019s growth firsthand. He keeps his eye on the City of Lakeland, our agriculture community, and helping you navigate everyday expenses. Use the form below to share your story ideas with Chad.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

FWC releases report detailing deadly alligator attack at Lake Kissimmee State Park<\/p>\n

The couple involved launched an 11-foot canoe and traveled along Tiger Creek and then toward Lake Kissimmee prior to the incident.<\/p>\n

FWC releases report detailing deadly alligator attack at Lake Kissimmee State Park<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Change could be on the horizon in St. Petersburg. On Tuesday, the Hillsborough College…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[205,3816,23290,740,22641,7459,3817,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,7781,3815],"class_list":{"0":"post-124488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-abc-action-news","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-downtown-st-pete","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-hillsborough-college","13":"tag-memorandum-of-understanding","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-pinellas-county","16":"tag-st-pete","17":"tag-st-pete-headlines","18":"tag-st-pete-news","19":"tag-st-petersburg","20":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","21":"tag-st-petersburg-news","22":"tag-stadium","23":"tag-tampa-bay-rays"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}