ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Mayor Rick Kriseman will not allow the Tampa Bay Rays to split their season between the Tampa Bay area and Montreal.
Instead, he said both the city and team will abide by the contract that locks the team into Tropicana Field through the 2027 season.
"Both parties have agreed that the best path forward is to abide by the existing use agreement," Kriseman wrote in a Wednesday memo sent to City Council. "In accordance with the existing use agreement, should the Rays Organization wish to continue exploration of the shared season concept with Montreal, that exploration must be limited to the 2028 season and beyond."
The mayor's announcement represents the latest setback in the Rays' decades-long quest to secure a new stadium in the Tampa Bay area, and it leaves the future of Major League Baseball in the bay area as muddled as it has ever been.
Now that negotiations are off the table, the clock continues to tick toward the end of the 2027 season. That is the last year through which the Rays are contractually obligated to play all its home games in Tropicana Field. When the Trop contract ends, the team would be freed from the now 30-year-old dome and could leave St. Petersburg and play wherever it wants.
The team's latest idea was to split the season between two cities: The Rays would play home games in two new, open-air stadiums, one somewhere in the Tampa Bay area, and one in Montreal. The team wanted to have that arrangement in place by the 2024 season.
But the team's contract even forbids the team from negotiating to play elsewhere before it expires. That meant the Rays needed St. Petersburg leaders to approve letting the team explore the 2024 Montreal plan.
In his memo, Kriseman told the team he will not grant that request.
Rays officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Kriseman's statement.
The mayor's memo comes after a series of meetings between team and city officials. The third and last meeting, according to a review of the mayor's calendar, was Aug. 28 at Edge District restaurant Dr. BBQ.
It was unclear what prompted the mayor to announce his decision on Wednesday.
The meetings commenced after Rays leaders announced over the summer their wish to explore the split-season concept, believing that expanding the team's brand across two markets and playing baseball outside during the nicest parts of the year in each location _ the spring in Tampa Bay and the summer in Montreal _ would solve the team's attendance and financial woes. The Rays ranked second-worst in attendance during the 2019 season, even while they were engaged in an exciting American League wild card race. Only the Miami Marlins drew fewer fans.
Kriseman said the team also rebuffed his offer to allow them to look at stadium sites across the Tampa Bay region for a full-time stadium.
The mayor also said the city will move forward with developing at least part of the 86-acre Tropicana Field parcel, where the city has offered to build the Rays a new stadium in St. Petersburg.
He also reaffirmed St. Petersburg's commitment to contribute public dollars should the team wish to build a full-time stadium in St. Petersburg. But the city will not help pay to build a stadium for a part-time team, the mayor said.
