Rays may have played their final game at Tropicana Field

Sigh. The world of politics and billionaire sports owners demanding public funds to build new stadiums is a sad one.

A deal that was once seen as all but wrapped up has quickly unraveled to the point where all sides involved are convinced the original arrangement is dead.

Legally, that's not necessarily true, as there are still official votes to be had or a potential written notice of termination to be made, but most are projecting the results to not come out in the Rays' favor.

How did we get here? Where do the Rays go from here?

There aren't really clear answers for either of those questions; for the former, it could be a variety of reasons.

Hurricane Milton ravaged the Tampa Bay area, so approving the half-billion dollar amount to build a stadium might come across as unwise, even if the money they use couldn't be used for repairs or anything other than tourism-related activity.

There was also that 2024 election that happened, with a couple Pinellas County Board of Commissioners positions being moved around, changing the calculus on getting approvals for that portion of the deal.

One of the Pinellas County Commissioners, Chris Latvala, has been on a rampage on X, giving himself, the board, and the overall stadium proposal a lot of attention. This came after a John Romano article discussed how Latvala's father received donations from the Phillies, but failed to mention the Rays did the same.

Stu Sternberg made some public comments to the Tampa Bay Times in that same article making claims that the delay in voting by the Pinellas County Commissioners was causing the deal to implode due to escalating costs the Rays couldn't afford.

The Rays also released a threatening letter, which all but promised the public this deal would fall through, causing many to question if the team truly wanted the deal to go through at all.

And finally Thursday night the disaster came to a brutal conclusion, with the City of St. Pete having to do some political theatre themselves, and Rays President Brian Auld showing up to a vote and making more public proclamations on the status of the deal.

“I don’t know how to make it more clear,” Auld acknowledge, “We have a very challenging future ahead of us.”

At first, the council voted to approve spending $24 million on repairs for Tropicana Field. However, after Auld's comments, had another vote at the end of the meeting to reverse course.

So now the Rays will play 2025 in Tampa at the Yankees' facility, but any future the Rays may or may not have in the state of Florida is in total jeopardy.

For the second question of where the Rays go from here, some fans hope that Sternberg sells the team to an owner willing to try again to make things work in Tampa Bay. Others still cling to the notion that a miracle will happen and both sides resolve the situation.

There are some who would honestly be relieved to see the deal fall through, as many arguments point to past stadium deals not living up to the hype regarding the economic benefits promised by teams.

Regardless, through storms and sunshine, Rays up!