St. Pete forming legal team for Rays stadium fight

Mayor Bill Foster said the city is forming a legal team to help combat any plan by the Tampa Bay Rays to move out of Tropicana Field.

Foster also said that Major League Baseball might get involved in the issue and help the Rays move. "I don't put anything past them," he said today after his monthly mayor's breakfast.

With that in mind, Foster said the legal team would strategize the city's next steps and look at previous team relocations, including the Montreal Expos' move to Washington, D.C., in 2005.

Rays owner Stuart Sternberg announced Monday the team needed to move out of downtown St. Petersburg and would look at any potential stadium sites in the Bay area.

Foster remained steadfast that the city would defend itself if the Rays attempt to break their Tropicana Field user agreement, which runs through 2027.

"The moment they sit down with anyone else, any other party in any other city, that is a violation, so we will monitor their conduct very closely as I'm sure they will monitor mine," he said.

The next step for St. Petersburg comes Thursday morning, when City Attorney John Wolfe will give a status update on the Rays before the city's Budget, Finance and Taxation Committee. It begins at 8 a.m. at City Hall, Room 100, 175 Fifth St. N.

"Our residents of St. Pete and Pinellas have more skin in the game than anybody in Florida, and we're going to do what we can to keep them here."

At a Monday news conference, Sternberg said the Rays could not compete or survive if they remained in Tropicana Field. Foster said it was a more hardball approach than Sternberg took in a private meeting with the mayor earlier that day.

"As I watched, it seemed like more of an ultimatum. There were no shots fired across the bow in my office. It was a little different spirit at the press conference," Foster said.

The Rays' future wasn't the main menu item at this morning's breakfast, but it was a side order that received plenty of attention. Foster went from table to table at Munch's Restaurant and Sundries, 3920 Sixth St. S., taking notes and talking to constituents.

George Coburn attended to talk about out-of-control government perks and salaries, but he also planned to tell Foster that he opposes further taxpayer support of the baseball team.

"I would have to tell the mayor simply that I would like to keep the Rays to their contract," Coburn said.

Businessman Bob Van Sweden, who attended to talk how to clean up his neighborhood, agreed.

"I feel it's legalized extortion from the Rays," he said. "That's almost like going to your wife saying, 'Hey, I love you, but I want to go out and see other women,' and that's kind of what the Rays are doing."