RaysUp - Colleen Wright of tampabay.com on New Rays stadium in St. Pete

BaseballBiz On Deck - Part2 - RaysUp Colleen Wright of Tampa Bay Times talks about the Rays stadium proposal & the St

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to part two of the show this week and we have Ms. Colleen Wright from the Tampa Bay Times. She's going to tell us a story about how things are progressing with the Tampa Bay Rays stadium in St. Pete. Looking forward to a new one coming soon. There's a couple of proposals in front of the St. Pete council that still need to be reviewed and voted on.

[00:00:21] Mark Corbett: So she'll share a lot about the prospect and future of said stadium. So let's get started.

[00:00:36] Mark Corbett: Hey Colleen. Hi, how are you? I am doing absolutely wonderful. I'd like to introduce, I'm Mark and I'd like to introduce you to Mat. Hello. Well, we are indeed fortunate. Colleen Wright from the Tampa Bay times has joined us here today. And I cannot tell you, she has done a great job following The process of trying to get a new stadium in St.

[00:01:02] Mark Corbett: Pete and Colleen, I gotta tell you, I absolutely adored when you were asking questions back in January of 2023 to Brian Alda, the Tampa Bay Rays. And I heard you say basically, so. Is Tampa still an option? That wasn't, I'm paraphrasing here. Uh, let me set up just a little more because Mayor Welch had come out there and had a press conference about, Hey, guess what?

[00:01:28] Mark Corbett: We're going to go ahead and accept this whole thing going on with the, with the raise and the hands development. It's fantastic. And I had the feeling that the rays were like, huh, were we ready to say that Brad all came out and I thought gave a very good press conference and was quite candid to your question.

[00:01:48] Colleen Wright: Yeah, I mean, it's a question everybody wants to know, right? Because most people are pro moving the race to Tampa. But St. Pete's the one with the money willing to strike a deal and it's kind of, you know, there's been a lot of comparisons to a marriage and maybe those are cliche or overwrought, but, um, there's like one party that seems very willing and the other one, you know, not exactly ready to commit and maybe a third party, but doesn't really want to commit.

[00:02:17] Colleen Wright: So it's, it's an interesting story. 

[00:02:20] Mark Corbett: Well, that's true. I mean, I've been keeping up with everything with Tampa Bay times in your articles, folks. I highly recommend if you haven't done it yet, check them out online. Some great ways to track what's been happening and who some of the players are and the players are at this point.

[00:02:36] Mark Corbett: Eight people in the St. Pete City Council now, you know, we've got you've got a quite a cast of characters. It's funny before you came on, Mat and I were just talking about Seinfeld and you've got some characters there, but these aren't quite that, but they're, they each have their own flavor. They each have their own interest and they each have their own, I guess, uh, education points.

[00:02:59] Mark Corbett: And see who was the lady she brought to the light of day. Some things I think a lot of people should thought early on. Lissette, uh, what is the name here? 

[00:03:08] Colleen Wright: Hanawitz, Lissette Hanawitz. Lissette 

[00:03:11] Mark Corbett: Hanawitz. And she brought to light. I think a lot of people either just skimmed over and missed, but because when we're talking about this deal, just between St.

[00:03:21] Mark Corbett: Pete and the Rays, it's not just one simple contract on a couple of pages written down, this is actually two complete different initiatives. One for like an economic development and one for a stadium. However, they're interdependent upon one another. There's, there's pieces of each one of them that need the other to be completed.

[00:03:42] Mark Corbett: Is that accurate? 

[00:03:44] Colleen Wright: Yes, that is accurate. Yeah, it's kind of right. Exactly. They're kind of dependent on each other. Um, they are two separate agreements are funded a little differently, but they kind of, you know, one doesn't really happen without the other. 

[00:03:56] Mark Corbett: I would like you to take a moment and walk us through the last year of Basically, what events have taken place and how that's moved this process along.

[00:04:08] Mark Corbett: That's not asking too much. 

[00:04:10] Colleen Wright: Oh, gosh, no, no. But I am going to go a little bit beyond that to give people more context. I mean, the stadium saga, you know, really started around 2008 with then Mayor Rick Baker. They were looking at maybe putting a stadium downtown, maybe where Al Lang Stadium is. That's where the Rowdy's play.

[00:04:25] Colleen Wright: The Rays, of course, bought the Rowdy's and owned the Rowdy's. Um, but that didn't really come to fruition. Um, there's concerns about traffic just didn't really work, but they wanted something maybe on the water. Um, then, uh, Mayor Rick Kreisman comes along, tries to get something, you know, with the raise, allows the raise to look in Tampa, which is against their agreement, but he, The city council agrees to an MOU, an agreement, lets them look in Tampa.

[00:04:52] Colleen Wright: Nothing, you know, we, you know, that is the Ybor site and the K4 site that they were looking at. That doesn't pan out. Uh, Rick Reisman's termed out after eight years. Those relations go sour. Um, then he tries to just have any kind of development with or without a stadium. He picks a developer like 34 days before leaving office.

[00:05:12] Colleen Wright: Then mayor elect Ken Welch, who's our mayor right now, doesn't really commit to the plan to hire that developer. It was a developer out of Miami called Midtown Development. Ken Welch, Mayor Ken Welch doesn't super agree to continue with them and about six months into his tenure, um, this is like summer of 2022, uh, Mayor Welch scraps the process that Rick Kreisman had put in motion and starts a new one.

[00:05:37] Colleen Wright: Um, you know, asking for a stadium, invites the to participate. So we're now in summer of 2022. Uh, yeah, four firms sent and send in proposals that January of 2023 is when the press conference that you just referenced happens. Ken Welch picks the Rays and their development partner, Heinz, uh, says that there were the best of four proposals, really only two were pretty viable.

[00:06:04] Colleen Wright: Um, and one was actually a finalist for the effort under previous mayor, uh, Rick Reisman. The city has been in negotiations with the Rays and their development partner, Heinz, since January of 2023. So we're now a year and five months or so into negotiations. And in September of 2023, They announce a deal like a broad outlines of a deal, pretty much, and they come out with a term sheet that kind of lays down the basic structure, you know, a 1.

[00:06:35] Colleen Wright: 3 billion stadium, seven, larger half of that 700 million is on the raise the other half is split between the county and the city, but also there's going to be this larger redevelopment that's like the second separate but conjoined half of the deal. But there's a lot of, you know, it, you know, odds and ends that need to be figured out all together.

[00:06:57] Colleen Wright: It's a 6. 5 billion redevelopment, including the stadium. Um, and the build out is over 30 years. I mean, the earliest we'll see this thing come to fruition if it does happen is 2055. So you can imagine that there's a lot of, you know, legal documents. Just the stadium alone is about a dozen documents. That's not even counting.

[00:07:17] Colleen Wright: All the redevelopment around it, you know, residences and African American history museum and entertainment hall, uh, retail, um, you know, open space. It's huge. It's massive. It's like a little village. Um, so at this point, that kind of brings us to today, they're kind of working out all the documents. The city still is not super ready to discuss the stadium part.

[00:07:39] Colleen Wright: Um, the city council met about two weeks ago, two, three weeks ago to talk about the redevelopment. That went a little rocky. That's when Lissette Hanowitz, she's a former law, a former federal prosecutor, Kind of put on her prosecutor hat and pointed out all kind of like the legal loopholes and loose ends in this agreement and they're working on them.

[00:07:57] Colleen Wright: And now we're working on now it's their work, they're kind of working on these documents trying to figure it out and you're looking at July, as the earliest for a vote. And that's the timeline, I think, in a nutshell, as much as I can condense it. 

[00:08:13] Mat Germain: Wow. That's outstanding. I've 

[00:08:18] Colleen Wright: had some practice. 

[00:08:20] Mat Germain: Honestly, you hit on all the major points that I can think of.

[00:08:22] Mat Germain: So, kudos to you. The only one that I throw out there is the sister city concept. Oh, yes. How can I forget? Have you noticed the change in the mood from all parties once that was squashed, once that idea was gone, did, did all the relations and, and, and the, the progress, I guess, start becoming more positive in notes?

[00:08:48] Colleen Wright: Um, I would say yes, but also I think. with a new mayor coming in. Um, and this is important context because like I said, relations soured with Rick Kreisman, uh, former mayor for Ken Welch, and the Rays donated 50, 000 to Welch's campaign. When he was running for mayor, so there's just with that context, it seems like they were on better footing, but there's really been not a lot of outward drama that happened under the Kreisman administration.

[00:09:20] Colleen Wright: That's not really present. I can't say that that's really happening. If it's happening behind closed doors, they're being very quiet about it because Stu Sternberg has praised the mayor. The mayor says that things are okay. They meet all the time, almost on a daily basis to get this deal done. So I feel like if things were acrimonious, we'd maybe hear a little, we'd either hear about it or they're being very good at keeping it behind closed doors.

[00:09:48] Mark Corbett: You know, one thing that Mat and I have noticed over the years is that the Rays on the field in the office have learned to negotiate, make good decisions about what it's going to take for success. Sometimes that means trading away a player, you know, sometimes that's for cash. It's for this that or the other, but I feel like a lot of that's been going on here as well.

[00:10:11] Mark Corbett: The decisions have had to be made some concessions probably on both sides. And it's just seems like it's a lot happening all at once. Colleen. And I don't know what the time frame that we're looking at that we're going to get the buy in that we want. To make this thing happen, and it's going to need a stronger buy in than what I'm seeing today.

[00:10:32] Mark Corbett: I mean, there's, as you mentioned earlier, some players who are. In the players in this case, I mean, the council who were probably. Uh, supportive, or at least lukewarm. For the race have now kind of. Gotten, I won't say adversarial, but questionable about what they have to say about it. And then you have some people like you were talking about with Lisette.

[00:10:53] Mark Corbett: She's, she just looks at it with a very sharp eye and starts saying, you know, when I put these two Lego pieces together, they don't actually match. There's something that's missing. And, and I think those things need to be said. And I think the race, because of what I'm hoping that the same, Methodology that they do with their team and trading players and making decisions that way will be the same when it comes to trying to come up with something that's going to work for everyone with the St.

[00:11:22] Mark Corbett: Pete council. 

[00:11:25] Colleen Wright: Yeah. You know, I think at this point, um, I mean for like, so I think there was a little bit of a shift on Thursday. Um, you need five votes that you mentioned that there's eight council members, you need five votes to vote. Yes. So four for a tie is, is no deal, so you need five, five votes, and your tiebreaker, there's a, there's a fourth one who's positioned herself as a tiebreaker, then became very optimistic and looked like a for sure yes vote, and last Thursday she didn't like some of the scheduling with the meetings and felt like it was rushed, and she kind of threatened.

[00:11:55] Colleen Wright: You know that she won't be a fool and, you know, she doesn't want this to go the other way, but she won't be a fool either. Um, so you do have that going on. And what, you know, what I think is important here is that like these legal documents will guide future city councils and future mayor people we can't anticipate yet, you know, circumstances we can't anticipate yet.

[00:12:20] Colleen Wright: So it's pretty important that these. You know, kind of legal loose ends are tightened up because it's the future. And there's a no termination clause. The city can't get out of the contract as it's written right now. So it's, it's a big deal. And, you know, they were looking at getting this done in March.

[00:12:41] Colleen Wright: Those were their words. I think they're very, very optimistic. And how this is going now. I mean, we're looking at July at the earliest. And I think it's on. I'm sure the Reyes and Hines want to get this done before elections come, because I guarantee you this will be an election issue come August for the primary and then November.

[00:13:00] Colleen Wright: It'll probably be done by then, but who knows. 

[00:13:05] Mat Germain: What would your feelings be if it fell through? Let's say the vote goes against the Rays, um, you know, and their ambitions of getting the stadium done this way. Uh, what are your feelings on, in terms of, um, the amount of time, because we're talking about, you know, getting the Rays being out of the lease at the drop.

[00:13:24] Mat Germain: Now I know. In some cases they've actually extended them year by year or tried to, and it's worked out or hasn't. So there's always that possibility, but what are your feelings in terms of, will the door remain open or do you feel like it would be a, okay, that's it. We voted on it. Now we're going to move on.

[00:13:41] Mat Germain: Cause they do want to develop the area and the site. 

[00:13:43] Colleen Wright: So I should say also that like even critics of the, I mean, look, there's, There's some people, including some council members, who are just against the overall principle of giving public money to a private enterprise, especially, you know, a multimillion, probably almost in the billion, you know, in the billion dollars for the race.

[00:14:03] Colleen Wright: They're kind of just against that principle, you know, they, and it is, it's a fact that they're backed by decades of research that shows public investment into sports stadiums isn't really a good economic policy. Um, it doesn't really net the returns that are always promised. Um, but, but we do them anyway, right?

[00:14:21] Colleen Wright: I mean, we have stadium deals that are publicly funded all the time. Um, so even at this point, I mean, even critics of the deal, not even the ones who are against principle, but they just want to make the deal a little bit better. So you'll see, like, for example, the Sierra club has kind of like made a coalition that says race to stay comma, but fix the deal.

[00:14:42] Colleen Wright: And at this point. You know, people who are critics of the deal just want to maybe sweeten it, tighten up those loose ends, make it a little bit better because I think they're reading the tea leaves and they read that like this is going to happen, so let's just make it as strong as an agreement as possible.

[00:14:57] Colleen Wright: For the city. Um, and you were right. You know, everyone looks at the end of the, of the use agreement at the end of 2027, that's kind of like, like a bomb is going to go off or something. But they could extend it. I mean, they would have to get lawyers involved and lawyer that and it would be a whole other thing.

[00:15:12] Colleen Wright: But like, I don't, it's an option. Of course, it's an option. Of course, they could extend it. Um, if a hurricane comes, You know, and delays or whatever, you know what I mean? Like, I'm sure they can do that. Um, is it, is it being discussed right now? No, I can't say it is. Is it possible that that will be, you know, could be the case?

[00:15:31] Colleen Wright: Yeah, yeah, I don't see why not. I don't know, you know, when I asked the Rays, what are they going to do in a worst case scenario? Their response to me is, we're dealing with a situation right in front of us. And maybe, you know, you could take that as, I don't know, however you want to take that, but that is their answer.

[00:15:46] Colleen Wright: We're just focused on doing the best deal and focusing on what's ahead. So, the tone right now is kind of, we need to just tweak the deal in place right now to make it make sense. Because even Mayor Welch told me in an interview last week that he agrees that some of the points that Lisette Hanawitz and others, including Richie Floyd, who is against The idea of publicly funding sports stadiums, um, that, that those folks raised valid concerns, valid, you know, he used words like valid, legitimate, and important.

[00:16:17] Colleen Wright: And that some of the points that they hammered on are points that his own team, the city's own team, tried to negotiate and failed to get on paper. So he sees that as part of the process that city council steps in and kind of harps on these points and maybe that'll get the Raisin Heights to say yes.

[00:16:33] Mark Corbett: Well, let's, let's talk about one of those points. One of those is for the economic development, and there's target, and then there's what might happen. So, tell us a little bit about that, because I think that was one of the points that, uh, the Councilperson was talking about, and I, I hate to use the word critical, because it sounded more like analytical, here's something we need to address.

[00:16:57] Mark Corbett: So can you tell us a little bit about that particular point? 

[00:17:00] Colleen Wright: Sure. So, so, yes. So in the, in the agreement, there are minimum requirements, like the, like the least amount that the Reyes and Hines have to do. And I don't have the specific numbers in front of me, but it kind of lays out, I think it's like 4, 800, don't quote me on this, but it's like 4, 800 residences, you know, um, Okay.

[00:17:21] Colleen Wright: Like a minimum amount of hotel keys like 750 or something like that and there's like like lower bounds like this is the minimum you can do. What kind of ticked off some of the members like Lisette Hanawitz is that they're showing renderings. And the economic benefits, but they're based on the target and the target is not Legally enforceable in the contract.

[00:17:42] Colleen Wright: It doesn't say you will do this in this There's only minimum requirements, but the lawyers have said well, those are kind of like upper bounds. They're almost limiting, right? They're almost like You know, you can't do beyond this is how they're looking at it. But really they're only legally required to do the minimum, uh, you know, spelled out, um, requirements in the document.

[00:18:02] Colleen Wright: There are target development, you know, the target, uh, requirements, or I'm sorry, the, you know, the target development. Is in there, but it's not. It's not legally bound right now. And all these renderings that you're seeing, um, some of the economic benefits that they talk about that they put that they mentioned in that workshop.

[00:18:19] Colleen Wright: It's a little misleading because That's not what's minimally required. You might end up with way less than what you're seeing in these renderings. Now, of course, the city will say, well, it's in the hind. It's in hinds in the race. Best interest to do the to do the target development, right? Because they want to make more money.

[00:18:36] Colleen Wright: So, you know, you kind of, it's like that, like free market idea, I guess, right, that you want, you know, they're incentivized to do that, but really they're not legally bound to do any of that as the contract reads right now. 

[00:18:49] Mark Corbett: Another thing that was brought up because we were talking about two different documents, two different workshops that are independent upon another.

[00:18:57] Mark Corbett: Again, we're talking about economic development to the other, the stadium. Now, can you tell us about the part about responsibility? Because it seems like there's, um, trying to remember, help me out here, Colleen. We're, uh, we're talking about, like, Uh, the owner of the raise Maybe by name and one part one of the deals but on the other one it was much more open who that could be 

[00:19:21] Colleen Wright: It 

[00:19:21] Mark Corbett: was being responsible 

[00:19:24] Colleen Wright: Responsible.

[00:19:25] Colleen Wright: Are you referencing that? Lisette hannowitz pointed out that steve sternberg could remain as a developer. Is that what you're referring to? Yeah, 

[00:19:31] Mark Corbett: can you give us that because I'm sorry I missed it. Yes, that's exactly 

[00:19:35] Colleen Wright: So, right, so she was, well, one of her, um, you know, big things that she pointed out is that the parties of the actual agreement that the city has with Raze Hines, they're not named.

[00:19:46] Colleen Wright: They're not, they're not named, they're unnamed parties, they're not described at all. Um, and how it's written right now is Sue Sternberg's name is on one of the documents, and even if he were to sell the team, the way it's written is he would remain as a developer, even if he was no longer with the Raze team.

[00:20:03] Colleen Wright: Yeah, so it's things like that, that again, maybe you should be cleaned up, you know, on that. That's how the city's maybe looking at it. 

[00:20:14] Mark Corbett: I know his report. Go ahead. Sorry, continue. Oh, 

[00:20:17] Colleen Wright: I was gonna, I was gonna say, um, just another thought I had is that the way it's also written right now is that there are 12 ways, uh, 12 transfers that the Reyes and Hines could You know, a big part of this deal and probably the most controversial part of this deal is that the city is selling 65 acres of public land at a pretty significant discount.

[00:20:37] Colleen Wright: Um, January 2023. This land was appraised for 279 million. The Raisin Hines are getting it for 105 million and that's not even all up front. They pay when they're ready to acquire those parcels and the minimum they have to pay after 12 years is 50 million. Um, the, the city is also throwing down 142 million for infrastructure.

[00:21:01] Colleen Wright: So like roads, sewers, demolition of the trop, um, a lift stations, like a sewage station and the Raisin Hines. There's 12 ways circling back. There's 12 ways. For the Raisin Hines to transfer those parcels or turn around and sell those, those parcels improved land with infrastructure at a profit to whoever, and the city does not have any control over that.

[00:21:24] Colleen Wright: Um, there's no vetting. There's no approval that the city or the city council needs to have the Raisin Heights could turn around and sell to whoever there's 12 ways for them to transfer those responsibilities to unknown. 

[00:21:39] Mark Corbett: Colleen, I know you've worked more than just in the Tampa Bay area. You, you worked also, you grew up in Miami and I think you, you worked elsewhere in Florida as well as a reporter.

[00:21:48] Mark Corbett: Am I correct? 

[00:21:49] Colleen Wright: I did. Yes. I, I, uh, I worked at the Miami Herald. I got my start there and I worked there, um, as a full time professional too. 

[00:21:56] Mark Corbett: So, the reason I bring this up, Mat, you might be able to say more to it than I. Is that a 

[00:22:01] Colleen Wright: stadium deal?

[00:22:05] Colleen Wright: Oh, I've got, I've got stories about that, actually. 

[00:22:08] Mark Corbett: Share a little, share a little. 

[00:22:10] Colleen Wright: Sure. So I actually started my journalism career in high school. I was 17 years old. Uh, I had a, I got a high school internship at the Miami Herald and that was 2010 around that time. And that is when a bunch of Miami Dade commissioners were getting recalled.

[00:22:26] Colleen Wright: over the botched, uh, Miami Marlins stadium deal. So that was my first like for, I literally started in the newsroom and two things happened. Uh, Marlin, you know, Miami Dade commissioners were being recalled out of office for that. And also LeBron James was taking his talents to South Beach. That's what was happening in the summer of 2010 when I was there to kind of bring everyone back to that time.

[00:22:50] Colleen Wright: Um, and I actually, funny enough, I actually saw the first home run happen at Marlin Stadium because it was between high school teams. They were bringing in high school teams. To kind of like soft open the stadium, you know how it runs and whatever. So I saw a high school kid actually make a home run in that stadium.

[00:23:08] Colleen Wright: So, but I, I mean, I was, I was 17. I was a baby. So I didn't, I don't fully, I didn't fully understand things as I understand them now, but, but yes, and I will say that, you know, the Miami, the Marlin stadium deal, like left a bad taste in a, in a lot of people. I mean, I'm born and raised in Miami. My parents were born and raised in Miami.

[00:23:25] Colleen Wright: It left a bad taste in everyone's mouths. Um, and. Yeah, and I will say it has come up, um, in these discussions, um, the city and the county's consultant on this deal actually worked on the Miami stadium deal, but he says, you know, like, Hey, I was just working for the client. The county was my, our client. Like what they wanted to do was defer all these crazy debt payments.

[00:23:48] Colleen Wright: They were voting on like numbers. They didn't fully know, like, you know, he kind of put it on. on the county for mishandling that, but it is kind of like a boogeyman. The state, the Marlin stadium deal is like a boogeyman. And, you know, I think the circumstances are different. So I don't want to make them apples to, you know, kind of compare them apples to apples, but it is a cautionary tale.

[00:24:12] Colleen Wright: It certainly is a cautionary tale. 

[00:24:14] Mat Germain: Do you feel having seen both of them, like, well, you're, you're watching the 2nd, 1 happened at this point. Um, do you feel like the group that in St. Petersburg right now is more prepared because of that deal? And as a group, in terms of the tools, like, you were mentioning that 1 of them was, you know, a lawyer, et cetera, uh, or is still practicing law, whichever way that goes.

[00:24:37] Mat Germain: And so are they well equipped to kind of handle this or is that part of why they want more time to digest the, the ins and outs of the deal? 

[00:24:47] Colleen Wright: I will say, like, first of all, I don't, I don't know. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the, the. Miami Stadium deal to talk super intelligently about it. I can't go in depth as I am in this with that.

[00:24:59] Colleen Wright: I just, and I wish I could. I just, I'm one person really kind of covering this, but it's come up a few times. Um, I feel like council has gotten assurances that no, no, no, this is very different. Um, and I, and I'm just going to say it because I feel like I can. St. Pete politicians, I think are very different from Miami politicians, having covered them.

[00:25:21] Colleen Wright: Uh, I covered education at the Miami Herald from 2019, 2000. I'm sorry, 2018 to 2021. Um, they just operate very differently. Um, I, I don't, I don't know if it's a super apples to apples, but I do think that there, it's just kind of looming in the back that like nobody wants to What's happening over there, but, but surely I, I don't know enough to really compare the two on their faces.

[00:25:50] Mark Corbett: I know we're not supposed to ask you for an opinion, so I won't. Can you, from what you're seeing of all the players that are, they're happening and the deadlines for these workshops, does it seem feasible that we'll have an agreement by mid July?

[00:26:11] Colleen Wright: So. I actually found out about this. I mean, I'm, I feel like I'm building up to something big. Um, maybe, I think it might be pushed only because my colleague Jack Evans, who covers the Pinellas County Commission, a big player in this right, especially on the stadium side, um, said that county admin, like, said yesterday, I believe it was yesterday, when the commission met, that, uh, Pinellas County Administrator Barry Burton was Kind of cast doubt that the city would be ready to have, it's already delayed, but scheduled workshop on the stadium on June 13th.

[00:26:47] Colleen Wright: He kind of expressed doubt that the city would have legal documents ready two weeks in advance, that would be next Thursday, for review. And the reason why that is, is because a council member, Ed Montaneri, asked for two workshops, one was on the redevelopment, that's the one that happened like two, three weeks ago.

[00:27:04] Colleen Wright: Um, and one on the stadium separately to go over the finances. And that any documents or agreements or presentations, anything that comes with it has to be available two weeks in advance so that all council members could review the material and be prepared to ask questions. That day. So that means that, right.

[00:27:20] Colleen Wright: The city has to be ready with documents by next Thursday. And Barry Burton was telling commissioners, I believe yesterday. Um, saying like, you know, it's planned for June 13th, if the city is ready. And he kind of, kind of left open that like, would they even be ready at that point? So if they're not, then that's June 13th is actually the last time that the city council can meet before they go on and have an annual summer break.

[00:27:48] Colleen Wright: Every year, and this year it starts June 14th to July 7th. So, if you can't, if you, if you go past June 13th, you're not coming back until July and then that would kind of push everything off. So then you would be looking at a vote at the earliest like maybe late July. So it depends if they're ready on the 13th, then they will have a workshop and they're supposed to have first readings for like a regulatory document with the state and for like rezoning the gas plant district.

[00:28:18] Colleen Wright: Um, but there was some drama last week because city council was saying that's way too packed of a schedule. I mean, they'll be there for at minimum 16 hours, at minimum 16 hours that day. Meeting for the workshop and then a city council meeting to follow. Um, and so council wanted to break that up. So I really doubt that both those things will happen.

[00:28:38] Colleen Wright: They were also looking at maybe moving the workshop up to June 11th. That's that Tuesday. But that means that the documents have to be due even earlier. And if the, you know, a county administrator is telling county commissioners, I don't even think they're gonna be ready June 13 and I don't, that makes me think they're really not gonna be ready June 11.

[00:28:55] Colleen Wright: So, it kind of depends but yeah I think, I think you might be looking at late July, and that's probably reasonable if not even maybe leaning optimistic but I think reasonable because the city will have weeks without council meetings really just focus on the agreements in that summer break. So I would say like maybe late July is possible.

[00:29:20] Colleen Wright: Possible likely depends. 

[00:29:23] Mark Corbett: Oh, come on, commit, commit. No, 

[00:29:25] Colleen Wright: I mean, I, I don't know. You know, it's a crystal ball. 

[00:29:28] Mark Corbett: I know I'm teasing, I'm teasing, but no, no. Cause I realized that, but I do have a very serious question. How does a reporter repair prepare for a 16 hour day of listening to people? 

[00:29:44] Colleen Wright: Well, I will say that it really helps.

[00:29:47] Colleen Wright: That well, first of all, they actually allow us to bring in drinks, which on normal council meetings, they don't, which is very, I actually think they should let me bring in coffee all the time, but whatever, at least on the days, at least on the days of council, they'll let me bring in some coffee. Um, but it does help that.

[00:30:03] Colleen Wright: You know, we also put in public records requests for the latest versions of the agreement so we have like a pretty good idea of what's in there now of course the stadium is like 12 documents. So there's actually three of us at the paper who are going through all this stuff. Um, so that helps I've got good colleagues, you know, I know all the council members I know all the staff at City Hall because I've been covering City Hall since July of 2021.

[00:30:27] Colleen Wright: So it helps in all the players that helps to just be familiar and have that access and kind of know how things are going to go. I've got a vacation planned right after that. So I'll work hard and then, you know, I'll get to have a little break. 

[00:30:40] Mark Corbett: You turn off the phone, you know? Oh yeah, 

[00:30:44] Colleen Wright: absolutely.

[00:30:45] Colleen Wright: Absolutely. It's long. 

[00:30:49] Mark Corbett: So do you still follow the fish? 

[00:30:52] Colleen Wright: Do I still follow the fish? Um, you know, I remember when they won the world series in 2003. Um, that's like a pretty vivid memory, but you know, we just weren't really a baseball family. We were much more into basketball. We're huge Miami Heat fans. I mean, obviously still are.

[00:31:10] Colleen Wright: And then, um, you know, really big into college football. So we're just, we're not super baseball people, but I will say, I mean, I go to way more raised games. I think in my life, I've been to like two Marlins games. I mean, I've been to at least I don't know, 10, 12 raised. I mean, not a ton, you know, cause there's what 81, 81 home games, but quite a, quite a bit for not having grown up with, with baseball, really.

[00:31:35] Mark Corbett: Mat, you got any other insights or questions on we can. I have 1 

[00:31:39] Mat Germain: question. So, uh, 1 of the big things that I know I was talking to Mark about, uh, in terms of this deal was the, um, the naming rights and the fact that the raise seem to be adamant in terms of getting those naming rights. So that I think, you know, they can finance using that money.

[00:31:56] Mat Germain: Really? Um, but, uh, Has the city at all mentioned any, you know, at any point that they would like a piece of, of those, um, of those naming rights and who do you see as a potential naming rights, you know, corporation? 

[00:32:14] Colleen Wright: Uh, so I think right now, again, I'm going off the top of my head. I tweeted this and I want to say that right now the city gets 50 percent of the naming rights, and I think they get.

[00:32:24] Colleen Wright: 50 percent of parking or there's another revenue source under this new under this new agreement. I tweeted it. So I want to say it's half naming right and half parking, but I can't super remember off the top of my head, but there's some revenue splitting there with the city under this new agreement. The rays keep pretty much all revenue streams I think literally all of them.

[00:32:45] Colleen Wright: They keep naming rights 100 percent concessions 100 percent parking 100%. What else? I feel like I'm missing a big one. Naming. Broadcast rights. 100%. All of that stays with the race. See, there's, this deal is so complicated that like, it brings back like, Oh, there's all these other things. But yeah, as it's written right now, no sharing with the city at all.

[00:33:09] Colleen Wright: Zero. Um, or the county for that Mater. I think they, as it is right now, they're only paying a million dollars to the county every year for 25 years. Um, and I think they have to pay to reimburse the city for like traffic. So I think they paid like 450, 000 I think, or something like that a year. And it goes up 5 percent every year or something like that.

[00:33:30] Colleen Wright: Who would be a naming sponsor? That's a great question. I literally have no idea. I'm sorry. I wish I, I wish I knew it would be super dope. If I knew there would be a story on it, but I don't, but I don't know the answer. Um, I don't know. I heard something about maybe keeping Tropicana field, but I feel like, don't quote me on that.

[00:33:47] Colleen Wright: I feel like that was just some rumor. I heard I don't have that from an official source. I really, I do not know, do not know at all, but the city does not get a cut as it's written right now. 

[00:33:59] Mat Germain: That's too bad, like, in terms of the, you know, if you're if you're going to try to sell this to the people in the city and say, you know, like, we're still going to be getting some of the money back through this, because I see it as a long term agreement of what, like, 30, 40, 50 years over time, like, if you're actually able to recoup some of the money to to put back into programs that people are worried about not being able to fund because of this, then that's the 1 route that you would have to kind of fund that over time.

[00:34:30] Colleen Wright: I think the rays would point to, but look at all, you know, this is, I mean, as you all know, I don't have to tell you, the trough is surrounded by asphalt and parking lots. And it's not exactly tax generating, you know, properties or whatever, you know, it's not, it's not tax. It's not generating any taxes. So I think the raise in Heinz kind of point to, well, look, we're going to transform all this and it's going to bring in so much money and, you know, the dividends will be crazy.

[00:34:57] Colleen Wright: So I think they look at that. I, you know, they've also pointed to like a 50 million. Uh, community benefits package, um, which is also kind of paid piecemeal, uh, especially when it comes to affordable housing. There's also some huge loopholes there. I would say that's a huge linchpin in this deal is like there are ways to get out of building that affordable housing.

[00:35:16] Colleen Wright: The penalties are pretty low compared to like what other developers face. So, I mean, if the Reyes and Hines were here right now, they'd be like, well, you know, we're doing all this, the economic benefits are going to be huge, reaped over time. Also, the agreement, I want to point out. Is only for 30 years. I mean, only for 30 years, that's a long time, but you could maybe renegotiate in 30 years, but honestly, in 30 years, they might be wanting more upgrades or more facility.

[00:35:39] Colleen Wright: You know, it's going to keep going. Like that's what, that's the story of stadiums in this country, right? Is that they also, they always look for renovations or they want to, you know, upgrade and keep up. I mean, it's, I think it's in there. It's in one of the agreements. that, um, I think the, the, the stadium has to be in standard with like all the stadiums built in 2028 or something.

[00:36:03] Colleen Wright: There's always some language like that, but it is important, important to point out that in the new agreement, as it's written, um, the raise would be on the hook for any renovations and upgrades where now the city helps them out. So I should, I should, I should make a fair point there. Again, it's all kind of coming back to me because it's a lot of information.

[00:36:22] Colleen Wright: But in exchange for no revenues being shared, basically with the city, the raise and the raise are on the hook for their own renovations or upgrades or anything they want to do. 

[00:36:31] Mat Germain: Right. And for overages in the, in the original 

[00:36:34] Colleen Wright: answer. Right. That's correct. And for, um, anything, right. Any stadium costs overages and for infrastructure overruns.

[00:36:42] Colleen Wright: Yes. They are on the hook for that. 

[00:36:44] Mark Corbett: Well, Colleen, I can't thank you enough for joining us here today on baseball biz on deck and giving us a little bit more insight and clarity about how things are moving along. With proposed raised stadium and. I see Colleen, they can find you on Twitter or X rather at Colleen underscore, right?

[00:37:02] Mark Corbett: And that's C. O. L. L. E. E. N. underscore, right? Is W. R. I. G. H. T. 

[00:37:09] Colleen Wright: that's me. 

[00:37:10] Mark Corbett: All right, I'm telling you, you've been a great source for me as far as tracking what's happening with the raise and this whole project. And like I said, when I, I heard you ask that question back in January, 2023, I said, well, so many times when it comes to reporting.

[00:37:26] Mark Corbett: Thank you You know, that getting access to somebody who can ask a question that's not pre approved. I thought that was it. You know, that that was not paid access. That was a good question. And I, I salute you for asking. I actually salute brand all for answering it in a. In an honest way, 

[00:37:46] Colleen Wright: thank you. Thanks so much.

[00:37:48] Mark Corbett: So, what can we expect next from you? 

[00:37:51] Colleen Wright: Oh, gosh. Um, well, well, I've got, you know, my colleague, Jack Evans is actually working on a good story about how this agreement doesn't account for inflation at all. So when we talk about future payments, they're not adjusted for inflation at all. Uh, it's a good story.

[00:38:06] Colleen Wright: I'm excited about his. I'll be looking into some of the parking situation. We talk about it. Right. Traffic and parking. I'm going to be looking into these garages. Um, the city and the rays actually just selected the developer or like a construction firm for those garages. So I've got another, um, you know, my colleague Jay Cridlin is looking a little bit into Heinz.

[00:38:28] Colleen Wright: So, you know, we're, we're working on it. It's, it's a lot of tedious work. Um, it really, really is. Um, but there's always like something to pick out. I mean, it's overwhelming, but yeah, we'll, we'll. Keep bringing good coverage and you know, I it depends how you are on these delays Um, but we're gonna keep we're gonna keep at it and just keep finding out what we need to find out 

[00:38:50] Mark Corbett: Well, thank you for doing that for all of us.

[00:38:52] Colleen Wright: Appreciate your reading 

[00:38:54] Mat Germain: Yeah, I will say that the coverage overall for the stadium issues from from the beginning, like have been stellar, like there's been a, you know, like you mentioned before, all the way through there's been turmoil here and there, um, with with different reasoning, uh, whether it be sister city or adversarial kind of relationships.

[00:39:15] Mat Germain: Uh, so I think all the way through the coverage has been. Perfect. Really to kind of point out both sides of the issues that go on. So that's a kudos to all of you guys that are covering this. 

[00:39:29] Colleen Wright: Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, I, I think the times is a great place. Um, this was my first job coming out of college, went to work back at the Miami Herald, my hometown paper for three years and, and really honestly missed it here.

[00:39:41] Colleen Wright: Uh, so when there was a job opening to cover the city of St. Petersburg, I was like, this is perfect. This is a perfect match. So I love my job. It's always interesting. Um, and, and it is a huge issue. It's really cool to cover something that, that will literally change the city. I mean, if you think about the scope of this, it's a small village that they're building 5, 000 residences.

[00:40:03] Colleen Wright: That's huge. It's huge. Um, so it's, it's over, well, I will say it's overwhelming. It's extremely overwhelming, but it's cool to be a part of, you know, of that history and, and, you know, we're a good paper. We kind of have a really good reputation and I'm just proud to work for them. 

[00:40:20] Mark Corbett: Okay, well, great. Colleen, I want to thank you again for joining us here today on baseball biz on deck.

[00:40:25] Mark Corbett: I'm Mark carbon. And of course, that's Mat. Germain with me here. We're looking forward to a great future with the raise and potentially get that deal done sooner than later and make everybody happy. I don't know if we can ever do that. As best we can. Mad, any other final words or questions. 

[00:40:46] Mat Germain: No, just, uh, if ever you want to come back on once it's closer to we, I'm sure Mark and I would love to kind of poke, uh, a few questions your way and see, uh, how, you know, maybe right before the final vote, just to kind of see where you think it's headed.

[00:41:02] Mat Germain: And then, uh, uh, hopefully, uh, you enjoy the coverage because once it happens, then you're just covering how the development is going. Right? Yeah. So that'll be, that'll be different. 

[00:41:13] Colleen Wright: Oh, I mean, and even when it, you know, If slash when maybe it passes. Um, I mean, that's just the beginning Really? I mean if you think about it, that's just the beginning Um, so i'll be here.

[00:41:26] Colleen Wright: Please have me back anytime. I love to talk about I love to talk about it 

[00:41:30] Mark Corbett: Well, thanks again. Colleen. 

[00:41:33] Colleen Wright: All right. Thank you both 

[00:41:34] Mark Corbett: say hello to my good friend conan I 

[00:41:38] Colleen Wright: will. I will. 

[00:41:40] Mark Corbett: It's been a few years anyway. Uh, again, thank you and we'll hope to have you back here real soon. 

[00:41:46] Colleen Wright: All right. Thanks so much. 

[00:41:48] Mark Corbett: Wow, Mat, man.

[00:41:50] Mark Corbett: That was some insight. Colleen really brought the stories. Um, you know, we, we get a sense of it from what she's writing. And again, I'll remind folks that can find her on, uh, tampabay. com and the read the paper, the Tampa Bay times. Thanks. And you can find her as far as on Twitter at Colleen underscore right, and that's spelled C O L L E E N underscore right.

[00:42:14] Mark Corbett: W R I G H T. 

[00:42:17] Mat Germain: Yeah, it's interesting to get a feel for, uh, for things that, you know, that, that she's, Thinking about and I think when, when she initially laid out, you know, what they've gone through, you know, all the way through the process, it was the best kind of, uh, uh, coverage of exactly how, you know, in broad terms.

[00:42:40] Mat Germain: What they've gone through to get to this point, and I think that that's the, you know, the thing that you have to consider also, when it comes to Stu Sternberg. Um, he's always had the best leverage in ST Petersburg. That's where, you know, he owns land. He has development rights. He has a whole bunch of things that, that he's involved in there.

[00:43:01] Mat Germain: Um, so that's where, you know, his hat is really, um, it's not in Tampa. So I, you know, you could argue in a way that Tampa has been used as leverage against ST Pete to try to get that best deal as they can. Right. Um, so now that they're getting to where you can actually see the end of the finish line, it's just funny to see how quiet and that's why I asked, you know, how the relationship is going since the city, uh, sister city concept died.

[00:43:32] Mat Germain: Because to me, that's the indication of, of Stu Sternberg and his team going, okay, now we need to get, push this to the finish line. And we don't need any, you know, things upsetting the cart, uh, as we push it through the finish line. 

[00:43:49] Mark Corbett: Let's hope that's the way it goes, my friend. And I mean, it's a, it's a lot of reading people are going to have to do in a short bit of time and, and making some decisions.

[00:43:57] Mark Corbett: And I'm confident that Colleen will keep us surprised at that as well. But, uh, I see what you're saying with the buy in with Stu and his investment already in St. Pete. So let's hope all those factors come into play and make this, get this deal done. Post production note, Colleen Wright posted on X. com the following.

[00:44:24] Mark Corbett: deleting this tweet because Montanari called me and said that because he wrote that the workshop should be scheduled to allow council at least two weeks to review documents instead of must council doesn't have to vote to change that in the city can shorten that window. So take a look on X dot com if you want to see the full tweet.

[00:44:47] Mark Corbett: But I do like the idea that we're looking at should instead of must giving even more opportunity for options. If that's such a thing for the council and voting now back to the regular program. 

[00:45:02] Mat Germain: I don't want to ruin your night, Mark, but Josh Lowe was pulled from the game with right side tightness. I was watching it on the side for, you know, just to keep my head on straight and, uh, And yeah, so we'll cross our fingers that it's nothing serious.

[00:45:20] Mat Germain: He's called day to day for now, but it's possible he ends up back on IL. 

[00:45:25] Mark Corbett: She's a crackers, man. I'm tired of this stuff. Come on, guys. I don't know. Well, I hope he does back soon to me. You, you see all this happen, these young players and Brandon coming back and you say, Oh my gosh, I hope that oblique stays healthy and everything else to boot, and you just don't know what's going to happen.

[00:45:41] Mark Corbett: You, you have Pepiot up there on the mound and a ball comes right back and smacks him in the leg. So Let's hope that, uh, Josh is, is doing fine and dandy here soon, because man, they ask a lot of the human body in this game, and it's not surprising when we see sometimes it doesn't hold up as well as we would like.

[00:46:02] Mat Germain: I'll make it up with some positivity. Shane Boz has finally made it through four innings in a start tonight. Um, he only allowed three hits and he struck out four. It's the most strikeouts he's had since he started his rehab. Um, so that is extremely encouraging. The extra day of rest seems to have helped him.

[00:46:21] Mat Germain: So, yeah, positive with the negative. 

[00:46:24] Mark Corbett: All right, brother, thank you for bringing it along a little sunshine to finish up the show here, talking about our Tampa Bay rays and the excitement coming through with hopefully get everything done with that race stadium in St. Pete, fingers crossed, toes crossed, and we'll keep you up as things progress.

[00:46:42] Mark Corbett: So I want to thank everybody for joining us here again today on baseball biz on deck, Mr. Mat Germain and myself, Mark carbon. Thank you. And look forward to talk with y'all again, real soon. Remember you can find us on podcast services everywhere. Whether it's I heart radio, uh, Spotify, of course on baseball biz on deck.

[00:47:03] Mark Corbett: com. Everywhere there's podcast play you'll find us and go ahead when you find us here. Go ahead. Leave us some uh, a little love, you know We look for the five star rating and subscribe to us or whatever and we look forward to getting talking. You guys are in real soon Special thanks to XTaKeRuX for the music rocking forward,

 Post Show updates from Colleen's tweets

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