“Rays Baseball in St. Pete in Jeopardy” This is Something to Think About 03.14.25

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“Rays Baseball in St. Pete in Jeopardy”

Bill Bunkley’s “This Is Something to Think About”

Air Date Friday, March 14, 2025

With a March 31 deadline looming for the Tampa Bay Rays to notify the City of St. Petersburg if they will proceed with a new stadium deal, team owner Stu Sternberg has announced their decision.

A team statement on X reads, in part, “After careful deliberation, we have concluded we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this time.”

With the new construction delay and multimillion-dollar repairs required to fix Tropicana Field’s hurricane damage, current Rays ownership cannot produce the funds to move forward.

The question now is, will Sternberg put the team up for sale? And if so, who will get the nod to take over the team?

Two potential suitors have been identified. One who has pledged to keep the team in St. Pete and another who would move the team to Tampa.

Maybe Tampa will be the new home of the Rays after all.

Bill Bunkley is a 19-year veteran Salem Media talk show host based in Tampa. The Bill Bunkley Show airs weekdays across central Florida from 3 to 6 pm. Bill is also President of the Florida Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the legislative consultant to the Florida Baptist State Convention (Southern Baptist Convention Churches), among other churches and entities. He has served as the legislative consultant to the Florida Baptist State Convention for the last 29 years at the state capitol in Tallahassee. By the Grace of his Lord Jesus, he is today a cancer survivor diagnosed in 2018 with AML Leukemia, having successfully undergone a bone marrow transplant that same year. His wife is Toni, son is Zac, and they attend Idlewild Baptist Church. 

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