1 Mayoral Candidate Loses Hope Rays Will Stay In St. Pete, Other Places Team Second

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Ken Welch and Robert Blackmon, Jr., St. Petersburg mayoral candidates, have different plans for the future of the Tampa Bay Rays who played their last game in the 2021 American League Series Division Monday night the same time as they participated in a mayoral debate.

WFLA hosted the debate in partnership with the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Political reporter, Evan Donovan, acted as moderator for the candidates.

St. Pete residents have heard for years about the possibility of the Rays being sold, leaving St. Petersburg, leaving the state, etc. As of October, the latest unofficial plans include a split season with Montreal and Tampa Bay or moving them across the bay to Ybor City at the end of the 2027 contract with Tropicana Field.

On Friday, we learned a representative of the Rays reached out to Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson about help with infrastructure costs around a new stadium possibly in Ybor City. Do you think at this point, there is any real chance of keeping team in St. Petersburg, or should the new mayor shift focus to keeping the team in Tampa Bay by supporting a stadium move to Ybor City?

Robert Blackmon: "Well first and foremost, I think I can most certainly agree that was a terrible call no matter what else in this debate. I think we agreed that, as far as the stadium in the future of even what the plans would be, you know, I still want to focus on St. Petersburg. You know, we're both running for mayor of St. Pete. We're not running for mayor of Tampa Bay or Tampa. That being said, I need to look at the harsh realities that are constantly evolving on site. You know that site is the future of economic development for our city. It is where we will put hotel space. It is where we can put office space. We haven't had an office that was built in downtown St. Pete in my lifetime. 1986 was the last office tower built. So certainly, there's many different uses and goals we can have with that site. That being said, I still hold out hope that we can have the Rays a shared stadium between the Rowdies, the soccer team, on the east end of the site. But as information continues to come out, I'm losing hope. You know, I'm seeing Jane Castor (Tampa Mayor) is putting up a plan, and says they want to move to Tampa. I'm seeing the Ybor City stadium site. And then I'm seeing, you know my opponent says all the time baseball is secondary, and then just got a $50,000 donation from the Rays last week. It's tough for me. I want to make sure they stay in St. Pete. Certainly that's my goal but I'm losing hope as I see the cards stacking up against it."

Again, you (Ken Welch) told me in August that you supported this split city plan that the team announced with Montreal — how do you plan to press Rays to say here full time while not pressing too hard to lose them altogether?

Ken Welch: "Well, obviously as Robert pointed out, I have been in contact with the Rays over an extended period. And that relationship matters. As county commissioner, I led the effort to increase our bed tax. The visitors paid by one penny so we'd have an extra funding source to fund a new Rays stadium. In fact, the fact that the county owns the Trop was the result of initiative I led when that became taxable to the citizens of St. Pete, and that's why the county took it over. And I absolutely think that we can keep the Rays in St. Petersburg. Secondary, we can keep them. Certainly, Tampa Bay's the next option. But look, I have said it's secondary because as I said in the opening, I am a child of the gas plant. The original promise was jobs and equitable, economic development. That's my priority. But I absolutely believe that the Rays will be a part of that, either at the Trop site, or at Al Lang field. We've got the funding source. We got the partnership with the county commission —five county commissioners have endorsed my campaign, and I've opened up a dialogue again with the city council. So we've go to restart that communication between the mayor's office, the Rays, the city council and the county has already started...I also supported the Rays looking in Tampa. For three years because I know that we stack up well with our funding source with our partnership, and I'm willing to let them look in Tampa, and then make a decision."

Let me ask you a follow up question there. You said last week, and Robert just pointed out that the rays are donating $50,000 to your campaign. How do voters trust that money won't influence you to let them do what they want to do?

Welch: "Well, I didn't say they got into that amount. I don't know where that money came from. We didn't disclose that until today, (Monday), when we were required to. But look, that's the same amount the Rays donated to Mayor Kriseman years ago. If you look at all the developers, the folks that are interested in government who donate, they all have some interest. But I told the Rays the same thing I told you — the priority is the jobs and open up equitable development. And it has to be a fair deal to the city of St. Pete, and the taxpayers."

Thursday, Patch will share statements made by Welch and Blackmon about the future possibility of affordable housing in St. Petersburg.