\u201cThere are businesses along Central (Avenue) that are hurting,\u201d Givens said. \u201cI\u2019m completely open to doing all we can to keep the Rays here. But what I don\u2019t want us to do is abandon those local businesses that are counting on our support.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city and business owners began benefiting from what was then the Devil Rays in 1998, as they drew thousands of people to a previously underdeveloped area. The team annually plays 81 games in St. Petersburg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ferg\u2019s Sports Bar & Grill has been at the center of the EDGE District\u2019s evolution<\/a>. What began as a minuscule old service station is now a sprawling entertainment complex with an outdoor venue \u2013 previously primarily used for overflow game-day seating \u2013 that can hold up to 2,500 people.\u00a0<\/p>\n Owner Mark Ferguson recently told the Catalyst that he started \u201cpushing more shows<\/a> because we don\u2019t have the income from baseball. We\u2019re trying to keep all the bartenders and our workers working, and hopefully we\u2019ll make a little money with these concerts.\u201d<\/p>\n In January 2023, an independent study claimed that a new stadium and the surrounding Historic Gas Plant District\u2019s redevelopment would generate $11.9 billion<\/a> over 30 years. The Rays exited<\/a> those long-negotiated plans in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past,\u201d Givens said Thursday. \u201cI was not on the council when the last use agreement was signed. But guess what? I\u2019m here now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A storm-damaged Tropicana Field looms over Ferg\u2019s Bar and Grill\u2019s outdoor venue. Photo by Mark Parker.<\/p>\n In June, City Development Administrator James Corbett notified the council that St. Petersburg and Pinellas County officials will explore the feasibility of building a convention center<\/a> at the Trop site, with or without a new stadium. His email came five hours after the Rays announced they were in \u201cexclusive discussions\u201d to sell the team.<\/p>\n Many stakeholders believe a convention center will sit dormant for most of the year and do little to help compensate for the franchise\u2019s loss. Officials on both sides of the bay believe new ownership prefers to play in Tampa.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, the Rays must play in<\/a> St. Petersburg through the 2028 Major League Baseball season. The city can receive $400,000 annually and redevelop part of the Trop site under a new licensing agreement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mayor Ken Welch said his initial focus is on building affordable housing for seniors, a new Woodson African American Museum and a workforce development ecosystem. Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders questioned how the latest discussion \u201cdiffers from what the administration has already put in motion, and that includes businesses,\u201d at Thursday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess I\u2019m trying to figure out what the impact of the discussion is going to be,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Councilmember Richie Floyd said the city spends more than it earns from stadium revenue. The responsibility for maintaining, repairing and insuring the stadium would have fallen on the Rays under the previously negotiated deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not really concerned about replacing their revenue, because we\u2019re going to have a bunch more money back,\u201d Floyd added. \u201cThe first part of the conversation \u2013 not super relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n While he ardently opposed a new stadium, Floyd also doesn\u2019t want to see the team leave. \u201cAnd I want us to have a plan if they do,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Givens echoed that sentiment and said the city should not wait \u201cuntil the 11th hour\u201d before considering the economic impact associated with losing a professional sports team. \u201cThere needs to be contingency plans in place now, not later.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Council Chair Copley Gerdes said he was \u201cnot interested in opening the can of worms\u201d unless the conversation focuses on contingency plans after 2028. Givens concurred before offering a conflicting statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy friend Mark Ferg, who owns Ferg\u2019s, is hurting,\u201d Givens said. \u201cAnd he is looking to us for help, solutions, now. Not in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n The council unanimously approved a Committee of the Whole discussion without setting a date. Councilmember Lisset Hanewicz was absent. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While officials hope the Tampa Bay Rays remain in St. Petersburg after the 2028 season, they are also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[33409,16126,5,39369,8586,39370,8588,39371,39372,10956,8930,39373,6161,5053,8597,4,20640,297,28753,9846,5796,1428,4711,9844,295,2550,68,2551,2549,8607],"class_list":{"0":"post-235460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-rays","8":"tag-33409","9":"tag-approved","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-business-owners","12":"tag-businesses","13":"tag-central-avenue","14":"tag-city-council","15":"tag-contingency-plan","16":"tag-convention-center","17":"tag-discussion","18":"tag-economic-impact","19":"tag-fergs-sports-bar-and-grill","20":"tag-leave","21":"tag-lose","22":"tag-mayor-ken-welch","23":"tag-mlb","24":"tag-prepare","25":"tag-rays","26":"tag-redevelopment","27":"tag-revenue","28":"tag-st-petersburg","29":"tag-stadium","30":"tag-stay","31":"tag-support","32":"tag-tampa","33":"tag-tampa-bay","34":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","35":"tag-tampabay","36":"tag-tampabayrays","37":"tag-tropicana-field"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114997533712722244","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fergs-Trop-background-1024x639.jpg\")
<\/p>\n