ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays only have four years before their current use agreement at Tropicana Field expires and need to finalize a deal for a new ballpark in St. Petersburg over the next 12 months, according to Rays President Brian Auld. 

What You Need To Know

  • Rays want to finalize deal over next 12 months.

  • Current Trop use agreement expires in 2027.

  • Rays said timeline puts "pressure" on all parties.

  • Mayor Ken Welch chose Hines-Rays to redevelop Gas Plant District on Monday.

"The use agreement and the timing puts some pressure on all of us to get this figured out as soon as possible," Auld said. "We think that to be comfortably playing on opening day in 2028, in a new ballpark, we've got to have most of these details ironed out by this time next year." 

On Monday, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said he wanted to see a term sheet for a new stadium completed by mid-year and an ultimate agreement for the entire development by the end of this year or early next year.

"That timeline sounds like what we want to hit," said Auld. "This time, next year, we'd certainly like to be ready to put a shovel in the ground and know where our long term home is going to be." 

Auld said there are a lot of good reasons to believe that building in St. Petersburg now is a more optimistic prospect then it would've been a decade ago but has to keep dialogue open with Tampa as a backup plan.

"We have to keep dialogue open around other sites too because if at any point things go off the rails, we've got to have a backup plan that's ready," he said. "Everywhere within the Tampa Bay region is a better home for Rays baseball than it was 10 or 20 years ago because this region is growing and we're growing alongside it."