ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The owner of Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill in St. Petersburg worries the Tampa Bay Rays will leave the area after he literally built his business around Tropicana Field and the Major League Baseball team for decades.

What You Need To Know

  • Ferg's owner Mark Ferguson built his business around Tropicana Field and the Rays

  • Ferguson worries the Rays could leave the area after their new $1.3 billion stadium deal was blown up this week 

  • The sports bar owner wants the Rays, City and County to find a new path forward after Thanksgiving 

  • Ferguson said if the Rays leave, Ferg's will lose business but will survive

“We need them to come back here and play,” said owner Mark Ferguson, 67. “Keep it going.” 

Ferguson’s concerns grew after Rays Co-President Brian Auld said the new $1.3 billion stadium deal was unofficially dead on Thursday due to Pinellas County commissioners delaying their $312.5 million bond vote in October and then again earlier this week. Auld said pushing the bond vote beyond the election replaced two “yes” votes on the commission with two “no” votes.

“I think everybody is kind of mad at everybody right now,” said Ferguson. “The city council, the Pinellas County council, the Rays, everybody is pointing fingers.”

The St. Pete city council followed the county’s lead on Thursday and delayed voting on their $287.5 million portion of the bonds. The city council also delayed spending more than $23 million to fix the Trop’s roof after it was blown off on Oct. 9 by Hurricane Milton. The council had initially passed the repair job but reversed itself after learning the Rays were reluctant to commit to playing in the Trop again because the team doesn’t believe it will be ready for the 2026 season.

“I think they should repair it and say, ‘Rays, you need to play here,’” said Ferguson. “Hold them to their contract. Get it done.”

Ferguson said the blame for the deal falling apart at the last minute lies with Milton and the negative ripple effects from the storm.

“It’s all the hurricane, but we have no control over that,” he said. “Let’s control what we can and let’s piece it back together and stay strong together.”

The sports bar owner said Ferg’s will be celebrating its 32nd anniversary next week. Ferguson said when he first opened in 1992 the Trop was empty, with no sports team calling it home.

“There was arena football and some concerts. I took a gamble that they would get something,” he said. “After the first year, the Tampa Bay Lightning came in, which saved us, saved us. We had them for three and a half years and then the Rays was announced.”

Ferguson said after the Rays moved into the Trop in 1998, his business took off and has remained strong but will shrink if the team leaves the area.

“It will definitely hurt us. We’ll have to lay some people off,” he said. “We’ll become a little smaller, but we’ll be fine.”

After Thanksgiving, Ferguson believes the Rays, the county and the city need to come together to find a new path forward.

“Major League Baseball wants them to stay. So we have a good chance to keep them here,” he said. “We just need calm heads and put together a good plan going forward. Let’s forget about the past. Let’s go forward.”

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said his staff has begun working on a modified plan which will not include any additional funds from the city.