Nobody associates St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster with the Tea Party movement. He’s just a garden variety conservative Christian Republican with an abiding disbelief in evolution. But when it comes to the Tampa Bay Rays and their Tropicana Field stadium, he could be a Tea Partier in spirit.
As in, how can he face his “We-built-it-and-it’s-symbolic-of-finally-having-something-that-Tampa-wanted-and-besides-we-have-a-lease” base if he actually says, “Let’s look at Tampa too for the best Rays’ stadium site”?
As with the Tea Party and its rigid anti-tax ideology, Foster continues to ignore the bigger picture and the most important context. With the former, it’s the best interest of the United States. With the latter, it’s the best interest of the Tampa Bay region.
This much is known, even if not acknowledged by Foster. The Rays will leave the Trop well in advance of their lease-date expiration (2027). Not even close. It will be pricey, but it will be the cost of doing business in a new location. There’s precedent. The Rays will relocate to Tampa or leave the state.
Foster can continue to grease the skids for a worst-case scenario with his zero-sum game, or he can take one for the regional team, one that St. Pete is an important and complementary–but not catalytic–part of.