Thrive
Ferg’s owner discusses the future of the Rays in St. Pete
Mark Ferguson believes the organization should be considered in the Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment project.
Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill owner Mark Ferguson has been heavily active in the St. Petersburg community since he opened the establishment in 1992.
Located in the former Gas Plant District near Tropicana Field, Ferg’s has become a hub for Tampa Bay Rays fans. In August 2025, it was ranked as the “#1 local sports bar” in America by USA Today.
At a Florida Economic Club meeting Wednesday evening, Ferguson discussed the Rays’ future in St. Petersburg amidst negotiations to build a new stadium in Tampa.
The Florida Economic Club, founded in 2009, focuses on fostering interaction between community professionals in different Florida cities, according to the organization’s website.
“I don’t know why you would want to be over in Tampa and fight with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tampa Bay Lightning over sponsorships,” Ferguson said at the gathering. “It’s easy to have your own background and city.”
The Tampa Bay Rays’ owners want a public financing agreement for a Tampa stadium by June 1, as they hope to open the proposed facility by 2029. Hillsborough County officials have said that this deadline cannot be met.
Ferguson added that he is optimistic about the team staying in the city.
Tropicana Field, once known as the Florida Suncoast Dome, was already open by the time the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were established in 1998. It first welcomed guests in 1990. In fact, the goal was to attract a major league team. Before becoming the home of the Rays, the facility hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After Hurricane Milton destroyed Tropicana Field’s roof in 2024, the City of St. Petersburg was obligated to repair the stadium to major league specifications. The cost was over $55 million.
Tropicana Field recently went through extensive renovations after experiencing damage from Hurricane Milton in 2024.
During the 2025 season, the Tampa Bay Rays played at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees’ spring training home in Tampa. This, Ferguson and other business leaders agreed, had a profound financial impact on St. Petersburg companies and dining establishments.
“The energy level was terrible,” he said. “When you have baseball, you get new people coming in all the time and they see the place and their surroundings and they go ‘it’s really nice here. I’ll think about moving here.’’”
The Tampa stadium deal, if approved, would cost more than $2 billion. Ferguson believes it would be more economical to continue to repair Tropicana Field.
To exemplify, he discussed the extensive renovations at the Toronto Blue Jays’ stadium, Rogers Centre in Canada. The facility, which opened in 1989, was modernized for a new generation of fans.
Ferguson argued that if the Rays owners, City and Pinellas County invest more capital in Tropicana Field, they can save a significant sum of money. The upper deck could be better utilized, he added.
“You don’t need a new stadium,” Ferguson said. “You need to redo that one, which they’re already doing. So, it’s common sense.”
The Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment project was also discussed. He believes that it’s important to consider the Rays in the decision making process.
Currently, the City is exploring four proposals from the Pinellas County Housing Authority, Foundation Vision Partners, The Burg Bid and ARK–Ellison–Horus. The Rays organization, Ferguson added, could partner with a proposal developer to build an “entertainment complex” in the future.
The St. Petersburg community needs to continue to support the Rays. “If you put a good product on the field and you make it better, you’ll get better attendance,” he said. “They’re playing very well right now. They have been playing very well for 15 years.”
Business leaders can do their part. Ferguson recommended that they purchase season tickets every year to give to employees, clients or even charities. This can boost attendance and fandom.
“Build your business around giving away tickets,” he added. “If we get more people going to the games, they will say ‘we need to be here.’”
Carl Plaskett
May 11, 2026at8:29 am
We attended one of the first non-hockey events at the then “Thunderdome”, so named because of it being the “home” of the Lightning where, as I recall, the record attendance for an NHL game to that date was set. Our first event(s) was during March Madness, where (I believe), the Round of 16 was played. The crowds were good, the parking was not totally finished, but adequate. After the Devil Rays arrived, we never had a problem with parking access and leaving the dome to drive home. We tried different routes: getting on I-275 and exiting at 38th Ave N, going East to 8th St S to drive North, to 38th Ave, and exiting the grass lot to the West and then Central/1st Ave N, to 28th St., and North to 38th Ave. We ultimately settled on parking at about 4th Ave. N./16th St. and walking to and from our car and then driving almost traffic-free North on 16th St. We ate at Ferg’s several times, especially when there was a small version on the NE corner of 16th and 1st Ave. S. When an injury resulted in us needing Handicapped parking, we used that in both the West and East Lots, and found the trek to be too much of an effort, and we now watch every broadcast game via recording on dvr. After attending one game in Tampa, we decided that an outdoor venue was NOT for us, and handicapped parking was more of an issue. Now with the proposed new stadium being even farther from the venue, and with the reported loss of something like 2600 parking spaces, and the competition for parking being increased by the college student/staff and possible simultaneous attendance at Raymond James Stadium events, seems like a nightmare situation. The access to the Interstate is certainly not convenient now, and there is no other major highway in any direction accessible for miles. Upgrading the Dome with more corporate boxes/etc. and adding facilities to handle off-season/year round events, along with another close-by hotel would certainly be billions of $$$ less costly.
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
May 8, 2026at8:27 am
Mr. Ferguson is a real business man with great ideas. Make sure the stadium can host concerts and conventions and other crowd draws during off season and you have a year round money maker.
You ‘thinkers’ are not thinking how to make money. We need that baseball team here.
Monty Montalvo
May 8, 2026at10:03 am
The original( progress) plan to build entertainment/ exercise & shopping gathering spot maybe with a small water park area with a new stadium in place of the trop, I thought was great for St.pete,but unfortunately mother nature ruined that plan. When you get city officials always getting in the way especially if their self interest are not monetarily met you get the doldrum effect,stagnation. Mr. Ferguson is right,stick to the original plan but just renovate the trop.that museum will be a divider a bust a money pit just like tangerine plaza.The city needs to move up and forward not backwards,look at that eyesore building on central & 4th the mayor & others are still bickering about it 3 or 4 years later.stop the museum.build a small water park instead.if the rays go I’m sure we have billionaires and millionaires (building leaders) here to get another team here.we St.pete don’t need a big park there to attract & drive up crime & homelessness to the area.
Ray Tampa
May 7, 2026at11:26 pm
Mark Ferguson makes a lot of sense. However, making sense isn’t important to a mayor who is too often lacking any sense. Instead of listening to city councilmembers who voted 6-2 for a pause in this development process, he’s full steam ahead. He is now entertaining proposals that have the Woodson Museum as the focal point of the redevelopment of Tropicana Field. Somebody, anybody make it make sense. The Woodson occupies around 4,000sf of space now and can’t do much with it. And we have proposals suggesting nearly 50,000sf for a new museum.
Again, make it make sense. This is why Welch needs to pause, bring in real, professional development consultants and get this project done right.
Peter Leon
May 7, 2026at8:36 pm
It’s too bad we can’t leave the calm vista that currently is wonderful.
John Donovan
May 7, 2026at8:08 pm
Jax Jaguars are remodeling their existing stadium. NFL is the premier USA sport, money wise. The solution for the Rays, which I’ve mentioned multiple times here, is what Ferguson said to do. Save $2 billion over the $2.4 billion for new facility / land etc.
Peter Nolan
May 7, 2026at4:53 pm
Mark Ferguson makes good points,especially how to increase attendance,also the trop could be reconfigured to make it competitive in the markets .a convention center/hotel anchor would improve the situation also. St Pete is a growing city and has amazing future potential. Keep the Rays make it work. Pn.
Steven Sullivan
May 7, 2026at8:21 pm
Stop with the outdated convention center as an anchor talk. You need a local destination draw weekly not sometimes. I say that because of the Tampa convention center as a competitor unless its scaled down and different as ARK ELLIS has proposed
John Trimble
May 7, 2026at3:59 pm
Ferg is 100% right. The redone stadium looks great. Use it. Build housing around the area. Stop overpaying players. Makes owners look like Met,Jet owners. Morons. Cheers John trimble
Melvin Junior
May 7, 2026at1:39 pm
You can’t be a legit ‘big-time’ CITY without having a state-of-the-art facility, in order to attract and then host major events. Period. I mean, do they think THEY (St. Pete) can be the only one!? They won’t be able to. And, they’re supposed to be “competing” with other cities, such as Austin, Orlando, Tampa, Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh, & so on!? Hell, they’re not even going to be able to compete with Omaha, Tulsa, Lexington, Louisville, or Birmingham LoL. They have to have a modern facility with a major hotel and convention center, anchoring the entire district, for the downtown as a whole. Period. Otherwise, they’re only wasting their time.
Melvin Junior
May 7, 2026at1:15 pm
If/when the city looses the Rays, the obvious thing to do is to build a new stadium for the Rowdies, and get them to the MLS. It’s a total no-brainer and only makes sense.
Hal Freedman
May 7, 2026at4:20 pm
Except the Rays own the Rowdies and will likely take them with them, if they move anywhere but Tampa.