Welch ‘definitely’ open to talking same deal with new Rays owner

Editor’s note: This story was produced for Poliverse, a new politics brand and the first feature built on the Cityverse platform. Poliverse – launching soon – will feature hyper-local reporting, insider perspectives, citizen voices and more engaging political content.

Reports of the death of the Historic Gas Plant District deal may be premature, Poliverse can exclusively reveal – but legislative agreement may be much harder to come by than it was in 2023.

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said that he considered the deal offered to Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg, which was formally terminated last month, to be a basis for negotiation with the incoming Zalupski ownership group, which is in advanced talks to purchase the Rays for $1.7 billion.

“If they came and wanted the same offer, we’d definitely have a conversation,” Welch said in an interview Thursday. 

He stopped short of supporting a renewed deal as-is, however. Welch highlighted the changed realities both the City and the Rays will face, thanks particularly to the City assuming development rights to the 86 acres underlying the Gas Plant deal. While the Historic Gas Plant deal collapsed, rights to redevelop the land the stadium was built on had already been transferred from the Rays to the City and were not affected by the deal’s termination.

“Probably the biggest unspoken or unknown part of the deal is that those development rights are the City’s now; they’re not the Rays’ after 30 years,” Welch said. “That gives us a very, very strong negotiating position now.

“To me that changes some of the key points of that agreement, namely the price of the land.”

Welch admitted that Administration had not yet spoken to the incoming ownership group headed by DreamFinders CEO Patrick Zalupski; a scheduled meeting was cancelled by Zalupski’s team. However, he expressed confidence that this would still take place and that the new ownership group could bring renewed focus to a long-term, local solution for the Rays that included St. Petersburg. 

Even if an agreement can be made with Zalupski, who is thought to favor a Hillsborough County option, the political math is also daunting. The original deal was passed by a razor thin 5-3 margin in City Council – a tied vote is a “no” based on Council rules. The Pinellas County Commission, meanwhile, lost two deal supporters in Democrats Charlie Justice and Janet Long after the 2024 elections; they were replaced by deal skeptics Chris Scherer and Vince Nowicki, both Republicans. Their accession partially prompted the delay in approving the stadium bonds and, ultimately, the original deal’s collapse. 

Neither ultimately voted to approve the bonds, and much of that money has since been earmarked for beach renourishment efforts.

Welch was nevertheless optimistic when asked about seeking approval. “We might have improved leverage at the county level,” he said, due to the relationship Zalupski has with Governor Ron DeSantis and other senior Republican politicians at the state level. Zalupski was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the University of Florida by DeSantis and was known to be his strong supporter.

Commission Chair Brian Scott, a deal supporter, believes “blue sky is still there” regarding County support for retaining the Rays, but that it would be a challenge as they lean into much-needed beach renourishment for hard-hit Gulf towns.

“The one thing on the County Commission that has changed is that we ran scenarios regarding beach nourishment. If we had to do it 100% on our own in perpetuity, and fund the stadium, and fund Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, and do something for the Phillies – we could do it, but it’d be tight,” said Scott. “Now we are spending $125 million on beach renourishment.

“I think the appetite for baseball spending has changed,” warned Scott. “I believe there will be majority consensus for ‘yeah, we want to keep the Rays in St. Petersburg.’ It comes down to – what is the number?”

The St. Petersburg City Council will be the bigger challenge. Even deal supporters were lukewarm or dismissive when the idea of going back to the Gas Plant deal was presented to them.

In a statement Councilmember Gina Driscoll, widely considered to be the decisive swing vote on the original 5-3 passage, said, “The Tampa Bay Rays belong in St. Petersburg. I would welcome the opportunity to work with team ownership on a new plan with new terms.”

When pressed, Driscoll agreed only that portions of the original deal may be “a starting point” for future negotiations.

Councilmember Mike Harting, who has been a skeptic of the deal and replaced “yes”’ voter Ed Montanari on the Council, made clear he did not anticipate re-assessing the Gas Plant deal. “My reaction is that I think we’ve got enough on our plate now. I feel like that ship has sailed.

“It’s not something that I have an appetite for.”

Harting added that between the City’s St. Pete Agile Resiliency (SPAR) initiative and the need to multiply by three times the amount of local roads that the City is replacing, he did not see how any public expenditure on a new stadium was possible. 

Councilmember Brandi Gabbard, a “yes” vote on the Gas Plant deal who is widely rumored to be a mayoral contender in 2026, was dismissive of the possibility that the same deal could even be considered.

“We have a lot of priorities we need to get under control,” she said, citing infrastructure and homelessness specifically. “I definitely know that my priorities have shifted.

“If anyone is looking at our City the same way they did in July of 2024, they are missing what’s going in people’s lives.”