Gallagher: Tampa Bay-Montreal shared city concept thrown out by St. Petersburg's mayor
The Tampa Bay Rays will not be playing games at Olympic Stadium in Montreal any time soon.
December 5, 2019
By Danny Gallagher
Canadian Baseball Network
That far-fetched, nonsensical idea of the Tampa Bay Rays playing a bunch of regular-season games in Montreal in the next few years got the kibosh on Wednesday.
Rick Kriseman, the mayor of St. Petersburg, threw cold water on the concept of shared games beginning in 2024 when he announced the end of negotiations with the Rays in a public letter to city council.
"In line with the existing agreement, if the Rays organization wishes to continue to explore the possibility of the shared season concept with Montreal, this exploration should be limited to the 2028 season and beyond," Kriseman said.
Kriseman was referring to the originally signed use agreement, forcing the Rays to remain at dilapidated Tropicana Field until 2027.
"Both parties have agreed that the best way forward is to respect the existing agreement," Kriseman's letter said.
The mayor further said that the current agreement allows the Rays to consider other possibilities following the end of the 2027 season.
Which means, folks, an eternity away. That's almost 10 years from now.
Back in June, Major League Baseball's executive committee had granted approval to the Rays to explore the idea of sharing half of their 81-game schedule with Montreal, beginning in 2024.
Like I have written before, I believe that Rays owner Stuart Sternberg will be given approval to sell his team to Montreal interests in the next few years because trying to make baseball work in that part of Florida is like trying to flog a dead horse.
"The Rays can't live with their current situation for another eight seasons,'' Expos fan Dan Smith said in a Facebook post today. "There's no common ground between the Rays and St. Pete's. Something will have to give.
"Sternberg should just sell the team to the Montreal group, move the team to break the lease and fight it out in court.''
The other option is the expansion route for Montreal but when is that going to take place? And there is no guarantee that MLB owners would pick Montreal as an expansion city.