Tampa Bay Rays president Chris Auld believes that having the team play a full season in St. Petersburg, Fla., is no longer sustainable.
“We’ve concluded that it’s next to impossible that full-season baseball can succeed in Tampa Bay today,” Auld told Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal while speaking addressing a crowd at the Café con Tampa speaker series.
Auld mentioned the proposal of splitting an MLB season between Tampa Bay and Montreal, the home of the former Expos franchise.
The lease at Tropicana Field, where the Rays currently play, expires after 2027. The team has been looking for a new stadium as the current site is located far from the region’s primary population center in Tampa, forcing fans to deal with a long commute and heavy traffic across the water.
“We’re not missing by a few thousand people a night. We’re less than half from where we need to be with an absolutely incredible team,” Auld said in his speech. “The sister city plan deserves a chance to be heard by open minds.”
Auld's comments come after the St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman said in a Le Journal de Montreal report that the team is in favour of a two-city option for playing their home games.
“The Rays are really interested in playing the start of the season here in St. Petersburg and the rest of the campaign in Montreal," Kriseman said. "They’re seriously considering this option."
According to Le Journal, negotiations are continuing to take place between Quebec businessman, Stephen Bronfman, and the provincial government, to purchase land in Montreal's Peel Basin area to build a new stadium.
Tampa Bay had to change course after they planned on promoting a two-city partnership with Montreal during the post-season. The team would walk those plans back with an apology.
Bronfman's father, Charles, owned the Montreal Expos from 1968 to 1990.
