Page 17 - aruba-today-20181215

A17
Saturday 15 december 2018

Rays reopen

ballpark

site search;

opening

delayed

until 2024

By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Rays
owner Stuart Sternberg will
reopen the site search for
a new ballpark after con-
cluding plans for a stadium
in Tampa’s Ybor City area
can’t be finalized by this
month’s deadline.
Sternberg said any new
ballpark can’t open until
at least 2024 and the team
must start thinking about
where it will play when its
lease at St. Petersburg’s
Tropicana Field ends after
the 2027 season.
“We’ll continue to look
in Tampa Bay and we’ll
put our efforts to that,” he
said during a news confer-
ence Tuesday at the winter
meetings.
“One way or another, we
need to figure out a where
the team is going to be in
2028, if not sooner. Ideally Harden’s 50-point triple-double
sooner. But absolutely by
2028.” leads Rockets over Lakers
Baseball Commissioner
Rob Manfred has said the
sport will not consider ex-
pansion until the Rays and
Oakland Athletics get new Houston Rockets’ James Harden (13) reacts after dunk-
ballparks. ing the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first
The A’s announced plans
on Nov. 28 for a new sta- half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018, in
dium near downtown and Houston.
are working to gain ap- Associated Press
provals. Page 19
Montreal and Portland, Or-
egon, are seeking a team.
Tampa Bay has played
since its first season in 1998
at what is now called Tropi-
cana Field.
The St. Petersburg City
Council voted in early 2016
to give the Rays through
December 2018 to search
throughout the Tampa Bay
area, and the Rays un-
veiled a ballpark design for
Ybor City in July.q