ST. PETERSBURG — As the Tampa Bay Rays face a March deadline that could decide the fate of a $1.3 billion baseball stadium and surrounding development, principal owner Stuart Sternberg said Monday they are still deciding what to do.

It’s on the Rays to show by March 31 that they have met a checklist of obligations that would unlock public funding for the project, including whether the team has its share of $700 million. If not, the team would be in default and the agreements approved by St. Petersburg and Pinellas County last summer could unwind.

“We’ll decide how we want to proceed at that point, well before that point,” said Sternberg, who on Monday attended Suncoast Tiger Bay’s State of the Bay event at the Vinoy Golf Club. “We have to make a decision, so we’ll have something by then.”

Asked what would help drive that decision, Sternberg said he didn’t know. “I’ll make sure our organization does what’s necessary to meet whatever conditions we need to meet,” he said.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, left, and Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector, look on as St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch answers a question during the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club State of the Bay 2025 featuring three Tampa Bay mayors: Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector, at the Vinoy Golf Club Sunset Ballroom, 600 Snell Isle Blvd NE on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in St. Petersburg.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, left, and Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector, look on as St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch answers a question during the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club State of the Bay 2025 featuring three Tampa Bay mayors: Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector, at the Vinoy Golf Club Sunset Ballroom, 600 Snell Isle Blvd NE on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in St. Petersburg. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

Sternberg, flanked by Rays president Brian Auld and spokesperson Rafaela A. Amador Fink, had a close-up seat at the State of the Bay. The annual event hosts the mayors of Tampa Bay’s three biggest cities for a question-and-answer session. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector all fielded questions about the Rays’ future in Tampa Bay.

Sternberg wouldn’t say how much more money the Rays need to open a new stadium by 2029, a year later than planned. The team has said it cannot cover rising costs caused by delays in earlier votes by the county and city and the impact of playing elsewhere since Tropicana Field had its roof blown off during Hurricane Milton. The Rays will play their 2025 season at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field.

Sternberg declined to discuss whether he is considering a sale of the team’s majority stake.

Before the panel, Welch told the Tampa Bay Times that the Rays are “the last piece of this, really, since I came into office for my administration, but for prior administrations as well” to bring the Historic Gas Plant District project to fruition. The overall $6.5 billion redevelopment plan includes building a stadium surrounded by condos, hotels, affordable housing, a Black history museum, office space, shops and restaurants.

Welch met with Sternberg last week and has another meeting with him Tuesday to ask if Sternberg has made any progress in his thinking on the deal and if the team is prepared to meet its obligations. He said the city and the Rays have “reached another issue that we need to work through” but said to ask Sternberg what that specific issue is.

Welch said they’ve talked about the Rays’ position of having increased costs because of the county’s delayed votes, but said he still hasn’t seen anything that itemizes or shows what that cost is in terms of dollars.

“I don’t know if that’s still an issue for them or not, but we need to get some certainty,” Welch said, adding that he wants to be “clear and transparent” about what the potential path forward looks like at his State of the City address on Feb. 4.

Asked at the event if he regretted throwing out past plans to redevelop Tropicana Field set in motion by his predecessor, former Mayor Rick Kriseman, Welch said he would not do anything over again.

“All we need is for our closer to close the game. That closer is the Rays,” Welch said. “We are this close and I wouldn’t do anything differently.”

Clearwater Mayor Rector was asked about the comments he made when the Rays decided to spend the upcoming season in Tampa instead of Pinellas County. He said since the new stadium deal is being paid for with $312.5 million out of the tourist tax chest, of which Clearwater generates about 40%, he was disappointed something couldn’t work out at BayCare Ballpark, the spring training home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

“So with that funding mechanism to the stadium, we would have liked to see the Rays give us more consideration,” Rector said. And should the Trop not be fixed in time for the 2026 season, “We stand ready,” he said.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor was asked if any of the “strife” in St. Petersburg open an opportunity for Tampa to take a third run to get the Rays to move across the bay permanently.

“That would be going against your family member,” Castor said. “We made a proposal, which I thought was very solid proposal … and Pinellas and St. Pete made a proposal as well. Once that choice was made, we are standing behind St. Pete, Pinellas and the Rays to keep them here.”