ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — The proposed deal for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium is in jeopardy, the team’s presidents told Pinellas County commissioners just hours before a crucial vote.

Pinellas County Commissioners were slated to vote Tuesday on whether to approve bonds to help pay for a new stadium, but the vote was delayed until December 17.

“We’re getting gaslighted as a commission by the Rays to be ‘hey, we’re the bad guys’, but now it kind of feels also from my colleagues, that my election is being made a scapegoat of why we’re delaying this,” said District 3 Commissioner Vince Nowicki.

Nowicki was vocal about his opposition to the deal, and said the commission will find that the Gas Plant is ‘a terrible deal’.

In a 6 to 1 vote, commissioners will allow time for the newly seated commissioners to get up to speed on the project, and try to get all their questions answered.

“Your opportunity to put your imprint on a generational project this big does not come around often. You guys were just sworn in last night this may very well be the biggest vote of your political career,” said Commission Vice Chair Brian Scott.

This comes after what looked to be a major setback: Tropicana Field sustained damage from Hurricane Milton that included its roof being torn off by the storm’s fierce winds. It is estimated that the damage would take over $55 million to repair.

Hours before Tuesday’s vote, the Rays organization sent a letter to the Pinellas County Commission acknowledging the deal is in jeopardy, but expressing interest in still working together for a new solution.

According to the letter from Rays Presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman, Rays staff plan to be at the meeting and will “listen carefully.”

“I think that the Rays strategy sucks to be perfectly honest with you,” said Scott. “I think it has for quite some time. They are horrible communicators and I think they are the most politically tone death organization I’ve ever met in my life.”

Earlier this year, St. Petersburg city leaders and county officials, along with the Tampa Bay Rays, signed a multi-billion dollar deal to keep the Rays in Tampa Bay and build a new stadium in St. Petersburg. But after the recent hurricanes damaged Tropicana Field and many Pinellas County beaches, some county leaders have expressed concerns and are considering pumping the brakes on funding the project.

The Rays organization said any further setbacks could delay the construction timeline and cause the deal to fall apart.

In a conversation Scott said he had with Rays President Brian Auld, Scott said Auld told him he was trying to hold the deal together because revenue projections and cost estimates for the project had gone in the wrong direction. Scott told the County Administrator, who is the chief negotiator of the deal, about it.

“I thought it was important for him, as the chief negotiator of the deal, to know that this deal may be going south, they may be sticking their toe in the water in other markets and they may want to renegotiate this deal,” said Scott. “And by sticking their toe in other markets, I’m not talking about Tampa.”

The letter stated that finishing the project by the 2028 season would be impossible and completing it by 2029 “would result in significantly higher costs that we are not able to absorb alone.”

“We suspended work on the entire project – the ballpark and the Historic Gas Plant District development,” the letter stated.

In a statement, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said, “The journey of the Historic Gas Plant development has been a long and complicated process. I still believe the fundamentals and economic benefit of the 30-year plan is strong. The city of St. Petersburg is committed to honoring its obligations. This important project can move forward if our partners do the same.”

All of this comes just days after the team announced it would play its 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees, in Tampa. In the letter, Alud and Silverman addressed controversy sparked by the decision, which included criticism that they chose to play across the bay, rather than in Pinellas County.

“BayCare Ballpark in Pinellas County and other ballparks in the Tampa Bay region were considered as potential homes for the 2025 Rays regular season,” the letter stated. “We determined that we could not get BayCare Ballpark into a condition where it could host regular season Major League Baseball games by Opening Day in March.”

Nowicki asked if the Rays reached out and apologized for not reaching out about where they were going to play. The county administrator Barry Burton said they did not. Nowicki started questioning the negotiations on the deal.

“To read that the Rays are going to pay the Yankees $15 million next year to play over in Tampa but they are only playing the county $1 million a year if we build a new stadium, I mean how does that make you feel as a negotiator….to me that’s like, a bad deal right?” Nowicki asked.

“No, not at all,” said Burton. “To answer your question, we spent two years on this. I looked at every single major league baseball and arena and district that’s been built around the country. We had Inner Circle Sports that are experts in these types of facilities. We had outside bond counsel that has been involved in almost every major league arena or baseball stadium, or football stadium….in the totality of it we think that it’s a fair deal.”

Commissioners also voiced concerns about wanting to focus on recovering from the hurricanes, specifically with beach restoration.

In July, the commission voted to invest $312.5 million in public financing for the stadium using the Tourist Development Tax revenue to pay off the debt. Those taxes are restricted and, by law, cannot be used to pay for many Pinellas County projects.