Bay Area Mayors, Business Leaders Talk Rays

Two Bay area mayors sat down Tuesday to discuss something of interest to both of them: the future of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster, along with Bay area business leaders, met Tuesday to discuss the baseball franchise and how to best approach the future with the team as a regional asset.

According to Bay News 9's partner newspaper the Tampa Bay Times, Foster organized the meeting, which took place at the Tampa offices of the Tampa Bay Partnership, a nonprofit regional marketing and economic development organization.

The community and business leaders used the meeting to talk about how to generate overall interest from area businesses and boost public support of the team. They did not specifically talk about Tropicana Field or any stadium issues.

Last season, the Rays had the second lowest ticket sales in Major League Baseball.

The overall goal for both mayors is to make sure the team stays in the Bay area, officials said.

"Irrespective of any other discussion,'' Buckhorn said, "the most important discussion is that the Rays are financially healthy, that they're successful, that they've got a great team coming up in 2012 and we need to support them."

Other attendees at the meeting included Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce president Bob Rohrlack, St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce president Chris Steinocher, St. Petersburg chamber chairman David Punzak, Tampa Bay Partnership president Stuart Rogel and partnership chairman Vinny Dolan, the chief executive of Progress Energy Florida.

Chamber of Commerce presidents from Tampa and St. Petersburg said they are hoping to bring more people to their annual Rays' luncheon in an effort to generate more interest in the team this upcoming season