[EmpireWF]

MLB.com reports the Tampa Bay Rays are not seeking state aid to help them build a new baseball park in the St. Petersburg waterfront area of Florida.

"According to a report in [the] St. Petersburg Times, the Rays will not seek state aid for their proposed $450-million stadium on the team's current Spring Training site, Al Lang Field, on the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront.

Rays senior VP Michael Kalt said the team won't push for a state sales tax rebate during the 2008 session, nor will the decision halt or delay the team's plans for a 35,000 seat, open-air stadium.

Initial funding plans for the stadium called for the Rays to contribute as much as $150 million that would be coupled with proceeds from the sale of development rights to Tropicana Field. In addition, the team wanted to find a private developer to construct a large retail/residential complex where Tropicana Field sits.

Without state funding, it is unclear if the proposed stadium plan will need to be altered. Another unknown is how much money would be generated by the redevelopment of Tropicana Field.

While the Rays don't plan to push for state funding in 2008, Kalt told them Times such a push could be reintroduced in 2009 in the form of a sales tax rebate that would be paid out in $2 million increments over 30 years."