Tampa Rays? Not in this town.

As the Rays' national reputation soars, it seems the team is having a bit of an identity crisis. National journalists have been calling the team the Tampa Rays. Read more about it in Craig Pittman's story in Tuesday's paper.

What do you think? Would a new stadium send a message that the Rays belong to St. Pete? Or does all this just mean the team needs to change its name to the St. Petersburg Rays, like Mayor Rick Baker has called for?

Does it even matter that these media giants can't get a simple fact like location straight?

Stadium Plan Delayed Indefinitely

Tampa Bay Rays president Matt Silverman talks with reporters at a press conference at the Valpak facility near Gandy Blvd. [Edmund D. Fountain, Times]

UPDATE (3:38) The conference just finished. Bay News 9 ended up not airing it live.

Rays President Matt Silverman is on TV now: "We are withdrawing our proposal and we will no longer be seeking a November referendum on a waterfront ballpark."

Why?

"There has not been sufficient support for the timelime that we put forth."

It is up to the community now to decide what to do about the stadium, Silverman says.

"Our discussion has brought us together despite our differences on many points...Today the Rays are passing the torch to the community and a new coalition."

"We are very optimistic that with the work of this community coalition that a plan will come together to keep Major League Baseball in St. Pete for years to come."

UPDATE (4 p.m.) Mayor Rick Baker is on TV now. He is praising the Rays' commitment to St. Petersburg.

Jeff Lyash, CEO of Progress Energy, will head up the community coalition on the stadium.

UPDATE ( 4:07) Lyash says he is excited to be involved.

"I have watched and listened and participated in the debate on the waterfront stadium over the last few months...I have been most impressed by the common ground that exists between all parties."

Lyash says the community needs to "step up its game" and support the Rays.

UPDATE (4:30) The Rays stadium proposal has been delayed indefinitely, not until 2010 as some elected officials said earlier today. Lyash's coalition will work to develop a new timeline.

-Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer

It's 9 a.m. Here's what I know

Here's what I'm hearing:

• The city is preparing to announce the creation of some type of committee to explore potential locations for a new stadium. Progress Energy boss Jeff Lyash may be named the chair.
• The Archstone bid may be not for nothing. It is entirely possible and in fact likely, that the city will still continue to pursue both a full and partial redevelopment (with a new stadium) of Tropicana Field. (There is no real legal recourse for the developers, by the way).
• The debate most likely will turn with what to do with Al Lang. As you may remember, the City Council was pretty clear in saying it's not going to let the electorate make land use planning decisions for the city. The city has said it would perform a visioning process for that site.
• On a referendum, a stadium not on the waterfront will not require a referendum. Before the Rays announced their plans for a waterfront ballpark, every public official I spoke with said any new ballpark plan would have to be approved by referendum. In the last month or so, everyone's talk became much more muddled.
• The new stadium will now likely fall to the next mayor, not Rick Baker. If Kathleen Ford (who said she's not running) would become mayor, that's really bad news for the Rays. The team's new best friends may be Bill Foster, Jamie Bennett, Ken Welch or anyone else who seems interested in helping the Rays get a new stadium --- but under the "right" circumstances.

Rays' presentation to TDC

Here is a copy of the Rays' presentation they made to the TDC on Wednesday, if you're interested. (Probably a big file to open).