The playoff-bound Tampa Bay Rays are putting the finishing touches on plans for a new 30,000-seat ballpark in St. Petersburg as part of a huge $6 billion development project that includes affordable housing, retail, bars and restaurants and a Black history museum. The site is on the same 86-acre tract of downtown land where Tropicana Field now sits. That domed, oddly-tilted ballpark will be demolished once the new one is built, in time for Opening Day 2028, said Brian Auld, co-president of the Rays, in an interview Monday. The plan, which still has some political hurdles on funding and approvals to clear, would keep the Rays in St. Petersburg for the foreseeable future despite constant talk of the team moving across the bay to Tampa, possibly to Nashville, Tennessee, and even a plan to split home games with Montreal that was shot down by Major League Baseball. “We're going to be here for a very long time,” Auld said. More: https://www.wtsp.com/article/sports/mlb/rays/stadium-saga/tampa-bay-rays-stadium-tropicana-field-redevelopment/67-27ae2afd-fe16-468f-bf31-6c915e7504db