Rays, St. Petersburg announce news conference expected to include ballpark details

The Tampa Bay Rays and the city of St. Petersburg have announced a press conference for Tuesday that’s expected to include finalized details about a new ballpark in downtown. It’s a potentially big moment for the playoff-bound franchise, which has fielded competitive teams over the past several years, but struggled to draw fans to Tropicana Field, which is widely-regarded as one of the worst facilities in Major League Baseball. The Rays have played in St. Petersburg since 1998. They are drawling 17,778 fans per game this season, which ranks 27th out of 30 big league teams. It’s among a multitude of reasons the Rays usually have among the lowest payrolls in the sport.