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'News to me': Mayor Castor, Rays president react to blogger's claim of new stadium coming to Tampa

The topic came up during the mayor's Facebook live with the team's president ahead of the ALCS Game 4 tonight.
Credit: AP
(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

TAMPA, Fla — You might have seen a post making the rounds saying that a brand new Rays stadium is breaking ground in Tampa in two years. Well, the city's mayor and Rays president have something to say about that: "News to me."

During Tampa Mayor Jane Castor's Wednesday Facebook live with Rays President Brian Auld, ahead of tonight's ALCS Game 4, the claim came up during the questions portion.

Cator said the question from social media was regarding "new stadium deal rumors." 

“I guess there is a blogger that said that we were getting ready to break ground on the Rays stadium here in Tampa Bay. To which my response was ‘news to me,'" Castor said. 

Her response was swiftly followed by Auld's similar reaction. 

“News to me also, and I feel like at least one of us would know about that,” Auld said. 

The claim they are referring to appears to be from a tweet that garnered strong reactions on Twitter earlier this month.

The tweet claims the city of Tampa is breaking ground on a "massive state of the art stadium that will have a retractable roof." In later tweets, the blogger says the Rays will allegedly share the stadium with the Yankees and that the Phillies want in on it too.

But Castor and Auld weren't the only ones not sold on the "rumor" post with City of Tampa Spokesperson Ashley Bauman replying "Who's this 'source'?"

Auld did share that the Rays are continuing to work on the sister-city idea, and that is a major part of the team's future that he looks forward to discussing with the Tampa Bay region in the future. Finishing this season and dealing with more pressing concerns around COVID-19 comes first, according to Auld.

Though if all of that was not clear enough, Auld and Castor doubled down on the claims being just that...claims. 

“We're excited about it. We're working on it. Let’s state the obvious in that it's on the back burner right now. Plenty of stuff occupying our time,” Auld said.

“Without a doubt. Like you say you state the obvious, it’s important but there are a few issues that are a little more important right now," Castor followed.

You can watch the full moment below: 

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