April 8, 2026 • 8 mins
Ryan talks with Florida Politics Publisher Peter Schorsch who shares the latest on Rays ballpark negotiations and discusses Bob Buckhorn and Charlie Crist raising money as they consider mayoral bids.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah
Accident Attorneys from Tampa. Let's go to the hotline and
bring in the publisher of Florida Politics, Peter Shres. You
can find all of his work and all of his
teams reporting and sign up for the Sunburned newsletters so
you get the scoops every morning rite in your inbox
at Florida Politics dot com. And Peter want to go
(00:23):
back to Monday opening day at the trop You had
both Tampa may Or Jane Caster and Saint Pete Mayor
Ken Welsh throwing out the first pitch. And this all
comes as this ballpark situation continues to unfold with negotiations
taking place behind the scenes. What have you heard about
where those negotiations stand.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Man, Brian, I gotta tell you, if I end up
writing the Great American novel one day, I swear the
scene Monday well at Tropicana, it was like, I just
keep thinking about it. It's like a modern day China tale.
There's just so many characters and so many twists and turns,
and you see all these folks involved. You see Ken
(01:05):
Welch and Jane Caster, but you also see Ronda Santi
is coming in. You see former Speaker Will Weatherford, you
see the new Ray's owners, you see the Tampa Sports
Authority people, just you see the Orlando Dreamers people kind
of hanging around like hoping. They're like hoping that the
you know, the divorce goes through, and then they get
(01:26):
to break through. And there's just so many And you know,
our friend Charlie christ is there. He's he's gonna probably
be part of this narrative at some point, or he
is or whatever.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So I keep going. My number one.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Thing was the question that the Tampa Bay Times kind
of asked going away.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Can the Rays even build a stadium by twenty twenty nine?
And I think that's the.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Most fascinating question right now, even more so than the
public financing, because so much of the deals are ending
after twenty twenty eight. The cities deal with the Rays
ends after twenty twenty eight. You have the labor, the
possibility of a labor strike, and whether or not the
Raise Wolfs played three full stadiums at that point, are
three full seasons at that point to a good point,
And so there's a lot about, you know, and now
(02:13):
we're getting to it where the Rays are eyeing a
May vote, and they swear they've got four to three
lined up.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And I will tell you I don't know that they
I will not say that they can't get the four
to three.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I as of this morning, I do not believe they
are at four to three.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I had one jownty commissioner who's a key vote.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I saw them at the VIP ten before that, and
they said, you know, there's so many people that say
that they talk to me. And this person said, I
promise I am not talking to anybody about this still.
And so the idea that the vote is there four
to three, which is what they will need from the
county commission and then the City of Tampa and everything
like that, that's not there.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
And so man, I mean it's as I will say,
it's as that.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
It's as in flux as it has been as it
gets as more details get revealed. So like I said,
it's crazy, it's Chinatown. I mean it literally is that
last line from Chinatown.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
We're joined by the publisher of Florida Politics, Peter Shorsch.
How much sway do you think Governor DeSantis has, if any,
in this process? Clearly he's close to the owner, Patrick Zulupski.
But we're talking local Tampa Bay area politics in play here.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Is there a role for him? I don't think he's hurting.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I think having the governor there with some of the
more conservative members of the County Commission, Josh Wostel, Christine Robbinson,
et cetera, that probably helps. But then I think there's
probably some local Republicans that aren't on Rohnda Santis's Christmas
list Christmas card lists that are, you know, probably talking
(03:56):
to these same politicians and maybe aren't inclined to do
what rond DeSantis wants.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
And you know, there's a lot of clips out there.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
The clip that I see the most about Ronda Santis
is saying how he was never going to allow for
public money to go to a new race stadium, and yeah,
they're getting around that by giving away like, yeah, I'm
not gonna let you have any of my money, but
here's my house, right, I mean, what's the difference.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And so he's doing that.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
You know, he did the same thing with the with
the Hillsboro College Land and so Hillsborough Community, Yeah, Hillsboro
College Land. So you know, just seeing seeing the governor
on Monday, seeing like he got warmly greeted.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Both at the game and at Fergs afterwards.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It was kind of another scene where the owners left
the game or after the game the Rays win, they
went over and kind of celebrated at.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Ferg's, the sports bar across the street from Tropic Cana.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So, you know, I put it a twenty five percent
that Ron DeSantis is probably going to be working with
or doing something for the race after he leaves the
Governor's mansion. I think that that's probably a viable thing
he loves. I mean, he treats more about baseball. The
only thing he treats more about than baseball is golf.
And so if he can somehow like run a golf
(05:13):
tournament for the Rais, I think that would be his
perfect postcreatingatorial job at this point.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, we're joined by the publisher of Florida Politics, Peter Shorsch. Again,
he can find all of his work and all of
his teams reporting at Florida politics dot com. Let's talk
about two very well known names here in the Tampa
Bay area, former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and former congressman
and governor And I mean long list Charlie Christ both
(05:39):
angling for mayoral runs and both raising a lot of
money in order to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, and you know, disclosure wise, you know, my wife
is running the committee for Charlie Crist in the event
that he does run for mayor, which looks more and
more certain. There was a little bit of a slowdown
when his mother passed a couple weeks ago, and so
there was a there was.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Just a moment hesitation.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I think he wanted to take a moment of contemplation,
I should say. But they're both raising something like five
hundred thousand dollars a quarter, if not more, and they'll
both get to probably the summer with something like two
million dollars for their respective races. I think that's an
indication of willingness of Democrats, that there's still money underneath
(06:25):
the coach or the couch cushions that Democrats want to
donate to them. I also think it's interesting that up
until maybe this week, that those two guys were the
leading fundraisers in the Florida Democratic universe right now, and
that it wasn't David Jolly. Although it looks like David
(06:46):
Jolly has gotten a little bit of a pickup since
the special election wins by the Democrats a week and
a half ago.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So it's weird.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I think in some parts that Bob Corn, Charlie Cris
and maybe Anette to Dao are going to be on
the ballot in twenty But you know what's interesting is
is like we see, we see that the Democrats that
are winning these special elections are like the guy in Texas,
are like David Jolly, that they are kind of religious,
(07:14):
kind of more moderate, and dare I say, white men
that are defeating Republicans in some of these special elections,
and it looks to be who is being recruited to
win for Democrats in twenty twenty six. So yeah, these
are some old hands, but the old playbook may be
what the new Democratic Party needs to get back into power.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
The publisher of Florida Politics, Peter Shoorch again. You can
check out all of his work and all of his
team's fantastic reporting and sign up for that Sunburned newsletter
so you get the latest first thing every morning in
you're inbox at Florida Politics dot com. Peter, great stuff
this morning, Thanks so much. We'll talk to you soon. Ryan,
Thanks for having me on Man listen live to
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Have at Ryan Gordman Show on the Heart Radio every
weekday morning on WIOD and Miami, w f l A
and Tampa, presented by Farah and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa,
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah
Accident Attorneys from Tampa. Let's go to the hotline and
bring in the publisher of Florida Politics, Peter Shres. You
can find all of his work and all of his
teams reporting and sign up for the Sunburned newsletters so
you get the scoops every morning rite in your inbox
at Florida Politics dot com. And Peter want to go
(00:23):
back to Monday opening day at the trop You had
both Tampa may Or Jane Caster and Saint Pete Mayor
Ken Welsh throwing out the first pitch. And this all
comes as this ballpark situation continues to unfold with negotiations
taking place behind the scenes. What have you heard about
where those negotiations stand.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Man, Brian, I gotta tell you, if I end up
writing the Great American novel one day, I swear the
scene Monday well at Tropicana, it was like, I just
keep thinking about it. It's like a modern day China tale.
There's just so many characters and so many twists and turns,
and you see all these folks involved. You see Ken
(01:05):
Welch and Jane Caster, but you also see Ronda Santi
is coming in. You see former Speaker Will Weatherford, you
see the new Ray's owners, you see the Tampa Sports
Authority people, just you see the Orlando Dreamers people kind
of hanging around like hoping. They're like hoping that the
you know, the divorce goes through, and then they get
(01:26):
to break through. And there's just so many And you know,
our friend Charlie christ is there. He's he's gonna probably
be part of this narrative at some point, or he
is or whatever.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So I keep going. My number one.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Thing was the question that the Tampa Bay Times kind
of asked going away.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Can the Rays even build a stadium by twenty twenty nine?
And I think that's the.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Most fascinating question right now, even more so than the
public financing, because so much of the deals are ending
after twenty twenty eight. The cities deal with the Rays
ends after twenty twenty eight. You have the labor, the
possibility of a labor strike, and whether or not the
Raise Wolfs played three full stadiums at that point, are
three full seasons at that point to a good point,
And so there's a lot about, you know, and now
(02:13):
we're getting to it where the Rays are eyeing a
May vote, and they swear they've got four to three
lined up.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And I will tell you I don't know that they
I will not say that they can't get the four
to three.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I as of this morning, I do not believe they
are at four to three.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I had one jownty commissioner who's a key vote.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I saw them at the VIP ten before that, and
they said, you know, there's so many people that say
that they talk to me. And this person said, I
promise I am not talking to anybody about this still.
And so the idea that the vote is there four
to three, which is what they will need from the
county commission and then the City of Tampa and everything
like that, that's not there.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
And so man, I mean it's as I will say,
it's as that.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
It's as in flux as it has been as it
gets as more details get revealed. So like I said,
it's crazy, it's Chinatown. I mean it literally is that
last line from Chinatown.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
We're joined by the publisher of Florida Politics, Peter Shorsch.
How much sway do you think Governor DeSantis has, if any,
in this process? Clearly he's close to the owner, Patrick Zulupski.
But we're talking local Tampa Bay area politics in play here.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Is there a role for him? I don't think he's hurting.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I think having the governor there with some of the
more conservative members of the County Commission, Josh Wostel, Christine Robbinson,
et cetera, that probably helps. But then I think there's
probably some local Republicans that aren't on Rohnda Santis's Christmas
list Christmas card lists that are, you know, probably talking
(03:56):
to these same politicians and maybe aren't inclined to do
what rond DeSantis wants.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
And you know, there's a lot of clips out there.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
The clip that I see the most about Ronda Santis
is saying how he was never going to allow for
public money to go to a new race stadium, and yeah,
they're getting around that by giving away like, yeah, I'm
not gonna let you have any of my money, but
here's my house, right, I mean, what's the difference.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And so he's doing that.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
You know, he did the same thing with the with
the Hillsboro College Land and so Hillsborough Community, Yeah, Hillsboro
College Land. So you know, just seeing seeing the governor
on Monday, seeing like he got warmly greeted.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Both at the game and at Fergs afterwards.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It was kind of another scene where the owners left
the game or after the game the Rays win, they
went over and kind of celebrated at.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Ferg's, the sports bar across the street from Tropic Cana.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So, you know, I put it a twenty five percent
that Ron DeSantis is probably going to be working with
or doing something for the race after he leaves the
Governor's mansion. I think that that's probably a viable thing
he loves. I mean, he treats more about baseball. The
only thing he treats more about than baseball is golf.
And so if he can somehow like run a golf
(05:13):
tournament for the Rais, I think that would be his
perfect postcreatingatorial job at this point.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, we're joined by the publisher of Florida Politics, Peter Shorsch. Again,
he can find all of his work and all of
his teams reporting at Florida politics dot com. Let's talk
about two very well known names here in the Tampa
Bay area, former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and former congressman
and governor And I mean long list Charlie Christ both
(05:39):
angling for mayoral runs and both raising a lot of
money in order to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, and you know, disclosure wise, you know, my wife
is running the committee for Charlie Crist in the event
that he does run for mayor, which looks more and
more certain. There was a little bit of a slowdown
when his mother passed a couple weeks ago, and so
there was a there was.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Just a moment hesitation.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I think he wanted to take a moment of contemplation,
I should say. But they're both raising something like five
hundred thousand dollars a quarter, if not more, and they'll
both get to probably the summer with something like two
million dollars for their respective races. I think that's an
indication of willingness of Democrats, that there's still money underneath
(06:25):
the coach or the couch cushions that Democrats want to
donate to them. I also think it's interesting that up
until maybe this week, that those two guys were the
leading fundraisers in the Florida Democratic universe right now, and
that it wasn't David Jolly. Although it looks like David
(06:46):
Jolly has gotten a little bit of a pickup since
the special election wins by the Democrats a week and
a half ago.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So it's weird.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I think in some parts that Bob Corn, Charlie Cris
and maybe Anette to Dao are going to be on
the ballot in twenty But you know what's interesting is
is like we see, we see that the Democrats that
are winning these special elections are like the guy in Texas,
are like David Jolly, that they are kind of religious,
(07:14):
kind of more moderate, and dare I say, white men
that are defeating Republicans in some of these special elections,
and it looks to be who is being recruited to
win for Democrats in twenty twenty six. So yeah, these
are some old hands, but the old playbook may be
what the new Democratic Party needs to get back into power.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
The publisher of Florida Politics, Peter Shoorch again. You can
check out all of his work and all of his
team's fantastic reporting and sign up for that Sunburned newsletter
so you get the latest first thing every morning in
you're inbox at Florida Politics dot com. Peter, great stuff
this morning, Thanks so much. We'll talk to you soon. Ryan,
Thanks for having me on Man listen live to
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Have at Ryan Gordman Show on the Heart Radio every
weekday morning on WIOD and Miami, w f l A
and Tampa, presented by Farah and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa,
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