Stuart Sternberg says he knows no more about any ongoing discussions to build the Tampa Bay Rays a new stadium than anyone else following recent media reports. Sternberg said Friday he and the team were "not involved" in any of the current talks and "haven't talked to anybody." The Rays failed to get a new stadium on the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront two years ago (and creating what he termed "a lot of discord in the community"), they'll wait and watch for now, he said as the team opened spring training. "When something is proposed, and there are some concepts out there and people want to move the ball forward, I'll be involved." And while he said the team is in St. Petersburg and "isn't going anywhere," he did reiterate the need for a new home ? "the sooner the better" ? and said of Tropicana Field: "I stated since the very first day I came in to anybody who asked, and I was asked quite often, we're not going to be there through 2027 (when the lease expires). It just can't happen. Baseball won't allow it. Our partners in baseball, the other teams, won't allow it. And it's just not the right thing for our organization and, quite frankly, it's not the right thing for the population."