"St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster says he left his meeting with Rays owner Stuart Sternberg earlier this week optimistic the Tampa Bay Rays will honor the team's agreement to play at Tropicana Field until 2027.

"There was nothing in the conversation that gave me the impression they intended to violate the terms of the use agreement," Foster said Wednesday.

Foster met with Sternberg for more than an hour Tuesday afternoon at Tropicana Field to discuss the stadium and other issues, including perpetually low attendance at Rays home games. Sternberg has said the stadium's location is a large part of the reason for the team's attendance woes and wants to explore sites for a new stadium outside St. Petersburg."