"Mayor Bill Foster and the St. Petersburg City Council started hashing out a sometimes testy issue: whether or not to break the stalemate with the Tampa Bay Rays and start talking about the team's contract at Tropicana Field.

The Council seems split on the issue. Some members want to engage the Rays proactively and others want to wait for the team to make the first move. Even where and when to meet with the team is up for debate.

Foster on Thursday said he will sit down with Tampa Bay Rays managing partner Stuart Sternberg after the World Series, but he questions whether it is a city's role to sell tickets for a baseball team.

Foster revealed that he spoke cordially with Sternberg after the recent playoffs, and the two men agreed to meet after the season ended. No date has been set for that meeting, Foster said.

Still, initially he bristled at the idea that he should fly to New York to meet with the Rays' owner, suggesting he would like to wait until Sternberg visits the Tampa Bay area.

At that, Councilwoman Leslie Curran, who has been pushing for a dialogue with the team, groaned.

"Oh, just meet with him," she blurted out.

Soon though, Foster relented and said he would be willing to fly to New York if necessary.

The city and the team have been in a standoff for more than a year over the team's future at Tropicana Field. Mayor Foster has said he is willing to allow the team to consider new stadium sites as long as they are in St. Petersburg or could be annexed into it. The team has said it wants to explore sites throughout the Bay area, including in Hillsborough County.

The big sticking point Thursday was whether council members could start talking about their options without giving the Rays some wiggle room to get out of their stadium use agreement. Anything the council members say can be used against them, warned City Attorney John Wolfe."