Tampa Bay Rays eager for stadium approval votes on Thursday [Video]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – St. Petersburg City Councilors are set to vote Thursday on whether to approve a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays.

But in a press conference on Wednesday that they titled, “Here to Stay,” the team is already claiming victory.

“We’ve made a number of missteps over the years,” said Rays Owner Stu Sternberg. “We dust ourselves off, we come back again.“

Within 24 hours, they expect to have guarantees of a 30,000-seat stadium with picture-perfect sightlines, a village filled with restaurants and stores, and the infrastructure to build new hotels and office buildings.

It’ll all be on the site of what is now considered one of the most outdated ballparks in baseball: Tropicana Field.

“I wish this was something we had done ten, 15 years ago,” said Sternberg. “Frankly, the area and the city itself hadn’t shown itself to baseball, and to our organization, that we would be …