by Steve Carney

Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg made his first appearance at Tampa Bay Spring Training Sunday, arriving for Sunday's matchup against the Boston Red Sox.  He met with reporters and discussed a number of subjects pertaining to the Rays.

On the ongoing situation regarding a new baseball stadium and discussions with St. Petersburg mayor Bill Foster:

"The mayor and I had a meeting.  It was a nice, cordial conversation, and we'll see.  I'm optimistic."

His thoughts on the team's payroll for 2013 and attendance expectations:

"[Payroll's] static, but it's well higher than it ought to be.  And the attendance, everybody knows the number, and last is last.  So we're anticipating an improvement on that."

When asked what he believed payroll ought to be:

"It ought to be commeasurate with what our business can handle.  Since we started here back [in 2006], there were a couple of years where it was lower than it could be, and we've had a number of years where it was higher than it should be.  This is one of [the latter] years."

He also discussed what it would take for the team to be able to keep Cy Young Award winner David Price in a Rays uniform long-term.  Listen to the entire conversation below!