A good deal? Other teams have paid more than Rays to break lease

/http://tbo.com/news/politics/a-good-deal-other-teams-have-paid-more-than-rays-to-break-lease-20141213/

 St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman and Tampa Bay Rays officials jointly announced a deal that would let the baseball team break its Tropicana Field contract.  This give the Rays the chance to move out of Tampa Bay for just $24 million over the next 12 years, but sports economists have been confused and just a bit baffled about why this deal would have been okay-ed.  Here are some examples why the economists do not agree with this potential deal.
1) After the Supersonics moved out of Seattle and into Oklahoma City in 2008, the team payed a $45 million out-of-court settlement to Seattle.
2) The city of Pontiac in 2000 sued the Detroit Lions for damages totaling more than $100 million when the team broke its lease and left the Silverdome.

The main reason why the city of St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay would be okay with this deal is because the stadium is losing the area $1.4 million per year.  This is due to $1 million of property insurance annually and $1.8 million which covers Tropicana Field's game days or other hosting events.

If the Rays leave, the area would demo the stadium to avoid having to maintain an empty building.  This would give the 84-area site much needed development and add millions of tax dollars as a result.

I think this is a good potential move by St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay officials.  The stadium is a useless $300 million + money pit that is not helping the cities.