If funding were approved, St. Petersburg residents would have been on the hook for a new stadium for one of baseball’s least attended teams.

Before the Pinellas County Commission punted on finalizing bonds for a new $1.3 billion stadium again on Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Rays wrote a letter saying the deal approved this summer no longer works financially for the team.

The St. Petersburg City Council was on board and residents seemed to be too, given their overwhelming re-election of Council Chair Deborah Figgs-Sanders, a key Welch ally and avowed Rays deal supporter. The Pinellas County Commission gave its thumbs up too, with a vote on a bond resolution a mere formality to take place in late October.