ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Montreal investor held a press conference Wednesday saying if the Rays partnership works out, they would also help build a new stadium in the Bay area.

The investor also revealed a conversation he had with the Rays' owner about re-naming the team.

Meanwhile, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman is not happy about the discussions, but city attorneys say so far the Rays have not violated their Tropicana Field lease agreement.

Montreal investor Stephen Bronfman talked on Canada's CTV about a conversation he had with Rays owner Stu Sternberg about what to re-name the team if they split home games. 

"One of the questions I asked Stuart early on when we were having a discussion, I said, 'Well, what about names? He said, 'You know if that's one of the only questions that we have, then we really don't have too many questions.'" 

Sternberg talked Tuesday about his split city partnership plan for the Rays and said he would like to have it go into effect in 2024. That's three years before his Trop lease agreement ends.

Here's what Sternberg said that got the attention of city attorneys: "Stephen had asked us about relocation and I immediately shot that down. Talked about if the team would potentially be for sale. Didn't go any further than about 12 seconds past that as well."

"At some point this idea of sharing the, I don't know exactly when, sharing this team came up," Sternberg said. When a reporter asked how long ago, he said, "I met with about a couple of years ago."

Bronfman expanded on that statement Wednesday.

"We didn't really have a deep conversation about buying his team but I did ask him if he was interested in relocating the team. We didn't really get into specifics of 'I will buy it from you.' Stuart always mentioned that he will be remaining in baseball." 

The Rays lease agreement states the team's owners must reach a memorandum of understanding with the city before they can start negotiating to play home games elsewhere.

Ben Kirby, spokesman for Mayor Kriseman’s office, said city attorneys reviewed Sternberg's press conference and decided he did not violate the contract.

He released a statement saying: "The Rays will not commence exploration of the shared city concept, or conduct any other activities related to a pre-2028 future stadium site, without an agreement with the city of St. Petersburg."

"The Rays' general counsel assures us no conversations took place related to playing in Montreal or elsewhere prior to 2028," the statement said. 

Kirby says the Rays can publicly raise ideas but can't explore them without St. Pete's approval.

Bronfman also said if his group buys into the Rays, they'll also be involved in helping to build a stadium here in the Bay area.

"If we, our group, is buying into the Tampa project, we'll be involved in the Tampa buildout as well."​

They'll also be paying for a new stadium in downtown Montreal.