NOW WE'RE JUST HAGGLING OVER YOUR PRICE:

If the Tampa Bay Rays ever get a new stadium, it might come with an assist from an unlikely source -- wealthy Chinese immigrants.

Chamber of commerce leaders from Tampa and St. Petersburg who have been studying how to pay for a new Rays stadium landed on an obscure federal immigration program called EB-5 that might help with the half-billion-dollar tab.

Under the program, foreigners willing to invest at least $500,000 each to create jobs in the United States can qualify for a green card for themselves and their families. Essentially, affluent foreigners can buy their way into a life in America -- and the majority are coming from China.

If enough would-be immigrants cobble their money together, it theoretically could fund at least part of a stadium.

In Brooklyn, N.Y., for example, the EB-5 program is providing up to $228 million for a massive new retail, housing and basketball arena complex for the New Jersey Nets, according to a recent Bloomberg News report.

Follow @brothersjudd