Latest On Rays Stadium Plans - MLB Trade Rumors

The Rays continue their efforts to find a workable plan for a new stadium in the Tampa Bay area. They took a step in that direction on Tuesday, as the board of trustees at Hillsborough College voted to approve a memorandum of understanding with the team (link via Nina Moske, Colleen Wright and Lucy Marques of The Tampa Bay Times). It’s a non-binding agreement between the Rays and the college as the team pursues a stadium/mixed-use development plan at its Dale Mabry campus.

The team’s lease at Tropicana Field runs through 2028. They’re hopeful of having a new stadium built for the start of the ’29 season. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to work out funding agreements with the city and county before getting construction underway. The team’s deal on Tuesday was with the college to zero in on a potential stadium site. They have not worked out any kind of public funding deals.

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An inability to work out a stadium deal was seemingly the driving force in Stu Sternberg’s decision to sell his majority share in the franchise last year. Patrick Zalupski is now leading ownership and taking another crack at working out a deal within Tampa itself. City and county officials have given mixed signals on whether they’ll approve public money.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, a proponent of a deal in Tampa, suggested this afternoon that he believes the team would pursue opportunities in Orlando if they don’t make sufficient progress on the Dale Mabry site (link via Nicolas Villamil of The Tampa Bay Times). There has been growing support in Orlando for a team, either via relocation or expansion, but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and Rays’ officials have maintained they’re focused on the Tampa area at the moment.

Get ready to learn Orlando, buddys

If they do come here I'll be so pissed because I'm planning on leaving the Orlando area in '27-28

I’ve always thought they should have been located more accessible to Orlando anyway.

Not that going between Tampa and Orlando is some easy task at this point

Latest On Rays' Stadium Pursuits - MLB Trade Rumors

It was reported last month that the club had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the board of trustees at Hillsborough College as the club pursues the college’s Dale Mabry campus. Some more details on the potential next steps were discussed this week, as covered in columns at the Tampa Bay Times by Marc Topkin, Nicolas Villamil, and Nina Moske, Villamil, Lucy Marques, and Topkin. The club also released renderings of the proposed site today, per Topkin.

The club plans a mixed-use development of 113 acres, including a stadium but also other real estate elements, with comparisons to The Battery in Atlanta. The sticker price is apparently about $2.3 billion, with the club willing to cover about half, while asking for public funding to cover the other half. The club would be on the hook for overruns, repairs and maintenance. That sticker price is just for the ballpark. The team is reportedly willing to invest $8 to $10 billion in the mixed-use area around the ballpark. Florida governor Ron DeSantis said recently that the land would be conveyed to the college to negotiate its use.

Tampa City Council Votes In Favor Of Rays' Stadium - MLB Trade Rumors

The Tampa City Council voted in favor of the Rays’ proposed stadium deal on Thursday afternoon, according to multiple reports (links via Nicolas Villamil of The Tampa Bay Times and Adam Berry of MLB.com). The city approved the measure by a 4-3 margin.

Attention now turns to Hillsborough County, whose commissioners will cast their own votes tomorrow. The deal isn’t official, but it’s a major hurdle cleared in the Rays’ efforts to secure public funding toward a $2.3 billion project at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry Campus. That’s in the City of Tampa and within walking distance of Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Buccaneers. Tropicana Field is a little over 20 miles outside the city in neighboring St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.

The county voted this morning too.......sounds like it's a done deal now....

Hillsborough County Approves Rays' Stadium Proposal - MLB Trade Rumors

The Hillsborough County Commission has voted to approve the Rays’ proposed stadium deal, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The vote, which passed by a 5-2 measure, follows yesterday’s vote of approval from the Tampa City Council.

With those crucial approvals in place, the Rays have secured the necessary public funding to move forward with the construction of a new $2.3 billion mixed-use development near Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus. The city is contributing roughly $80MM, while the county will contribute just shy of $800MM. The team will provide an additional $1.4 billion in private funding and will cover any overrun costs. Construction is expected to begin soon, and the target opening date for the new facility is 2029. The Rays’ current lease at Tropicana Field, in nearby St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, runs through 2028.