The Tampa Bay Rays and local officials reached a tentative $2.3 billion agreement for a new ballpark funded by public and private money, the report says. The nonbinding memorandum of understanding among the Rays, Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa outlines stadium costs that would include $967 million of tax dollars, and elected city and county officials are expected to vote on the deal at separate meetings next week, the report says.
Rays CEO Ken Babby urged approval of the memorandum, saying in a statement the team wants the MOU to secure a permanent home for the Rays, revitalize the Dale Mabry Campus of Hillsborough College and enable a privately financed neighborhood designed as an inviting and inclusive destination to work, live, learn and play, per the report.
The team reached an earlier agreement with Hillsborough College to build the stadium and a mixed-use entertainment district on the college campus and to renovate some of the college’s buildings, the report says. The proposed site sits next to the New York Yankees’ spring training facility and is across a highway from Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, per the report.
The report says the Rays have expressed hope that the new stadium could be built within three years. Since the franchise began play in 1998, the Rays have primarily played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg; hurricane damage there prompted the team to move home games to the Yankees’ Steinbrenner Field in 2025. The team returned to Tropicana Field last month for the start of this season, and the Rays’ lease runs through at least the 2028 season, the report says.
A previously proposed $1.3 billion redevelopment deal for a new ballpark adjacent to the Trop fell through last year, raising new questions about the team’s future. The report notes the team was purchased last September by an ownership group led by Patrick Zalupski.
