Tampa and Hillsborough approve combined $876M for Rays stadium

Tampa City Council approved $80 million in public funding for the Tampa Bay Rays' new $2.36 billion stadium by a 4-3 vote late Thursday, according to Front Office Sports. Hillsborough County followed Friday with a 5-2 vote to approve $796 million, clearing the two largest hurdles to the project's advancement. The combined $876 million from both jurisdictions represents the public share of the ballpark. The Rays will cover 63% of construction costs, a higher percentage than the investments made by the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves in Globe Life Field and Truist Park, MLB's two newest stadiums, per Front Office Sports. The city's $80 million will be paid out over four years in even installments and structured as a loan to be repaid through tax revenue generated by the ballpark project. The taxpayer outlay from Tampa represents only 3% of the overall ballpark budget, according to Front Office Sports reporting. The Rays are responsible for remaining stadium development costs and all overruns. The new domed facility will replace Tropicana Field, the Rays' home since their 1998 debut. The ballpark site will be at Hillsborough College's Dale Mabry Campus near Tampa International Airport, with design inspired in part by The Battery in Atlanta. Groundbreaking is targeted for later this year, with a planned opening in 2029, per Front Office Sports. Council chair Alan Clendenin framed the vote as a choice about competitiveness: "It is a vote on whether Tampa is prepared to compete for investments, jobs, housing, education, and opportunity, or whether we're willing to let those opportunities go elsewhere." Public comment lasted several hours with dozens of citizens on both sides making arguments about job creation and economic development versus criticism of public funds supporting a private business owned by a billionaire, per Front Office Sports. The approval involved an ownership shift to a Patrick Zalupski-led group and followed an abandoned deal to remain in St. Petersburg. The vote margin in Tampa was the same 4-3 count as the previous week when the council agreed to put the final Rays agreement on its agenda, underscoring the political tenuousness of the deal, according to Front Office Sports reporting.