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The Tanmpa Bay Rays and local officials announced a tentative $2.3 billion deal Thursday for a new ballpark financed by public and private money.
The non-binding memorandum of understanding between the Rays, Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa outlines the cost of a stadium, which would include $967 million in tax dollars. Elected officials for the city and county are expected to vote on the deal at separate meetings next week.
“The Rays respectfully but resolutely call upon Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa to approve the MOU and enable a Forever Home for our community’s Tampa Bay Rays, breathe new life into the Dale Mabry Campus of Hillsborough College and create a new privately funded neighborhood that will be a welcoming and inclusive destination to work, live, learn,” said Rays CEO Ken Ba.
Rays ownership reached an agreement earlier this year with Hillsborough College to build the stadium and mixed-use entertainment district on the college’s campus and to renovate some of the college’s buildings. The property is located next to the New York Ynkees’ spring training facility and across a freeway from Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Rays have said they hope to have the new stadium built within three years.
Since the team took the field in 1998, the Rays have played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, except they moved home games to the Yankees’ Steinbrenner Field in 2025 after hurricane damage at the Trop. The Rays lease runs through at least the 2028 season. The team returned to Trop last month for the start of this season.
A proposed $1.3 billion redevelopment deal for a new ballpark next to the Trop fell through last year, raising new questions about the future of the team, which was purchased last September by Patrick Zalupski’s ownership group.
Report from the Associated Press.
