Florida county approves deal to build a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium
CLEARWATER, Florida — The Tampa Bay Rays have received government support to build a long-awaited stadium after Pinellas County Commissioners on Tuesday approved the west-central Florida county’s share of the funding for the 30,000-seat stadium.
The county voted 5-2 to approve spending about $312.5 million for its share of the stadium’s costs, using revenue generated by a bed tax that can be spent only on tourism and economic development expenses. The St. Petersburg City Council approved expenditures $417.5 million in front of the stadium earlier this month.
The $1.3 billion ballpark guarantees the team will stay for at least 30 years. It is part of a broader $6.5 billion redevelopment project which proponents say would transform an 86-acre (34-hectare) area in the city center, with plans in the coming years for a Black History Museum, affordable housing, a hotel, green space, entertainment venues, and office and retail space. There is also the promise of thousands of jobs.
“This is so much more than a ballpark. It’s poised, if we do it right, to become a world-class tourist destination,” said Commissioner Janet Long. “This is more than just a ballpark. This is a transformative, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The centerpiece of the project is the planned domed stadium, expected to open for the 2028 season. It caps years of uncertainty about the Rays’ future, including possible moves across the bay to Tampa, or to Nashville, Tenn., or even splitting home games between St. Petersburg and Montreal, an idea MLB has rejected.
The remainder of the project would be financed primarily by a partnership between the Rays and Houston-based Hines Global Development Company and will take decades to complete.
The site, now home to the Rays’ domed, tilted Tropicana Field and sprawling parking lots, was once a thriving black community that was displaced by the construction of the ballpark and an interstate highway. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch says one of his priorities is to right some of those wrongs in what’s known as the Historic Gas Plant District.
The Rays typically have one of the lowest attendances in MLB, despite the team having made the playoffs five years in a row. This year, the Rays have a 54-52 record, which places them in fourth place in the American League East division.
The baseball field plan is part of a wave of construction or renovation projects at sports venues across the country, including the Milwaukee Brewers, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Oakland Athletics, who plan to relocate to Las Vegas. Like the Rays’ proposal, all of the projects come with millions of dollars in public funding that are often met with opposition.
A citizens’ group called No Home Run and other organizations oppose the deal, while the conservative/libertarian organization Americans for Prosperity argues that the performance of other publicly funded sports stadiums has been less than encouraging.
County Commissioner Chris Latvala said he is a huge baseball fan and has many fond memories of following the Rays, but he still voted against the project.
“I want professional baseball to stay here, I want the Rays to stay here, but at what cost?” he said. “This is going to be a $1 billion government-funded subsidy to a billionaire. I don’t want to put my name to that.”