Rays stadium deal deluge: Tampa has its say at marathon meeting
- Mark Parker
- 10 hours ago
- 5 min read
While details remain scarce, city officials and residents had their first opportunity to discuss a $2.3 billion stadium deal with the Tampa Bay Rays at a nearly four-hour-long workshop on Tuesday.
Questions from Tampa’s City Council largely mirrored those recently posed at a Hillsborough County Commission meeting, and concrete answers were just as elusive. The negotiating parties still lack an agreed-upon memorandum of understanding (MOU), with less than a month until the team’s June 1 deadline to approve final agreements.
A key difference between the two workshops was a public comment period that began at 7 p.m., two hours into the meeting, and ended at nearly 9 p.m. on Tuesday. Social media posts from the Rays urged fans, who heeded the call en masse, to attend and express their support for a deal that, so far, relies heavily on promises.
Supporters, many donning Rays gear, vastly outnumbered those opposed to contributing $951 million in public funding - $750 million from the county and $251 million from the city - to a new ballpark. Local sports pundit J.P. Peterson said other cities eager to land a Major League Baseball team would happily pay a $2.5 billion expansion fee before even considering stadium costs.
“We were gifted that; we have the Rays here, and people love them,” Peterson said. “And you are the stewards who are going to send this team to Orlando?”
Tampa resident Laura Lawson was among several people who said they “love the Rays” yet oppose the vague stadium financing structure. The team will contribute $1.235 billion and privately fund the surrounding mixed-use district.
“You know where I love them? Over in St. Pete, where they can afford them,” Lawson said of the Rays. “I heard a lot of talk about ‘do no harm’ today, but … I think this is going to do significant harm to our budget.”
Joe Robinson, chair of the West Tampa Community Advisory Committee, took a measured approach while expressing concern over the lack of details. He also noted that the Rays must adhere to the city’s community benefits ordinance.
“I think the Rays have been genuine,” said Robinson, who remains undecided. “We’re not there yet. We might get there.”
Rays CEO Ken Babby had 30 minutes to pitch his proposal to the council. Tampa Chief of Staff John Bennet provided a brief presentation followed by comments from project stakeholders, including the tax collector’s office, the firefighters and police unions, and the Florida Department of Transportation.
Council members then had 30 minutes to submit questions or comments. Babby began by pledging that the project, according to independent studies, would generate an economic impact of $55-70 billion, support 11,900 new jobs, and attract 10 million annual visitors.
He said “pillars” of a forthcoming community benefits agreement (CBA) would include a reimagined Hillsborough College campus, “real jobs with a pipeline of students,” new educational programs and apprenticeship opportunities, an unknown number of affordable housing units, and widened streets to accommodate an influx of traffic.
“We’re committing tonight to invest in more than 25 parks for baseball and other sports,” Babby added. “We want to be great community partners in the way that we give back and engage.”
Councilmember Naya Young asked if businesses owned by women and people of color would participate in the project as sub and prime contractors amid Florida’s war on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The college has requested $50 million in state funds to rebuild its campus.
President Ken Atwater pledged that HC would continue doing “business with everybody” and follow current procurement processes, “which have been very successful in the past.” Babby said the Rays serve the entire Tampa Bay community and look forward to working with “businesses of all colors, all types, all walks of life.”
“Hold us accountable; hold us responsible in our agreements,” Babby told the council. “When we sign them, they will have contractual commitments that we do what we say we’re going to do, but you’ve got to believe in the vision.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis has long advocated for eliminating or reducing property taxes, which fund municipal projects, agencies, and services. State leadership will discuss those changes this summer, a prospect that loomed over the meeting.
Councilmember Lynn Hurtak noted that the city would also use property taxes and the Community Investment Tax (CIT), a half-cent sales surcharge, to finance its contribution. “If the economy goes down, and our CIT does not make it above 3%, how are you going to pay for that?” she asked Babby.
“We will get into the details of the financial agreement in the memorandum of understanding,” Babby replied.
While negotiations are ongoing, Babby said the surrounding district would be “fully taxable.” The county would own the stadium, exempting it from property taxes. He pledged that city funding would only support infrastructure upgrades.
Jennifer Castro, chief deputy tax collector, expressed concern over the team’s plan to demolish the agency's busiest office rather than include it in the surrounding district. She said the massive facility serves one million people annually, and replacing it would cost taxpayers $15-20 million.
“If property tax reform eliminates or reduces our revenue … we may simply not have the budget to replace this building,” Castro said. “And there’s no state funding waiting to fill that gap.”
The local police and fire unions generally support the deal, provided it includes guardrails that prevent any impacts to public safety funding. Councilmember Charlie Miranda offered the sharpest criticism.
Miranda said Tampa achieved the nation’s second-highest credit rating due to its reserve funding, which the city could put toward its stadium contribution. He also noted it holds $2.8 billion in debt.
Miranda questioned the team’s financial capacity to cover 54% of the stadium’s price tag, build a roughly $5 billion mixed-use district, and pay for all cost overruns. “When you buy a team for $1.7 billion, you should have the assets to do other things with it,” he said.
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