Tampa Bay Rays, local officials agree on a framework for new stadium

The Tampa Bay Rays and local officials have agreed on the outline of a plan for the team to build a new $2.3 billion ballpark along with a mixed used development on the campus of Hillsborough College in Tampa.

The proposal was announced Thursday and is laid out in a memorandum of understanding agreed to by the team, Hillsborough County, the city of Tampa, the Tampa Sports Authority and the Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency.

The agreement is nonbinding but will serve as a road map in coming weeks to come up with a final agreement that is legally binding, writes Rays CEO Ken Babby in a memo laying out the details.

Babby calls the memorandum of understanding “the result of candid, collaborative and good-faith negotiations over several months” that it “will soon be deliberated by elected officials.”

“The parties will continue to work through unresolved issues and agree to work in cooperation with the goal of opening the ballpark for the 2029 MLB season,” he writes.

According to a breakdown included in the memo, the team will pay about $1.27 billion for the cost of a new 31,000 seat ballpark. Hillsborough County will put in approximately $796 million with the city pitching in about $80 million and the CRA about $100 million.

The team has also agreed to cover all cost overruns, and the county will own the ballpark with the Rays making a commitment to play there for a minimum of 35 years.

The memorandum calls for the public portion of the financing to come from existing revenue sources and states that “no new taxes will be created to fund this project.”

In a separate statement Thursday, Babby says it was paramount for the team that the memorandum “protects all public funding currently allocated for police, fire, emergency management or response functions, or other previously committed public safety or service priorities.

“We have accomplished that important and unconditional goal.”

As for the mixed-use development portion of the project, it will be 100% privately financed and no local government money will be used to pay for the new college.

The plan keeps Hillsborough College on the property, though on a smaller footprint, allowing the Rays to build the stadium and a mixed-use development on the site that will include multifamily, retail and hotel space.

The team, currently playing at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, has been looking to build a new stadium for more than 20 years. Shortly after new ownership took over late last year, the Rays identified the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough College as the right site.

The college, in need of upgrades and whose officials support the team’s plans, sits on a prime 113-acre piece of property across from Raymond James Stadium.

That location, near Interstate 275 and already a popular destination during football season and concerts, will make it easier for a larger number of local fans to attend games with the hopes that it will solve the daunting attendance issues the Rays have faced for decades.

Local officials are expected to begin discussions on the proposal in coming weeks.