The Rays’ plan for a new $2.36 billion ballpark took a big step forward late Thursday as the City of Tampa council narrowly approved public funding toward the planned stadium.
After a marathon and sometimes-fractious hearing that lasted nearly an entire day, the legislators approved an $80 million funding package by a tight 4–3 vote. While the taxpayer outlay from this jurisdiction represents only 3% of the overall ballpark budget, the city vote was politically tenuous. It paves the way for a subsequent vote Friday by the Hillsborough County Commission.
After two decades of searching for a new stadium, an abandoned deal to stay in St. Petersburg, Florida, and an ownership shift to a Patrick Zalupski-led group, the Rays at last have the beginnings of formal political approval for a new facility in the center of the Tampa region.
The vote margin was the same as last week, when the council agreed to put this final Rays agreement on its agenda.
“It’s not merely a vote on a baseball stadium,” said council chair Alan Clendenin. “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.”
