The Rays are formally headed to a new, $2.36 billion ballpark in Tampa after the Hillsborough County Commission approved a public funding plan for the project.
The commission’s 5–2 vote on Friday followed a narrow approval on Thursday by the City of Tampa council. The two jurisdictions will combine to supply up to $876 million toward the stadium, and the approval seemingly brings an end to an oft-twisting saga that had involved two decades of fruitless searching for a new stadium, an abandoned deal to stay in St. Petersburg, Florida, and an ownership shift to a Patrick Zalupski-led group,
Groundbreaking is targeted for later this year at a site at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry Campus in advance of a planned ballpark opening in 2029. With that shift, the Rays will be much more centrally located in the Tampa region, and very close toTampa International Airport, and the Buccaneers’ Raymond James Stadium. The mixed-use development surrounding the stadium will be inspired in part by The Battery in Atlanta.
“Today our entire region can celebrate the coming of a private finance and mixed-use neighborhood, a reinvested Hillsborough College campus, and a new ballpark that secures the long-term future of Major League Baseball here in Tampa,” said Rays CEO Ken Babby.
