The new owners of the Tampa Bay Rays discussed various topics during their introductory news conference Tuesday, and primarily the need for a new stadium to replace Tropicana Field.
While it offered few details, Rays new co-owner Ken Babby made one thing clear.
"We'll come forward doing our part, but we need the partnership of the community to be able to make this work and that ultimately will be a public-private partnership that's going to add jobs, deliver value, we think find really unique ways of being able to make Tampa Bay a better place to work, live and play, and create something frankly that isn't here today," Babby said.
The Rays envision a domed stadium to be built through a public-private partnership that would include hotels, retail, restaurants and bars.
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Babby talked about the Atlanta Braves' new home as their model. It's called The Battery, and is described on their web site as "The South’s preeminent lifestyle destination. Anchored by Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, The Battery Atlanta is a sports and entertainment experience unlike any other."
It features corporate partners that have moved into office buildings controlled by the team's owners. They're also co-owners of a massive hotel complex next to Truist Park.
The Rays' new owners want a minimum of 100 acres, that would include retail shops, bars and restaurants — alongside a new ballpark. They said that revenue stream from the surrounding development is needed for a billion-plus-dollar stadium to be built.
The Battery project was built using tax increment financing, which captures future property tax revenue from surrounding businesses to fund redevelopment projects.
Tax increment financing is a common practice in Florida. That's where property taxes are frozen in the neighboring area, and after the ballpark is built, anything over that amount is plowed back into public improvements in that area.
The city of Tampa has eight such districts. They were first used to create downtown development authorities, to redevelop urban cores.
Major League Baseball teams offer other ideas on how public dollars can be used to finance increasingly expensive ballparks.
The St. Louis Cardinals received $65 million in tax breaks from the city of St. Louis to help build the first two phases of a mixed-use development at Busch Stadium called Ballpark Village.
It includes over 300,000 square feet of retail, dining, and entertainment, plus office and residential space over seven blocks. It's billed as a "year-round destination" that includes a Cardinals Hall of Fame, apartments, a hotel, and office towers.
Or a partnership could be as simple as donating public land, which is being talked about for a new stadium at Hillsborough College's campus on Dale Mabry Highway, next to Raymond James Stadium.
That stadium shows the limits of public-private partnerships.
It was built in 1998 with public funds as part of the Community Investment Tax. The sales tax proposal created so much opposition that it had to be sweetened with money for schools and roads.
The 30-year referendum barely passed.
