Hillsborough College and the Tampa Bay Rays reached a deal this year that allows the team to build a $2.36 billion stadium and surrounding mixed-used development on land now occupied by the school's Dale Mabry campus.
Although the ballpark proposal has been in the news for months, many students aren't aware of what's about to happen on campus.
In the coming weeks, site work will begin and a handful of older buildings will be razed, meaning most classes will move to temporary classrooms on campus known as The Nest.
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College president Ken Atwater said the plan is to open The Nest in time for the spring semester. The Rays are paying for the temporary relocation.
Atwater said a few of the school's programs will relocate off campus, but for now it’s unclear to where.
“We would move a couple of our allied health programs to different sites off of the main site here, into facilities that can better house them and offer those programs there,” Atwater said.
In addition, the campus' popular tennis facility will be removed and eventually relocated.
Most students WUSF spoke with had no idea classes would be moved to temporary classrooms, or even that the Rays' stadium would be built on the property, until they were asked about it by a reporter.
Rylee Black doesn’t remember receiving any sort of email or messaging about the change.
“It's kind of strange that we got to be in a trailer for classes,” Black said. “I'd say that's definitely not really ideal for college students paying a lot of money to come to college.”
Atwater said it was difficult to believe a student attending class at the campus hasn't heard about the stadium plan because the college has been negotiating with the Rays for about a year.
“We've explained to them as much as we can about what we were doing, why we're doing this and the benefits to the college as a whole,” Atwater said.
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He urged students to keep up with local news and stay up-to-date on campus life, but he understands they have other responsibilities.
“[Students] are focused on their studies and how they can graduate or accomplish their goal here and move on,” Atwater said.
Torin Tracy, a student at the Dale Mabry campus, admitted he’s “not a sports person.” He makes a 90-minute commute from Sarasota for school.
“My first thought is traffic, to be honest with you,” said Tracy.
Charles Sayre was as equally concerned about traffic, since his commute is about an hour each way. He learned about the plans for the stadium through a social media post.
“To remove all of it for a stadium is kind of just inefficient,” Sayre said. ”What's the purpose?”
When told that the stadium deal was finalized, Sayre was shocked – especially since he remembered the college started to rebuild after the damaging 2024 hurricane season.
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“For them to end up moving to trailers, I guess, or mobile classrooms is just not a smart move,” Sayre said. “It's a step in the wrong direction, I would say.”
Atwater doesn’t think traffic will be significantly affected, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Raymond James Stadium and New York Yankees' Steinbrenner Field already near campus.
“I honestly don't think it will be that much different than the environment that we already live in,” Atwater said.
The stadium is scheduled to open by early 2029, but construction on the 120-acre property won't be complete.
The mixed-use development will be built in phases around the stadium that will include an education area with new college facilities and infrastructure. The state is expected to cover at least $150 million of the projected $215 million needed.
Atwater has the project will replace aging structures that have been costing hundreds of millions of dollars in upkeep while also positioning the college to prepare students for a future workforce.
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The development will also include privately financed businesses, a major hotel, housing and retail that are expected to create thousands of permanent jobs.
The college, Rays and businesses in the development will work together to provide opportunities to benefit students, Atwater said.
“Internships, partnerships, workforce development, jobs, program enhancement, program development – all of those are wins for the college through this partnership,” Atwater said.
The Rays signed a 99-year lease with the college in May that kicks in once construction begins. The lease was negotiated after the school's trustees approved a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with the team in January.
The Tampa City Council and Hillsborough County Commission in August approved financing agreements that will provide up to $876 million combined toward the stadium. The Rays have committed more than $1.3 billion and all cost overruns.
