Gov. Ron DeSantis and Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred each gave their backing Tuesday to building a new home for the Tampa Bay Rays at Hillsborough College's Dale Mabry campus.
But few details emerged on who's going to pay for it.
Few concrete details were revealed at the news conference at HC. DeSantis said he will do what he can — short of using taxpayer money to build a stadium there. And Major League Baseball is committed to keeping a team in Tampa Bay.
Manfred said he didn't believe this is the last chance to keep the Rays in the region. But it might be the best chance.
ALSO READ: Rays could pay for half of stadium as DeSantis plans to meet with MLB commissioner
"I do think we're at a point in the history of the club that something needs to get done," Manfred said during a news conference at the college, "but I would be hesitant to characterize it as, it's this or never again.
"I really do believe that there is a great opportunity for this new ownership group to come together with local government, the college, and form the kind of partnership that can make the Rays durable and successful here in the Tampa Bay region."
"Encouraging" discussions
The Rays envision a fixed-roof stadium as the anchor for the project, which would include hotels, retail, restaurants and bars.
Many of the parties involved say the team's new ownership is much more transparent about what they are looking for than the previous owners. And that could make it easier to reach some sort of agreement.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan has been the board's point man on negotiating with the Rays for years. He is upbeat about the team committing to paying a minimum of half the cost of the stadium — and having the rest of the development privately financed.
"It's encouraging, having been engaged in this process over the last 16 years with the previous ownership group," Hagan said after the presentation. "They would never even come to the table with that as a starting point, and the fact that they are is encouraging moving forward."
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor agreed with Hagan on dealing with the new ownership group.
"The team's got to be in for 50% if not more, and it's so refreshing compared to what we experienced with the previous ownership group. They would never commit to that," Castor said. "So the fact that we started negotiations with that is one of our guiding principles. I think certainly goes a long way."
Castor said they're not going to use taxpayer dollars to build a stadium. But she is willing to help with infrastructure and ways to raise money that don't use taxpayer dollars .
"There are viable options that can raise revenue that isn't taxpayer dollars, and so all of that will be explored and not all of it has been exhausted yet," Castor said. "We're still looking at the possibilities of funding streams to be able to get this done."
Tampa vs. Orlando
Former managing partner Stuart Sternberg canceled a deal to build a stadium as part of a mixed-use development on the Historic Gas Plant District site, where Tropicana Field is located. The deal died after Hurricane Milton ripped off the dome's fabric roof in 2024, with the Rays citing delays because of the storm that likely drove up the proposal's cost.
The Rays remain under lease at Tropicana Field through the 2028 season.
DeSantis said he appreciated the new ownership for not playing the Tampa Bay area against Orlando, which has sought a team for years.
ALSO READ: Hillsborough College opens talks on building Rays' ballpark on campus land
"Orlando wants this. You don't think Disney would put it in the Wide World of Sports? You don't think they'd want it by the Orange County Convention Center with Universal and all that?" DeSantis said.
"They could have easily, the Rays leadership, been doing a negotiation against one city or the other. They haven't done that. They basically said this is the Tampa Bay Rays, we want to make it work in Tampa Bay, and if we can do that, we're going to do that."
Rays co-owner and CEO Ken Babby promised artists renderings of the project will come out this week.
"We will share more renderings in the weeks and months ahead — and more importantly engage in in-depth community conversations," Babby said. "We want to hear what the community has to say. We will go far and wide to ask questions, to learn, to take feedback, and have community huddles throughout the region to learn how to make our project the right perfect public-private partnership."
The Hillsborough County Commission will discuss the HC plan during its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday.
