There are three clocks ticking on the Tampa Bay Rays’ effort to finance a $2.3 billion stadium. None seems to be synchronized.
The team wants more than $1 billion from local governments. With interlocal financing agreements not expected to be finalized before the team’s softened-but-important June 1 deadline, the word out of Tallahassee is that a key piece of funding may be left on base.
The stadium is slated to anchor a multi-use development on land now occupied by 70-year-old Hillsborough College. The Rays and the college are asking the state for roughly $150 million to rebuild the campus and infrastructure on the property.
As of Tuesday, that money looks off the table — until Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa approve their part of the financing, according to state Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, chair of the Senate Budget Committee.
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“The locals, Hillsborough County and the city, there seems to be some heartburn at the request, and until they resolve that, I don’t think the state needs to be involved,” Hooper told reporters at the Capitol, where the Legislature opened a special session to finalize a state budget.
The money for the college was not in the first budget offer on Tuesday from either the House or Senate, which are slated to vote on a spending plan on May 29. If not finalized by the start of the fiscal year, July 1, a government shutdown may occur.
State budget negotiations will continue, so an appropriation could still occur. For example, the money could be proposed from a specific funding item, such as education.
The proposal has the backing of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a friend of Rays managing partner Patrick Zalupski, but his second term will end before the next legislative session.
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Hooper’s position isn’t a surprise. Stakeholders, including Rays CEO Ken Babby, have said the state wants assurances that the county, city and team are in lockstep.
“I think the governor and the Legislature are going to give us some money, but they are waiting to see what everyone else will do,” Joe Robinson, a member of the Tampa Sports Authority, said during a May 5 city council public workshop on the stadium.
That leaves about two weeks for the state or local governments to make a commitment.
The city council meets four times before June 4, including this Thursday. The commission meets on May 20, with a budget workshop on May 27 before the next regular meeting on June 3.
While city, county and team negotiators continue working toward a memorandum of understanding, talk is brewing in Orlando about an effort to lure the Rays up Interstate 4.
Before the Zalupski-led investment team announced plans to buy the team last fall and keep it in the Tampa Bay area, the well-financed Orlando Dreamers group made no secret of its desire to bring Major League Baseball to the city’s tourist strip near SeaWorld.
Last week, one of those investors, billionaire attorney John Morgan, said he was preparing to have lunch with Zalupski to discuss a relocation should the Tampa plan fail.
Also last week, Democrat state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who is running for mayor of Orlando, said luring a team to the city would be part of her campaign platform.
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“The Orlando Dreamers have my full support in their effort to bring Major League Baseball to our community,” she wrote on social media. “If done right, this can create real opportunities for our residents that are fiscally responsible and bring people together in a way that reflects the spirit and growth of Orlando.”
Eskamani’s endorsement brings political clout to the effort, even if she doesn’t win the mayoral seat. She suggested to Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi that the region’s massive tourist development tax could be used as part of any needed public investment.
“Obviously, there are a lot of questions to be answered, but I’ve already been inspired by the private investment thus far,” Eskamani told Bianchi, adding, “Let’s play ball.”
