Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday said he was pleased with the Tampa Bay Rays’ efforts to gain government approvals for a new ballpark in Tampa.
The Tampa City Council and Hillsborough County Commission have advanced a nonbinding agreement on financing the $2.3 billion stadium, which would be built on land now used by Hillsborough College.
The plan has moved to a second phase of negotiations involving a handful of major unresolved issues before presenting final documents to the local boards.
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“They need to get to definitive documents. My understanding is they’re on a mid-July-ish timeline on that,” Manfred said during a news conference at an owners’ meeting in New York.
During the meeting, team owners received a progress update from Rays management.
“There remains strong community support," Manfred said. "We think the polling runs about 60-40 in favor of the stadium."
The Rays have asked for about $976 million in public money for the stadium while committing to spend more than $1.2 billion plus cost overruns. A concern, however, is the Legislature’s decision to place a measure to cut property taxes on the November ballot.
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Although property taxes are not directly pledged in the nonbinding memorandum of understanding approved by local boards, they remain a key source of revenue supporting the government's long-term funding obligations under the deal.
“We’re hopeful they get over the next hurdle,” Manfred said.
Meantime, former Rays manager Joe Maddon encouraged Tampa to “finish what we started” in an article he wrote this week for MLB.com.
Maddon, 72, led the team from 2006 to 2014, leading Tampa Bay to the World Series in his third season with stars such as Evan Longoria, who will be inducted in the Rays’ Hall of Fame next week.
“As a manager, I appreciate the responsibility of decision-making,” he wrote. “I can completely appreciate the moment in front of the elected officials and their staffs in Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa, because the opportunity they will deliberate is unlike any before them. It is bold, progressive and historic. It will require commitment, belief and investment, both from the community and team ownership.”
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Maddon, who remains a frequent visitor to the Tampa area, said the right decision would be to approve the stadium plan “so we finally finish the business of where the Tampa Bay Rays will forever call home.”
“Unfinished business will mean another forever — always wondering why Tampa Bay couldn't finish what it started in 1998 with the Rays and Major League Baseball,” he wrote. “Forever watching other communities think big, and then go big, knowing those communities don’t remotely compare to what Tampa Bay has to offer.”
Maddon left the Rays for the Chicago Cubs in 2015, when he led them to their first World Series title in 108 years. He was let go by the Cubs in 2019 and retired after managing the Los Angeles Angels for two seasons.
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He has already expressed a need for the team to be in Tampa after working nine seasons in Tropicana Field, when the team's lease ends in 2028.
"You need a facility that’s readily available to the general population when they get off of work. They need a place that’s more baseball-oriented," he said in 2017 as Cubs manager during a road trip to St. Petersburg. "You don’t need an erector set. You don’t need stuff hanging from the ceiling."
