Rays open dialogue with Tampa City Council after stadium votes spark mayor’s backlash

Tampa Bay Rays CEO Ken Babby pledged on Friday to meet with every Tampa City Council member in the coming weeks to hear concerns about the team’s stadium project.

Hours earlier, council members' longstanding complaints about being left out of financing negotiations culminated in two votes that cast doubt on the city's role in the proposed $2.3 billion ballpark and surrounding $8 billion privately funded mixed-use district.

Shortly after Babby met over breakfast with council member Bill Carlson, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor took to social media and blasted the lawmakers, contending they “are clearly intent on killing the plan before negotiations are done.”

“It defies common sense that they would prefer to have no say in the benefits a Rays project would bring to our city & instead punt it to the county,” Castor wrote on Friday.

ALSO READ: Two city council decisions cloud Tampa's role in Rays' ballpark proposal

“It's beyond frustrating that as city and county leaders are working tirelessly to hammer out an equitable deal to bring the Rays to Tampa, City Council members want to halt our efforts in their tracks.”

Carlson, who has been among the council’s most vocal critics of the negotiating process, pushed back on Castor’s criticism.

“If this deal fails it will be the fault of you and your office for your arrogance and incompetence,” Carlson wrote.

On Friday, the Rays appeared to be responding to one of the council’s central complaints: that members wanted more direct communication about the project.

Carlson said Babby reached out after Thursday’s meeting and the two met the next morning.
“Representing the public means having tough conversations even when you disagree,” Carlson said. “Hats off to Ken Babby, Rays CEO, for reaching out last night. We had a productive conversation this morning.”

Carlson said Babby told him he planned to meet with all council members “to listen to the concerns of their constituents.”

“The community is always better when we maintain a dialogue,” Carlson said.

Babby confirmed the planned meetings in his own statement released by the team.

“We've had a great week, and that even includes last night at Tampa City Council when a vote that didn't go our way actually helped to underline where we need to go, and what we need to do to bring this project to reality,” Babby wrote.

“I spent the morning with Councilperson Bill Carlson, who emphasized the importance of connecting with each member of the council, to better hear the views of their constituents. So, I am on it and will be meeting with each of them in the week ahead.”

Votes set off Castor on social media

The Castor-Carlson dustup, which offered a rare public peek inside politics, followed Thursday’s contentious votes by the seven council members.

First, in their role as the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, they voted 5-2 to remove from their Aug. 20 agenda a vote on pledging $100 million in future property tax revenue toward the stadium project.

Then, the council voted 4-3 against sending state officials a list of proposed land-use changes for the 120-acre Hillsborough College property tied to ballpark and adjoining development, which the Rays expect will dramatically increase the tax revenue inside the CRA.

The Rays consider the CRA money vital to the $976 million public contribution from Hillsborough County and the city, which has been represented during talks by the mayor’s staff.

ALSO READ: Rays' latest renderings focus on mixed-use district surrounding planned stadium

Thursday’s votes were considered key to staying on the Rays’ timeline to open the stadium in March 2029. Their lease at Tropicana Field ends after the 2028 season, and Babby has warned the team could seek other options should the schedule not be met.

The land-use vote was considered procedural and did not involve any expenditure, according to council Chair Alan Clendenin.

Babby previously said there have been discussions about moving forward without the city’s involvement. Carlson said the plan would involve the county implementing “home rule” tax-increment financing that would replace the CRA, but that would add hurdles and time to the process.

The city council approved a memorandum of understanding in May outlining the use of $80 million in Community Investment Tax funding. Since then, Carlson and other councilors have repeatedly argued that they need more involvement before approving agreements.

'Not authorized to negotiate' for CRA board

That concern was on display during Thursday’s CRA meeting, where Carlson explained the CRA board had not been directly involved in negotiations.

Carlson questioned the role of the mayor’s administration in negotiating on behalf of the CRA, which he said is a separate legal entity from the city.

“The city, the mayor, can negotiate on behalf of the city and then present something to the city council. That would be the city’s part of it,” Carlson said. “But on the CRA, the mayor is not involved. The mayor and her staff are not authorized to negotiate on our behalf.”

Carlson said a briefing from city staff would not be the same as participating in negotiations.

“The (city) chief of staff sent a memo to us the other day offering to brief us, but that’s different than being involved in negotiations.”

ALSO READ: Could the Rays build a Tampa stadium without any money from the city?

For months, the stadium debate has raised questions about Tampa’s strong-mayor form of government, in which the administration negotiates major agreements while the city council ultimately votes on them.

“For the sake of the community, there should be robust conversations going on,” said Carlson, who announced in April he was running for mayor. Castor is term-limited and cannot seek another term.

“Jane has led this negotiation so far and all we have seen is political chaos. Don't you think the Rays should give council a chance to fix this?” Carlson wrote in response to commenters on X.

“City Council has never been a part of the negotiation until today. The Rays are happy, the county is happy and city council is happy. Only the mayor is having a temper tantrum.”