Takeaways from Tampa's Rays stadium workshop
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The Tampa City Council's Rays stadium workshop posed many of the same questions as Hillsborough County's — and yielded just as few answers.
Why it matters: There's less than a month until the Rays' June 1 deadline to approve a stadium deal, which the team says is needed to ensure the new ballpark will be ready for Opening Day 2029.
- Rays CEO Ken Babby, Hillsborough College president Ken Atwater and members of the public, many in Rays merchandise, had the opportunity to address council members.
Here are a few of our takeaways from Tuesday's workshop:
⚾️ Fans stack meeting: Tuesday's workshop (which, unlike Hillsborough's, allowed public comment) drew so many people that dozens spilled into an overflow area. The meeting lasted nearly four hours.
- On X, the team had urged fans to attend, wear Rays gear and show support for the new stadium. Fans applauded Babby after his address to the city council (and were promptly reprimanded).
- During public comment, fans pleaded for council members not to be the "stewards that ... send this team to Orlando."
💸 Money talks: The central question (and concern) of Tuesday's workshop was how much public money would go into a new stadium and how much money it would generate in turn.
- It's still unclear how much of the new stadium's total footprint, including the surrounding mixed-use district, would be subject to property taxes. Babby declined to address the question, as it's still being negotiated.
- Yes, but: The Rays told the county that they intend for the planned mixed-use district surrounding the stadium to be "fully taxable," while the stadium would be county-owned and therefore tax-exempt.
- Council member Lynn Hurtak also raised concerns about the impact of a possible statewide property tax cut — which would devastate the city's budget — and about the half-cent sales tax's dismal projections.
- Hurtak asked what would happen should the city not be able to foot its portion of the deal, a question that went unanswered. (A draft agreement, however, would put the onus on the city to find alternatives.)
🙅 Tax office relocation: The Rays want to build the mixed-use district on land currently occupied by one of the Hillsborough County tax collector's busiest offices — a move that agency opposes.
- The office serves about 900 customers each day from West Tampa, Town and County, South Tampa, West Shore and surrounding neighborhoods.
- Chief deputy tax collector Jennifer Castro told council members that a new facility could cost taxpayers $15-20 million.
- "We are committed to being good partners in Tampa's future, but we cannot stand by while our busiest office is in jeopardy without a funded replacement plan," she added.