Hillsborough County Commission Approves Rays’ Stadium Proposal

The Hillsborough County Commission has voted to approve the Rays’ proposed stadium deal, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The vote, which passed by a 5-2 measure, follows yesterday’s vote of approval from the Tampa City Council.

With those crucial approvals in place, the Rays have secured the necessary public funding to move forward with the construction of a new $2.3 billion mixed-use development near Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus. The city is contributing roughly $80MM, while the county will contribute just shy of $800MM. The team will provide an additional $1.4 billion in private funding and will cover any overrun costs. Construction is expected to begin soon, and the target opening date for the new facility is 2029. The Rays’ current lease at Tropicana Field, in nearby St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, runs through 2028.

Rays CEO Ken Babby issued the following statement in a press release announcing the vote’s outcome:

“The Tampa Bay Rays enthusiastically thank and applaud the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners for making history. By virtue of its approval of a county investment in partnership with the Rays and the City of Tampa, today our entire region can celebrate the coming of a privately financed and mixed-use neighborhood, a reinvented Hillsborough College campus, and a new ballpark that secures the long-term future of Major League Baseball here in Tampa Bay.

With deep gratitude, we commend Hillsborough County Chair Ken Hagan and his fellow elected officials for their vision and support. We are also grateful to Dr. Ken Atwater, President of Hillsborough College, who has been an inspiration throughout this journey. We all have more work ahead, but there is no question our partnership will ensure a cohesive and successful process.

Above all, we now look forward to celebrating before breaking ground with Hillsborough County an the City of Tampa on a future that has long been doubted, but will indeed happen. By making the Forever Home a reality, the Rays are now home forever in Tampa Bay.”

Today’s vote ostensibly closes a decades-long pursuit of a new stadium for the Rays. Unforeseeable circumstances dashed the team’s hopes the last time it reached this stage, as plans for a new stadium in Pinellas County were derailed when Hurricane Milton ripped the roof at Tropicana Field to shreds and left the Rays without a home for the 2025 season. They relocated to Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field last year — home of the Yankees’ affiliate in the Class-A Florida State League. While logistics surrounding that site change were being hammered out, the November elections that year turned over several key seats on the voting board and scuttled the would-be deal.

Since the implosion of the Rays’ most recent stadium deal, there’s been an ownership change. Longtime owner Stu Sternberg, reportedly at the behest of some pressure from the league and fellow owners, wound up selling his majority stake in the team to a group led by Patrick Zalupski — a billionaire real estate developer based in Jacksonville, Fla. Zalupski pledged early on to keep the Rays in the Tampa area, and with the pair of votes in the past 24 hours, it appears that will indeed be the ultimate outcome.

The stadium proposal includes a 35-year term and a non-relocation agreement. So long as this deal goes ahead as is now agreed upon, the Rays should be locked into their new home well into the 2060s. Between this deal and the Athletics’ already-underway move to Las Vegas — which has a 2028 target — the two most prominent relocation candidates in the game now have their protracted quests for new stadiums largely resolved.

With those sagas now formally moving toward conclusion by Opening Day 2029, the league will presumably highlight expansion as its next major endeavor. Commissioner Rob Manfred, who’s in his final term before retirement, has spoken for years about wanting to grow Major League Baseball from 30 to 32 teams but has consistently said that goal will take a backseat to brokering resolutions for the Athletics’ and Rays’ stadium efforts.