TAMPA, Fla. -- MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke on Tuesday morning in support of the Rays’ plans for a new ballpark and surrounding mixed-use development on the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough College in Tampa, with both reiterating their belief that “baseball belongs in Tampa Bay” and can succeed in this market.
Two weeks ago, the Hillsborough College District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Rays to pursue a partnership to redevelop the college’s approximately 113-acre campus, which is located across Dale Mabry Highway from Raymond James Stadium.
It was the first step toward securing a long-sought-after new ballpark for the Rays, who will play three more years at Tropicana Field while their new ownership group plans to move into a new stadium to begin the 2029 season. The MOU included a 180-day window to exclusively negotiate and vote on a final agreement covering a new MLB stadium, a mixed-use development and new facilities for Hillsborough College.
“One thing that has been consistent during my time as Commissioner was my view that Major League Baseball belongs in Tampa Bay,” Manfred said during the news conference at Hillsborough College. “That support has been, I hope, clear and unwavering.
“There's great excitement about the new ownership group here with the Tampa Bay Rays. It's a great group. It's a big group. It's a Florida- and Tampa-rooted group, [which is] really important in terms of the local presence here. I know that this group wants to make baseball a success here. They want to get a new facility built, and they want to provide a winner to the Rays fans here in the Tampa Bay region.”
The Rays have been in pursuit of a long-term home for nearly two decades. They have proposed ballparks on both sides of Tampa Bay, but none have come to fruition. After backing out of a plan to redevelop the Tropicana Field site last year, former principal owner Stuart Sternberg sold the team in a deal that became official in September.
DeSantis, who grew up playing and watching baseball in nearby Dunedin, said the proposal will be "mutually beneficial" for the Rays and Hillsborough College, and praised the club’s owners for recognizing “what you need to succeed in this day and age” and studying similar projects, like The Battery in Atlanta.
“Baseball belongs in Tampa Bay,” the governor said. “Baseball can succeed in Tampa Bay.”
Manfred stopped short of saying this is the Rays’ last chance to build a new ballpark in the growing Tampa Bay market, but he recognized the urgency of the situation.
“Florida is vibrant. There are alternatives in Florida, and I do think we're at a point in the history of the club that something needs to get done,” Manfred said. “But I would be hesitant to characterize it as, you know, it's this or never.”
DeSantis also noted potential interest from elsewhere in the state, specifically Orlando, if the Rays ultimately can’t come to an agreement in the area. But he repeated his preference to keep the franchise in the Tampa Bay region, where it’s been since its inaugural season in 1998.
“This is where the team was born, and I think this is where the team can succeed,” DeSantis said. “So I look forward to seeing this vision ultimately become a reality.”
DeSantis, Manfred, Hillsborough College president Ken Atwater and Rays CEO Ken Babby spoke during Tuesday’s event. Rays managing partner Patrick Zalupski, co-chair Bill Cosgrove, former team president Matt Silverman and other members of the ownership group were in attendance, as were Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, several Hillsborough County commissioners and members of the college’s Board of Trustees.
The Rays have not provided many details on their specific plans for a ballpark or the surrounding development, although Babby noted Tuesday that they plan to release the first set of renderings in the coming days.
“We will share more renderings in the weeks and months ahead and, more importantly, engage in in-depth community conversations. We want to hear what the community has to say,” Babby said. “We will go far and wide to ask questions, to learn, to take feedback and have community huddles throughout the region to learn how to make our project the right, perfect public-private partnership.
“What will not change is our commitment to deliver a generational project that will benefit everyone and change this region forever.”
The club also has not laid out a plan to finance the project, aside from Babby saying it will be a “fair public-private partnership,” but that could come into clearer focus soon.
On Wednesday morning, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners will receive an update from chair Ken Hagan on the Rays’ ballpark discussions. According to a document Hagan’s office submitted as part of the agenda for that meeting, the Rays have “expressed their interest to bear a minimum of 50% of the cost of the construction of a ballpark” while taking on all cost overruns, ballpark repairs and maintenance and future capital improvements.
According to the document, the Rays have suggested that the other half of the ballpark’s cost could be covered by a number of public funding sources, most of them paid by visitors to the site or tourists in the county and some of which would require legislative action by the state, county or city.
“The key to the economic success of most franchises is a partnership between the community, the local government and the team,” Manfred said. “And I really do believe that there is a great opportunity for this new ownership group to come together with local government, the college and form the kind of partnership that can make the Rays durable and successful here in the Tampa Bay region.”