The Tampa Bay Rays and local officials announced a tentative $2.3 billion agreement Thursday for a new ballpark funded by public and private money.
The nonbinding memorandum of understanding among the Rays, Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa outlines the costs of a stadium, which would include $967 million of tax dollars. Elected officials for the city and county are expected to vote on the deal at separate meetings next week.
"The Rays respectfully but resolutely encourage Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa to approve the MOU and make possible a forever home for our community's Tampa Bay Rays, breathe new life into the Dale Mabry Campus of Hillsborough College, and create a new privately financed neighborhood that will be an inviting and inclusive destination to work, live, learn, and play," Rays CEO Ken Babby said in a statement.
Rays ownership reached an agreement earlier this year with Hillsborough College to build the stadium and mixed-use entertainment district on the college campus and to renovate some of the college's buildings. The property is next to the New York Yankees' spring training facility and across a highway from Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Rays have said they hope to have the new stadium built within three years.
Since the team took the field in 1998, the Rays have played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, except for moving home games to the Yankees' Steinbrenner Field in 2025 following hurricane damage at the Trop. The Rays' lease runs through at least the 2028 season. The team returned to the Trop last month for the start of this season.
A proposed $1.3 billion redevelopment deal for a new ballpark adjacent to the Trop fell through last year, raising new questions about the future of the team, which was bought last September by Patrick Zalupski's ownership group.
