TAMPA — The Tampa Sports Authority discussed the potential for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium at their meeting on Tuesday, but no vote was taken.
Instead of voting on whether to recommend to the city and Hillsborough County that they conduct economic impact studies on the project, the board president said the firm AECOM is already working on a study for them.
The board also said that construction and development company Skanska is evaluating the cost and feasibility of a new stadium.
Members had a number of questions surrounding the potential project. They were sparked by a presentation county commissioners are expected to hear Wednesday, saying that the Rays plan to pay for at least half of construction costs.
One question was whether that is for just the stadium or if it includes parking and infrastructure.
Others included how many hotel rooms the Rays will generate, what impact a stadium would have on local businesses, how parking and traffic issues will be handled, and what role the sports authority will play in stadium operations.
“If it gets built, I don’t think the Rays want to pay one dime in taxes on a $2.3 billion stadium,” said sports authority board member Joseph Robinson. “I believe it will be transferred ownership to the county, and after they do that, guess what? We’re going to end up managing it, just like we manage all sports facilities right now in this area. So, I think down the road, we need to make sure, because that’s going to impact staff, it’s going to impact us big time if we’ve got to start managing that Rays stadium. That’s all I want to say. I can see it happening.”
Spectrum News tried to talk with a few members of the board, but they declined interviews and requests for clarification.