Let’s switch things up today and talk about a new baseball stadium in the Tampa Bay area that might actually get built.

The Tampa Bay Rays have had quite the stadium saga. When they were created, they began play in Tropicana Field, originally built as the Florida Coast Sundome in 1989, when the area was hoping to lure a team to move there from another city. The White Sox were one of those teams. It didn’t happen and Tampa Bay got an expansion team in 1998. The dome was outdated even then, and got worse over time. Then the roof got ripped off in Hurricane Milton and the Rays had to play the 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

Money was allocated to repair the roof at the Trop and the Rays will move back in for this season. In fact, the Cubs will be their first opponent. The teams will meet for a three-game series beginning April 6.

Over the decades there have been quite a number of proposals for a new stadium for the Rays, including this cool-looking stadium with a sail-like roof and this one, which was supposed to be built near where the Trop now stands. That fell through due to disputes over who was going to fund it.

The Rays were recently sold to a Florida-based group who announced they were committed to finding a new stadium site in the Tampa Bay area.

Now, per Marc Topkin in the Tampa Bay Times, they have found such a site and released renderings of a potential new stadium. You can see one of the renderings at the top of this post. There are more renderings at the article link (and also here at our SB Nation Rays site DRays Bay), but here’s a potential stumbling block:

Tampa Sports Authority CEO Eric Hart told the Tampa Bay Times last week that the team had estimated the cost of the stadium at $2.3 billion. Hagan said Wednesday “that number is not firm.”

Per county documents, the Rays say they will pay at least 50% of the stadium cost, plus cover construction over-runs, future repairs, maintenance and renovations.

The Rays are asking the county to cover the other 50% through various funding sources with potential other contributions from the city of Tampa and the state. The commission voted Wednesday to proceed with the negotiations.

Ah, ha. Let’s see, half of $2.3 billion is $1.15 billion and that’s an awful lot of public money for a stadium. We know, from decades of such payments, that they never, ever pay off for the locality that provides the money. A perfect example is the new stadium in Atlanta, which got $300 million of public money from Cobb County, Georgia — which then ran into a shortfall looking for money for new libraries and other things for the public good.

When things like this are proposed, I always check out Neil DeMause’s excellent Field of Schemes site to see what he has to say about this one, and DeMause does not disappoint:

The Tampa Sports Authority, meanwhile, also met this week to discuss the Rays plans, and revealed that it will eventually release two, let’s call them “reports”, by their favorite consultants Skanska and AECOM — one on whether the $2.3 billion stadium will actually cost $2.3 billion, the other reviewing the Rays’ own economic projections for the project. (The AECOM report is expected to be ready by April 1, the Skanska one will be sometime later.) Board member Andy Scaglione also asked if anyone had appraised the value of the Dale Mabry campus (nope) and how much money was available in hotel tax funds for tourism spending that could go toward a stadium ($11-12 million, which won’t go far toward that $1.15 billion nut).

So, this one’s still a long way from being approved/completed/actually built.

Incidentally, the Dale Mabry campus noted in the Field of Schemes article is directly adjacent to Steinbrenner Field and Raymond James Stadium, where the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers play:

Raymond James Stadium is the green area just south of Tampa Bay Blvd. and east of the Dale Mabry Highway. As you can see, it’s also immediately adjacent to the Tampa International Airport, which, according to the Tampa Bay Times article, will mean the stadium will have to have some sort of height restrictions.

Topkin’s article also notes this:

In releasing the renderings, the Rays also said they will start collecting nonrefundable $19.98 deposits from fans “to secure early access to seating in the new ballpark.” (Current season members don’t have to pay and will receive “the highest priority” access.)

More information on the deposit plan and on the project overall is available at newballpark.raysbaseball.com.

The Rays are pitching the ballpark plan as part of a massive live/work/learn/play complex on the 130-acre site that will be privately financed by the team, in what Hillsborough County Commission Chair Ken Hagan said would be an investment of $8 billion to $10 billion.

This is in line with many other teams, including the Cubs, who want to own entertainment options near their stadiums, as a revenue generator that isn’t subject to revenue sharing.

This project is a long way from being funded and constructed, but it does seem to be one that might actually happen, as opposed to previous Tampa Bay area proposals that failed. The location in Tampa is, at least, more accessible than Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

Lastly, there’s this, from Topkin’s article:

The team admittedly has aggressive plans to open the new facility for the 2029 season. Its current lease at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg runs through the 2028 season.

Clock’s ticking. That gives them less than three years. As always, we await developments.