{"id":517424,"date":"2026-01-12T23:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/517424\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T23:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:24:12","slug":"rays-stadium-news-hcc-dale-mabry-site-vote-scheduled-for-jan-20th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/517424\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays Stadium News: HCC Dale Mabry site vote scheduled for Jan. 20th"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Tampa Bay Rays could see a vote occur on the leading candidate for a new Rays stadium as soon as next week, according to breaking news from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/tampabay\/news\/2026\/01\/12\/hcc-special-meeting-rays-land.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa Business Journal<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">The Hillsborough College District Board of Trustees is expected to hold a special meeting Jan. 20 to vote on a deal that would make way for the Rays to turn the college\u2019s North Dale Mabry campus into a 110-acre mixed-use district with a new ballpark, according to sources with knowledge of the deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The new Rays ownership group announced an aggressive 2029 timeline for a new stadium to be built, which practically has meant a new stadium location would have to be announced before Opening Day 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">At the new ownership group\u2019s introductory press conference, led by real estate investor Patrick Zalupski, the Rays were not shy about their desire for at least 100 acres, a qualification which narrowed their search considerably.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Still unknown: how would this stadium, along with any larger improvements needed for the area\u2019s redevelopment, be financed? Recent stadium deals in Washington DC and Kansas City have featured eye-popping amounts of public subsidy, <a href=\"https:\/\/stateline.org\/2026\/01\/12\/sports-stadium-deals-hand-ever-more-taxpayer-money-to-billionaires\/?emci=7275d89e-b2ef-f011-8194-000d3a11f903&amp;emdi=300e0249-c5ef-f011-8194-000d3a11f903&amp;ceid=565538\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">over $1 billion in each deal<\/a>. Would our DOGE-minded state and county representatives be persuaded that in this case public spending is good, actually?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Again, from the Tampa Business Journal:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">Rays representatives met with county staff on Monday, sources said, though it\u2019s not known if the team has struck a deal for county funding. A spokesperson for Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said the HC meeting is not on the mayor\u2019s calendar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Our assumption is that next Tuesday\u2019s HCC board vote will indicate that the Rays are focused on the Dale Mabry campus site, but it may take longer before the financial feasibility of a Dale Mabry stadium\/entertainment district becomes clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Rays could see a vote occur on the leading candidate for a new Rays stadium&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,4,297,2550,68,49846,2551,2549],"class_list":{"0":"post-517424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-rays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-rays","11":"tag-tampa-bay","12":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","13":"tag-tampa-bay-stadium-saga","14":"tag-tampabay","15":"tag-tampabayrays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115884711588236403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}