{"id":563206,"date":"2026-02-09T23:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T23:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/563206\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T23:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T23:58:16","slug":"rays-could-blow-the-atlanta-battery-away-with-the-hcc-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/563206\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays could blow the Atlanta Battery away with the HCC site"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/sportstalkflorida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/000-BATTERY-IN-ATLANTA.jpg\" data-caption=\"ATLANYA \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"522\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/000-BATTERY-IN-ATLANTA-696x522.jpg\"   alt=\"ATLANTA\" title=\"000- BATTERY IN ATLANTA\"\/><\/a>ATLANYA <\/p>\n<p>The Battery Atlanta Changed the Economics of Sports<\/p>\n<p>When the Atlanta Braves opened Truist Park in 2017, the real revolution wasn\u2019t the stadium\u2014it was The Battery, a mixed\u2011use district built around it. Sports Business Journal and Front Office Sports have repeatedly highlighted The Battery as the most successful stadium\u2011anchored development in North America.<\/p>\n<p>The model is simple:<\/p>\n<p>The stadium draws people<\/p>\n<p>The district keeps them there<\/p>\n<p>The surrounding development\u2014not the ballpark\u2014drives the revenue<\/p>\n<p>Hotels, restaurants, apartments, office towers, and entertainment venues create a 365\u2011day economic engine.<\/p>\n<p>Why This Model Works<\/p>\n<p>The Battery succeeds because it blends:<\/p>\n<p>Walkability<\/p>\n<p>Mixed\u2011use density<\/p>\n<p>Year\u2011round programming<\/p>\n<p>Seamless integration of sports and entertainment<\/p>\n<p>A design that encourages people to stay before and after games<\/p>\n<p>It is not a stadium with development around it. It is a neighborhood built around a stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Tampa\u2019s HCC Village Could Replicate\u2014and Improve\u2014This Model<\/p>\n<p>The proposed HCC stadium village mirrors The Battery\u2019s core principles but adds unique advantages:<\/p>\n<p>A college campus integrated into the district<\/p>\n<p>A minor league\/academy stadium<\/p>\n<p>Proximity to an NFL stadium<\/p>\n<p>A central location accessible to the majority of the region\u2019s population<\/p>\n<p>Tampa\u2019s version would be larger, more diverse, and more interconnected than Atlanta\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>The Economic Impact Is Proven<\/p>\n<p>Cobb County\u2019s tax revenue, hotel occupancy, and business growth around The Battery have exceeded projections every year since 2017. The district has become a national case study in how sports can anchor long\u2011term development.<\/p>\n<p>Tampa\u2019s business community sees the same potential. The HCC village would generate:<\/p>\n<p>New tax revenue streams<\/p>\n<p>Year\u2011round tourism<\/p>\n<p>Job creation<\/p>\n<p>A revitalized urban corridor<\/p>\n<p>A Unified Sports District With Even Greater Potential<\/p>\n<p>The combination of a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark, the existing facilities at Steinbrenner Field and Raymond James Stadium, and a fully redeveloped HCC Dale Mabry campus could create a sports and entertainment district that surpasses the scale and impact of Atlanta\u2019s Battery. With three major venues already clustered in a high\u2011traffic corridor, the foundation is stronger than what Atlanta started with. Add in mixed\u2011use development, year\u2011round activation, and the ability to leverage existing infrastructure, and Tampa has the chance to build a destination that is bigger, more connected, and more economically powerful than anything the region has seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANYA The Battery Atlanta Changed the Economics of Sports When the Atlanta Braves opened Truist Park in 2017,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,74208,4,297,74209,74210,2550,68,74211,74212,2551,2549],"class_list":{"0":"post-563206","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-battery-atlanta-case-study","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-rays","12":"tag-rays-development-model","13":"tag-stadium-anchored-economics","14":"tag-tampa-bay","15":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","16":"tag-tampa-sports-district-2026","17":"tag-tampa-stadium-village-plan","18":"tag-tampabay","19":"tag-tampabayrays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116043390899880490","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563206","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=563206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}