{"id":671177,"date":"2026-04-08T23:39:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/671177\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T23:39:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:39:00","slug":"tampa-bay-rays-proposed-stadium-plan-has-local-support-but-doubts-about-funding-sources-according-to-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/671177\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Rays proposed stadium plan has local support, but doubts about funding sources, according to poll"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TAMPA, Fla. – We are getting a first look at public opinion when it comes to the building of a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> in Hillsborough County<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The poll, which was done by Data Targeting, a prominent GOP-aligned pollster in Florida<\/a>, shows that the public generally agrees that building a stadium in Tampa is the best chance to keep the Rays.<\/p>\n

It was commissioned by a member of the Tampa <\/a>Sports Authority, and has a margin of error of 4.3%.<\/p>\n

The public also agrees that it will drive economic <\/a>benefit.<\/p>\n

By the numbers:<\/p>\n

The general plan to build a stadium<\/a> is supported by a margin of 2 to 1, with 58% in favor and 29% opposed.<\/p>\n

But, when asked as to whether the community investment sales tax (CIT) money should be used, there is an equal amount of opposition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are 31% who support using it, but 64% are against it.<\/p>\n

When asked whether “any” of the sales tax money should be used, support rises slightly, to 34% in favor and 59% opposed.<\/p>\n

And, when the 530 respondents were asked whether the decision to use CIT money should be sent to a voter referendum, 85% said they would be in favor of that.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

The CIT money has become a sticking point for the Hillsborough County Commission, because the language that voters approved in 2024 did not include money for a stadium.<\/p>\n

More recently, but before the Rays stadium discussion began in earnest, commissioners said during a meeting that they did not want the half-cent sales tax used for that.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

That became a problem when Hillsborough Commissioner Ken Hagan, the stadium’s biggest backer, said that CIT money would be essential to making a funding plan for the stadium.<\/p>\n

The other side:<\/p>\n

Commissioner Josh Wostal says the poll should be telling.<\/p>\n

Wostal says a stadium is fine, but using sales tax money that voters said should be for schools, roads and public safety, is not.<\/p>\n

“We chose that ballot language in 2024. Me specifically, I led the charge on that language with items that I knew would convince people that they would agree with and need,” Wostal said. “At a minimum, people deserve honesty and not to be lied to by their elected officials.”<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

A workshop is scheduled for next week, where commissioners will discuss a funding plan.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So far, the details of whatever is being worked out between the county and the Rays have not been made public.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

There is a legal question as to whether the CIT money can be used for a stadium, and the county attorney is now writing an opinion on that.<\/p>\n

Again, that is money that Hagan says is essential.<\/p>\n

If a plan can be agreed upon with the Rays, the goal among stadium supporters is to hold a commission vote in early May.<\/p>\n

The Rays have agreed to pay for half of the $2.3 billion stadium.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story was provided by a Data Targeting poll on public opinion for the proposed new Ray stadium, as well as interviews with Hillsborough County commissioners.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays<\/a>Rays Stadium Plans<\/a>Sports<\/a>Tampa<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. – We are getting a first look at public opinion when it comes to the building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,610,25579,4,169,297,611,10202,185,295,2550,68,2551,2549,609],"class_list":{"0":"post-671177","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-fl","10":"tag-hillsborough","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-rays","14":"tag-rays-baseball","15":"tag-rays-stadium","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-tampa","18":"tag-tampa-bay","19":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","20":"tag-tampabay","21":"tag-tampabayrays","22":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116371730047912598","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671177","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=671177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}