TAMPA, Fla. – The Hillsborough County Commission voted to approve its share of funding for a new Tampa Bay Rays baseball stadium.

The commission voted 5-2 to approve its $796-million share of the $2.3-billion project, set for the Hillsborough College campus on Dale Mabry Highway.

Tampa’s City Council voted 4-3 on Thursday to approve its $80-million share.

Commissioners Ken Hagan, Harry Cohen, Gwen Myers, Chris Boles and Christine Miller were yes votes. Boles’ yes came with an amendment over the length and amount of the agreement’s CBA.

Joshua Wostal and Donna Cepeda voted no on the project.

“I want to express our deepest gratitude to Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa for their leadership, partnership, and willingness to say yes to what for so long had been considered impossible: a new ballpark for the Tampa Bay Rays,” Rays Manager Partner and Co-Chair Patrick Zalupski said in a released statement. “This has been a long and challenging process, and we know that transformational projects rarely come easily. Today’s vote represents an extraordinary milestone—not simply for the Rays or for a ballpark, but for the future of Tampa and the entire Tampa Bay region.”

Today’s approval sets funding in place for the project and moves toward the construction phase. Team officials have continuously said they want to be in the new facility in time for the 2029 season.

The project funding is expected to break down as such (according to numbers released by the Rays):

The Rays would contribute more than $1.3 billion.
$360 million would come from county Community Investment Tax funds.
$303 million in Tourist Development Tax bonds and reserves would be used.
And another $103 million would be paid for through other county resources.
Tampa would contribute $80 million, and the remaining amount would be drawn from other public funds and investment earnings, and federal funds. 

Rays CEO Ken Babby added to the team’s comments after the yes vote, saying the Rays are finally in Tampa Bay to stay. 

“The Tampa Bay Rays enthusiastically thank and applaud the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners for making history,” Babby said. “By virtue of its approval of a county investment in partnership with the Rays and the City of Tampa, today our entire region can celebrate the coming of a privately financed and mixed-use neighborhood, a reinvented Hillsborough College campus, and a new ballpark that secures the long-term future of Major League Baseball here in Tampa Bay.”