The ongoing saga of the proposed $1.3 billion ballpark for the Tampa Bay Rays took a new step forward as the St. Petersburg City Council narrowly voted to approve bonds to fund its public financing portion for the stadium and the surrounding Historic Gas Plant District.
The Tampa Bay Times reported the council’s 4-3 decision will empower the city to take out bonds to finance its $287.5 million commitment to the stadium, along with $142 million on infrastructure improvements in the Gas Plant. The final input on the public financing portion could be decided on Dec. 17 when the Pinellas County Commission will vote on whether it will commit about $312.5 million to the project – the commission has twice postponed their vote, and the Rays’ executive management warned that delays in securing public financing could run up the costs for the stadium, which was scheduled to open in 2028..
“As we have made clear at every step of this process, a 2029 ballpark delivery would result in significantly higher costs that we are not able to absorb alone,” said the team’s co-presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman in a letter to the Pinellas County Commission.
Next week, the St. Petersburg City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to allocate $1.45 million to hire a contractor to design plans to replace the roof at Tropicana Field’s, the Rays’ current stadium that was damaged in Hurricane Milton. Last month, the city council rejected spending $23.7 million to repair the roof. With Tropicana Field closed, the team will be based in 2025 at the spring training home of the New York Yankees, 11,000-seat Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, while their stadium is repaired. Tropicana Field was scheduled to be razed after the new stadium would open – now, it is carrying a $55 million budget for repairs to accommodate a 2026 reopening.
Photo courtesy Tampa Bay Rays
Time for Tropicana Field to go, I wouldn’t spend another dime on it. Use the Yankees stadium for this season, and push to get the new one up.