The owners of the Tampa Bay Rays said the team will not be able to move into their planned new stadium for the 2028 season, and there is a good chance they may never relocate to the new venue.
The Associated Press reported the team’s executives informed Florida’s Pinellas County Commission that they’ve spent $50 million for early work on the new $1.3 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark, but they are unable to continue because the bonds that were supposed to fund the public share of the costs have yet to be approved. The commission postponed voting on the bond issue during its Oct. 29 and Nov. 19 meetings – the subject is on the agenda for its next meeting on Dec. 17.
“The Rays organization is saddened and stunned by this unfortunate turn of events” said the team’s co-presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman in a letter to the Pinellas County Commission, adding, “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.”
In the initial plan for the new stadium, Pinellas County agreed to spend about $312.5 million and the city of St. Petersburg would have provided approximately $417 million including infrastructure improvements. The Rays and their partner, the Hines development company, were to cover the remaining costs including any overruns.
Besides not having a clear picture on their future home, the Rays are also without a current home. The roof of Tropicana Field was ripped off last month during the tumult created by Hurricane Milton, so next year the team will be based 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 opening.
Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays
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