Hillsborough County Commission Chair Ken Hagan told a local radio station Wednesday morning that the Rays are weighing a ballpark deal “with no city involvement at all,” according to a front-page piece by Moske & Villamil of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. Hagan said on St. Petersburg-based WDAE-AM, “It’s just a matter of the Rays determining which is the best and quickest path for them. If it involves the city, if it doesn’t, or to what degree it does.” The Rays’ current draft ballpark agreement, approved in May by both the County Commission and the Tampa City Council, outlines a $976M public contribution toward the cost of the stadium at the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough College. Of that, $180M would come from the city, with $100M from Tampa’s Community Redevelopment Agency and $80M from the Community Investment Tax. How the “terms would be structured in the absence of city money has not yet been determined.” Hagan said that he is “confident that a deal will move forward with or without the city.” The development comes a month before the city council’s next scheduled vote on the stadium agreement on Aug. 20 (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 7/16).
