Derby Lane<\/a> remains under consideration for redevelopment, but not for baseball. Its new owners are seeking partners for a mixed-use entertainment district that would maintain some form of gambling presence. Visitors to the property say that identity should remain.<\/p>\n\u201cIf it would work, I see the gambling aspect of it,\u201d said Curtis Major, a Derby Lane visitor.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yes, I\u2019d like it to stay \u2014 yes,\u201d added frequent visitor Chris Wallin.<\/p>\n
Across the bay in Tampa, previously discussed sites such as the former Tampa Greyhound Track and WestShore Plaza are no longer active stadium options.<\/p>\n
WestShore Plaza is for sale and being considered for mixed-use redevelopment, while the Greyhound Track continues operating as a poker room and simulcast betting site.<\/p>\n
The State Fairgrounds and Blake High School were also mentioned only briefly in early discussions and never advanced.<\/p>\n
In Ybor City, the GasWorx development was removed from consideration years ago. Developers say a nearby property known as Ybor Harbor could technically accommodate a stadium and that they would be open to the idea, but there have been no recent discussions involving the Rays.<\/p>\n
In Orlando, the so-called Dreamers\u2019 bid has effectively stalled after losing key investors. Once viewed as an outside alternative, the group could reemerge if a Tampa Bay deal falls through. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed that possibility, saying Florida remains a viable market.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlorida is vibrant and there are alternatives in Florida,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cI do think we are at a point in the history of the club that something needs to get done. But I would be hesitant to characterize it as, you know, it\u2019s this or never again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upcoming elections could further reshape the stadium debate, potentially changing political support at the city and county levels.<\/p>\n
For now, the Rays appear focused on the HCC Dale Mabry site as negotiations continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For now, the Rays appear focused on the HCC Dale Mabry site as negotiations continue. Meanwhile, locations once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-142494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}