{"id":167855,"date":"2026-02-25T01:59:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T01:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167855\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T01:59:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T01:59:21","slug":"desantis-approves-transfer-of-22-acres-for-proposed-rays-stadium-site-in-tampa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167855\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis approves transfer of 22 acres for proposed Rays stadium site in Tampa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet approved the transfer of 22 acres of state land to Hillsborough College for a proposed Rays stadium in Tampa.<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 A proposed new home for the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> cleared a hurdle Tuesday as the\u00a0governor and Cabinet approved transferring 22 acres of state-owned land<\/a> to Hillsborough College, property that could become the site of a new stadium.<\/p>\n

Under the action, the state will convey approximately 22 acres of non-conservation land on the college\u2019s Dale Mabry campus and release deed restrictions so college leaders can move forward with negotiations.<\/p>\n

If construction does not begin within five years, the land will revert back to the state.<\/p>\n

The vote gives Hillsborough College the authority to negotiate a long-term lease agreement with the Rays, but it does not guarantee a stadium. Financing, local approvals and binding agreements still must be finalized.<\/p>\n

Renderings<\/a> released by the team show a $2.3 billion, 31,000-seat stadium surrounded by mixed-use development on the campus.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the proposal would allow the college to transform underused property while supporting baseball in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is appropriate to empower them to be able to negotiate a deal that’s going to allow them to have a reinvigorated and reimagined campus and also connecting some of their students to all the great things that are going to be happening around them,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n

The governor has also faced questions about the value of the land. He suggested it holds limited value outside the proposed redevelopment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch is this land worth? Honestly, I don’t know that it’s worth very much outside of this proposal because you wouldn’t \u2014 like a home builder would not put a subdivision there \u2014 no way. People wouldn’t do commercial buildings,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier<\/a> said redeveloping the property would provide broader economic benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat’s today largely just a bunch of parking lots will be completely renovated to a live-work-entertain district that you know is going to have significant economic benefit to the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Under a non-binding memorandum previously approved by Hillsborough College trustees, the college would retain land for new academic facilities and lease the remaining property to the Rays for at least 99 years.<\/p>\n

The governor has repeatedly said the state will not finance stadium construction.<\/p>\n

Still, the Senate\u2019s proposed budget includes $50 million to help relocate college facilities \u2014 funding not currently included in the House spending plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy view is rather than pour money into rehabbing old buildings, why don’t you reimagine it in a good way?\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n

The Rays have projected a roughly $2.3 billion cost for the project, with ownership covering about half. County leaders are debating whether public dollars, including Community Investment Tax revenue, should help cover the remainder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s gonna be a lot of other hurdles that need to go. I know HCC is going to be working with the organization. I know the organization is going to be working with the city and county, and we’ll see how all that plays out,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n

Hillsborough College and the Rays have 180 days of exclusive negotiations to finalize binding agreements. The negotiating period began Jan. 20 and runs through July 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet approved the transfer of 22 acres of state land to Hillsborough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-167855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-tampa","9":"tag-tampa-headlines","10":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167855","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=167855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}