{"id":214775,"date":"2026-04-01T17:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/214775\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T17:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:24:09","slug":"tampa-official-says-tampa-bay-rays-ballpark-financing-terms-remain-unsettled-amid-growing-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/214775\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa official says Tampa Bay Rays ballpark financing terms remain unsettled amid growing calls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa City Council Chair Alan Clendenin said Tuesday that terms of the public financing request for a proposed Rays ballpark<\/a> at Hillsborough College\u2019s main campus have \u201cnot been finalized despite growing calls for their disclosure,\u201d according to Colleen Wright of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. Clendenin, who is a member of the Tampa Sports Authority, said at the agency\u2019s meeting Tuesday it is \u201cnot even put to pencil at this point.\u201d Wright noted the city and county have \u201cforecast possible votes on an agreement April 15 and 16, respectively.\u201d Clendenin said, \u201cIt\u2019s still all in flux. They\u2019re still negotiating everything. There\u2019s still some very consequential items to be resolved.\u201d Sports Authority CEO Eric Hart said that Tampa and Hillsborough County are \u201cawaiting an economic impact analysis on both the stadium and mixed-use development by AECOM,\u201d which is \u201cexpected by the end of the week.\u201d Hart said that he \u201cexpects there to be five or six major agreements,\u201d with \u201c15 or 16 sub-agreements that still need to be worked out.\u201d Clendenin noted that there would \u201cnot be a vote before AECOM presents its study because the city needs to verify assumptions made by the Rays\u201d (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 3\/31<\/a>).<\/p>\n

ASKING THE HARD QUESTIONS: In Tampa, Nicolas Villamil noted Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwen Myers has \u201cadded a potentially pivotal item\u201d to the agenda for Wednesday\u2019s commission meeting. Myers is recommending a motion that, if \u201csupported by a majority of the seven member board, would ask the county attorney\u2019s office a central question: Can money from Hillsborough\u2019s half-cent sales tax help pay for a county-owned stadium?\u201d The attorney\u2019s opinion, if requested, could \u201cprove decisive\u201d for the Rays\u2019 pursuit of a ballpark in Tampa. Money from the Community Investment Tax \u201crepresents the biggest share\u201d of public money the team is seeking. The team\u2019s latest financing proposal is reportedly \u201cbuilt around\u201d $467M from the county\u2019s slice of the tax. If Myers\u2019 motion passes, the county attorney\u2019s opinion could \u201csignificantly influence the outcome\u201d of any proposed deal between Hillsborough and the Rays (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 3\/31<\/a>).<\/p>\n

FULL BACKING: In Tampa, Marc Topkin noted the Yankees issued a statement Tuesday night \u201ccalling the project \u2018a defining opportunity\u2019 for the community\u201d and saying that they \u201c\u2018fully\u2019 support the Rays\u2019 plans — as long as the money spent doesn\u2019t impact funding for other existing sports facilities.\u201d Ever since the Rays announced plans to build a ballpark on the Hillsborough College site adjacent to Steinbrenner Field, there has \u201cbeen speculation\u201d about what the Yankees think of the project. The Yankees in their letter wrote, \u201cWhile the Yankees compete with the Tampa Bay Rays on the field, we are partners here in Tampa Bay. The construction of a new ballpark adjacent to George M. Steinbrenner Field is a defining opportunity to continue the county\u2019s growth and deliver a game day experience that Rays fans have more than earned. Our organization fully supports the thoughtful approach being used to fund the Rays ballpark project, as it aligns with decades of similar successful strategic investment decisions directed by the County, City and Sports Authority. We also trust that our municipal partners will retain previously earmarked funds for Tampa\u2019s other professional sports venues and continue to consider their needs in the decades to come\u201d (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 3\/31<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa City Council Chair Alan Clendenin said Tuesday that terms of the public financing request for a proposed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3816,3817,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-214775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214775","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=214775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}