{"id":220995,"date":"2026-04-06T20:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/220995\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:00:30","slug":"jane-castor-cheers-rays-return-to-tropicana-field-while-negotiations-for-tampa-relocation-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/220995\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Castor cheers Rays return to Tropicana Field while negotiations for Tampa relocation loom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor<\/a> is cheering the Tampa Bay Rays\u2019<\/a> return to Tropicana Field<\/a> this week \u2014 their first game back in St. Petersburg since Hurricane Milton destroyed the roof<\/a> \u2014 calling the moment symbolic of the region\u2019s broader recovery from the storms.<\/p>\n

The homecoming follows a season spent at Steinbrenner Field<\/a> in Tampa and has been met with strong fan enthusiasm, with tickets to Monday\u2019s opener selling out well before first pitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Castor said the return to a fully repaired Tropicana Field is bittersweet \u2014 as the Rays move back across the bay to St. Petersburg, for now, as negotiations continue over a potential long-term move to a new ballpark in Tampa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the Rays for a whole season, and I\u2019m not going to pretend that wasn\u2019t wonderful,\u201d Castor wrote in the newsletter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSteinbrenner Field, the sunshine, even those pesky rain delays. We took it all in, and we cheered them on. I root for this team, and I always have. The question of where the Rays plant their long-term flag is one I care about deeply, as a fan and as Mayor of a city that has a real stake in that answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hillsborough County is expected to consider proposals by the Tampa Bay Rays as early as this month that could top $1 billion<\/a> in public funding. Commissioners are expected to debate the use of Community Investment Tax dollars<\/a> as a funding source on the deal, a proposal that has already drawn skepticism.<\/p>\n

The City of Tampa is expected to consider public funding around the same timeframe as the county. Castor made clear this week that the city remains interested in a new ballpark so long as taxpayers do not strike out on the deal.<\/p>\n

The funding would not be used solely for a ballpark. The Rays\u2019 proposal calls for a mixed-use district surrounding Hillsborough College\u2019s Dale Mabry campus<\/a>, similar to the Atlanta Braves\u2019 Battery District. State officials have already agreed to convey some state land to the college for use as part of efforts to anchor the campus into the district, along with the Rays.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely want to make a deal to ensure the Tampa Bay Rays remain in Tampa Bay, but any agreement has to make sense for our taxpayers and our community,\u201d Castor said. \u201cTonight, though, there is baseball under a fixed roof<\/a>, and that is enough reason to cheer. Go Rays.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is cheering the Tampa Bay Rays\u2019 return to Tropicana Field this week \u2014 their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[69824,22641,1802,5756,9004,3817,9003,135,3815,137,136,8125],"class_list":{"0":"post-220995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-community-investment-tax","9":"tag-hillsborough-college","10":"tag-hurricane-milton","11":"tag-jane-castor","12":"tag-major-league-baseball","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-steinbrenner-field","15":"tag-tampa","16":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","17":"tag-tampa-headlines","18":"tag-tampa-news","19":"tag-tropicana-field"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220995","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=220995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}