{"id":236916,"date":"2026-04-18T13:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T13:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/236916\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T13:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T13:32:14","slug":"ron-desantis-flip-flop-on-pro-sports-tax-subsidies-divides-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/236916\/","title":{"rendered":"Ron Desantis \u2018flip-flop\u2019 on pro sports tax subsidies divides Republicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GovernorGov. Ron DeSantis (L) and Tampa Bay Rays CEO & co-owner Ken Babby at Hillsborough College in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 3, 2026. Credit: Rays \/ Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis was blunt and concise about using tax dollars for professional sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t support giving taxpayer dollars to sports stadiums, period,\u201d he said to enthusiastic applause at a\u00a0news conference<\/a>\u00a0in Orlando.<\/p>\n

DeSantis had been asked about his veto of a $35 million appropriation by the Florida legislature\u00a0for a Tampa Bay Rays spring training and youth sports facility in Pasco County.<\/p>\n

Three years later, DeSantis was almost as emphatic discussing a new Rays stadium in the Tampa Bay area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not taking your tax dollars to do any stadium at the state level. It\u2019s just not going to happen,\u201d\u00a0he said<\/a>\u00a0at a 2025 news conference.<\/p>\n

Today, with the Rays under new ownership led by a major DeSantis and Republican donor, the governor sounds different \u2013 in a way that even some of his Republican supporters are calling a flip-flop.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball belongs in Tampa Bay \u2026 The state is going to be supporting this proposal to use this Hillsborough College location to be the site of the new stadium,\u201d\u00a0he said<\/a>\u00a0in a Feb. 3 news conference at the college on a Rays proposal for a stadium on the campus.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

He effusively praised the new ownership group, headed by Patrick Zalupski, a Jacksonville home building executive.<\/p>\n

The owners have \u201ca compelling vision\u201d and \u201chave really thought hard about what you need to succeed in this day and age,\u201d the Governor\u00a0said. \u201cI was very impressed to see how they\u2019re thinking about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019s office didn\u2019t respond to inquiries about whether he has changed his position on subsidies for pro sports stadiums or why.<\/p>\n

A few weeks after his Feb. 3 comments, DeSantis led a move by the state Cabinet to give Hillsborough College 22 acres of state-owned land next to the campus so it can be included in the Rays package.<\/p>\n

During the Cabinet meeting, DeSantis said the land wasn\u2019t worth much,\u00a0calling it<\/a>\u00a0\u201can underutilized area \u2013 not the best area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s worth very much outside of this proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney General James Uthmeier, also a Zalupski contribution recipient, echoed that.<\/p>\n

The documents\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0in connection with the Cabinet\u2019s consideration of the land transfer didn\u2019t include an appraisal of its value.<\/p>\n

According to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser\u2019s Office, the 22 acres, though not taxed, is assessed at $21 million, and includes buildings and improvements valued at $26.5 million.<\/p>\n

The buildings include a Hillsborough tax collector\u2019s office, which Tax Collector Nancy Millan said in a letter to the county commissioners is the busiest of her office\u2019s eight locations, serving 900 visitors a day with a wide variety of government services in an underserved area.<\/p>\n

Replacing it with comparable square footage, parking and public access would be \u201ca complex undertaking\u201d she estimated would cost $16-20 million.<\/p>\n

She asked that the commissioners \u201cleave the existing Drew Park Tax Collector\u2019s Office untouched and unaffected\u201d by a Rays deal.<\/p>\n

The total package of land contemplated in the Rays\u2019 proposal, including the land given by the Cabinet to the college, is about 135 acres bounded by Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa Bay Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King and Lois avenues.<\/p>\n

Under the Rays\u2019 proposal, a portion of that land would be retained by the school for a new campus, and the rest leased to the Rays for a new stadium and residential\/commercial complex. No details were released.<\/p>\n

With DeSantis\u2019 support, the state Senate has included $50 million in its fiscal year 2026-27 budget proposal to replace college facilities that would be destroyed in building the Rays complex.<\/p>\n

But the state House, which has clashed with DeSantis recently on several issues, doesn\u2019t include the money in its budget proposal, and the two chambers haven\u2019t yet finalized the budget.<\/p>\n

The appraiser\u2019s office assesses the total land package at $49 million, with $112.2 million worth of buildings and improvements \u2013 mostly campus facilities.<\/p>\n

\"HillsboroughJosh Wostal at Cuban Club in Ybor City, Florida on April 17, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker\/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n

But on the open market, the land could be worth several times that, said county Commissioner Josh Wostal, who suggested the land transaction could be \u201ca crazy giveaway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2016, Zalupski\u2019s company, Dream Finders, has given slightly more than $2.1 million to Florida political committees and candidates, the vast majority to Republicans and GOP-oriented committees.<\/p>\n

That includes $325,477 since 2022 to the state Republican Party; $285,000 to Republican legislative leadership committees; and $53,000 to Uthmeier.<\/p>\n

In 2023, DeSantis appointed Zalupski, who is reportedly a billionaire, to the University of Florida Board of Trustees. A few months later, Zalupski gave $250,000 to DeSantis\u2019s Never Back Down PAC.<\/p>\n

DeSantis did not have such a cozy political relationship with the Rays\u2019 former ownership group headed by Stuart Sternberg, who sold the team to the Zalupski group last year after a deal for a new stadium in St. Petersburg fell through.<\/p>\n

The Rays under Sternberg did contribute heavily to the Florida Republican Party but also gave to some Democratic-oriented committees and candidates.<\/p>\n

Sternberg himself has given heavily to Democrats including U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, Charlie Crist, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In 2018, Sternberg gave $3,000 to Andrew Gillum, then running against DeSantis for governor.<\/p>\n

But when DeSantis vetoed the Rays spring training project in Pasco in 2022, he cited a different donation in addition to his philosophical opposition.<\/p>\n

Days after the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland,\u00a0the Rays gave\u00a0<\/a>$50,000 to Everytown for Gun Safety, a newly formed gun safety advocacy group, and tweeted, \u201cThis cannot become the new normal \u2026 The Rays organization stands committed to actionable change.\u201d\u00a0In his news conference, after saying he doesn\u2019t \u201csupport giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums, period,\u201d DeSantis added, \u201cClearly, it\u2019s inappropriate to be doing taxpayer dollars for professional sports stadiums. It\u2019s also inappropriate to subsidize political activism of a private corporation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rays proposal has divided Republicans, including exacerbating DeSantis\u2019 antagonism with the state House leadership over issues including property tax reform and the investigation of First Lady Casey DeSantis\u2019 Hope Florida charity.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake: This deal will land squarely on taxpayers\u2019 shoulders,\u201d wrote two Hillsborough Republican state House members, Mike Owen and Danny Alvarez, in\u00a0a recent opinion column<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents have been told there isn\u2019t enough money for roads, stormwater systems, water and sewer upgrades, or public safety, like the growing needs for more fire stations. But there\u2019s plenty for a stadium? That contradiction \u2026 is indefensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"InRep. Michael Owen, R-Apollo Beach, offers comments during the first meeting of the State Administration Budget Subcommittee. January 15, 2025. Credit: Sarah Gray \/ Florida House of Representatives<\/a><\/p>\n

In an interview with the Florida Trident, Owen said he won\u2019t vote against the state budget over the issue and wants the deal to go forward to keep the Rays \u2013 \u201cBut I\u2019m not a big fan of funding any stadium out of taxpayer commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said DeSantis\u2019s position \u201csounds like a change in policy. I agree with the original stance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the Republican Hillsborough County commissioners, Wostal and Chris Boles have expressed skepticism or outright opposition to a key part of the deal \u2013 using $467 million from the county\u2019s Community Investment Tax to help pay for the $2.3 billion stadium.<\/p>\n

Wostal said DeSantis hasn\u2019t called him about the issue, but that he\u2019s heard the governor is calling other Republican commissioners to urge support for the deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a deep respect for the governor and I will continue to support him after this, but I will be acting to protect my constituents and our local revenues on this issue,\u201d he told the Trident. But Republican Commissioner Ken Hagan has said the deal can\u2019t go forward without the CIT money.<\/p>\n

Republican Commissioner Christine Miller, appointed to the post by Desantis, is said by some insiders to favor the deal but she and Republican Commissioner Donna Cameron Cepeda haven\u2019t staked out a public position and neither responded to messages for comment.<\/p>\n

Local conservative political activist Sam Rashid, who\u2019s active in county elections, said he\u2019s an ardent DeSantis backer but will fight the governor on this issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an absolute flip-flop by Gov. DeSantis,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll fight it where we can at the local level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The public is also skeptical about the deal.<\/p>\n

A recent poll<\/a> by a respected, Republican-oriented polling firm, commissioned by Tampa Sports Authority member Andy Scaglione, found substantial majorities of likely Hillsborough voters\u00a0favor a Rays stadium in Tampa, but\u00a0oppose using CIT money for the project by a similar substantial margin.<\/p>\n

About the author: William March has written about politics in the Tampa Bay area for the past 40 years. He has worked for newspapers in his native North Carolina and for the Tampa Tribune, the Tampa Bay Times and the Associated Press in Florida.<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on Florida Trident<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This article appears in Apr. 16 \u2013 22, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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