{"id":304530,"date":"2026-06-11T23:42:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/304530\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T23:42:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:42:32","slug":"patrick-manteiga-addresses-new-tampa-sports-authority-appointee-rays-uncertainty-and-ye-concert-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/304530\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Manteiga addresses new Tampa Sports Authority appointee, Rays uncertainty, and Ye concert drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa Sports Authority (TSA) Chair\u00a0Patrick Manteiga<\/a> says the Board is facing increased scrutiny over several controversial issues. <\/p>\n

There is uncertainty about the\u00a0Tampa Bay Rays\u2019<\/a>\u00a0search for a new ballpark in Tampa, a recent warning from Hillsborough County Commissioner\u00a0Christine Miller<\/a>, a new appointee from the Governor, and questions about a planned concert by Ye,<\/a>\u00a0also known as\u00a0Kanye West<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Manteiga, who was appointed to the Board by the Hillsborough County Commission, told Florida Politics that Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis\u2019<\/a>\u00a0recent appointment of\u00a0Jennifer Collins<\/a>\u00a0to replace\u00a0Don DeFosset<\/a> on the TSA Board caused some speculation. He explained that\u00a0DeFosset\u2019s term had actually expired about a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis term expired last June, I think in 2025, so he\u2019s been serving in that position even though he wasn\u2019t reappointed to the position \u2014 which happens a lot of times with Governor\u2019s appointments,\u201d Manteiga said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 appointment drew media attention as the TSA navigates ongoing discussions about public funding for the Tampa Bay Rays to build a new ballpark at the Hillsborough College Dale Mabry campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

It also came soon after Miller publicly asked the County Attorney\u2019s Office to review the Board\u2019s authority and options for removing a Hillsborough County-appointed TSA member mid-term. Miller did not identify a specific Board member, but later said her request was meant as a warning to Sports Authority appointees<\/a> not to favor one sports team over another.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her words of caution came after appointees sent a letter emphasizing that Raymond James Stadium should remain the top priority as discussions over a potential ballpark for the Rays take place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Mantiega does not believe the letter had a direct impact on the Governor\u2019s appointment. At the Board\u2019s last meeting, when members voted on the letter, Manteiga said DeFosset participated by phone, but the Board did not take a roll call vote. He could not say with certainty whether DeFosset voted for the letter or even voted at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regardless, Manteiga said he is optimistic about Collins joining the Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s appointed somebody, and I look forward to serving with her. I think we have a great Board and I assume she\u2019ll be a great addition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Mantiega speculated that, if anything, recent rumblings about the TSA may have reminded DeSantis of the overdue appointment. He noted that the TSA also drew recent attention over a planned concert by the man formerly known as Kanye West, Ye, at Raymond James Stadium after U.S. Sen. Rick Scott sent a letter<\/a> urging the authority to ensure no public funds were used for the event and to consider safety concerns among Tampa Bay\u2019s Jewish community.<\/p>\n

Manteiga said Scott\u2019s letter was followed by a wave of emails to the authority, including both form emails and messages from residents. Some, he said, urged the authority to cancel the concert.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Manteiga said canceling a contract based solely on objections to Ye\u2019s past statements could put the authority in a difficult legal position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re probably close to selling out 100,000 tickets. To cancel a contract with no reason other than you didn\u2019t like his speech from six months, a year ago or whatever, I think that would probably be a dangerous situation to get into as far as liability on this contract,\u201d Manteiga said.<\/p>\n

The Board\u2019s recent activity comes as the region\u2019s sports funding landscape remains unsettled. Manteiga said recent developments may have made the path forward more difficult for the Rays.<\/p>\n

Tampa\u2019s Community Redevelopment Agency has not yet signed off<\/a> on a proposed memorandum of understanding tied to the Rays\u2019 stadium proposal, and Manteiga said the lack of CRA approval raises questions about where the agreement stands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MOU had, I think, had three parties need to sign on to it,\u201d Manteiga said. \u201cOne was County Commission, one was City Council, and one was CRA. The CRA has yet to sign off on it. So that means, I don\u2019t know if the MOU is really valid without all three parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manteiga said discussions over potential property tax reductions<\/a> could further complicate local governments\u2019 willingness to commit major public dollars to stadium projects if residents approve the referendum in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of these governments are having to really rethink. You know? Can you continue to negotiate with this kind of loss of revenue looming on the horizon?\u201d Manteiga said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He speculated that uncertainty could slow the CRA and potentially prompt Hillsborough County Commissioners to reconsider how far they are willing to go in negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to make the County Commission take a pause and think about it again. Do they really want to continue to negotiate the boundaries of what that MOU had, considering the amount of loss of revenue that they might have to deal with?\u201d Manteiga said.\u00a0\u201cSome of the county money was going to be from reserves. But if there\u2019s going to be a huge loss of revenue, can they afford to tie those reserves to a Rays stadium?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Sports Authority (TSA) Chair\u00a0Patrick Manteiga says the Board is facing increased scrutiny over several controversial issues. There…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[61590,127616,276,5027,63134,124412,3856,412,135,3815,137,136,11187,121361],"class_list":["post-304530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-christine-miller","tag-don-defosset","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-jennifer-collins","tag-kanye-west","tag-patrick-manteiga","tag-rick-scott","tag-ron-desantis","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tampa-sports-authority","tag-ye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304530","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=304530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}