ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday gave a glimpse of what the inside of their new stadium in Tampa could look like.<\/p>\n
The team released a number of new renderings of its proposed $2.3 billion project.<\/p>\n
In a release, the Rays said: “The renderings offer a colorful look at key interior elements that are important to fans, including a general seating bowl that will offer exceptional proximity to the field from every location in the ballpark. The renderings also offer a glimpse of dynamic club spaces at a wide variety of price points, club areas adjacent to both bullpens, spectacular sky views for fans to enjoy no matter where they sit in the ballpark, a bar overlooking center field positioned above a retractable batter\u2019s eye, and two video scoreboards which will rank among the largest and most technologically advanced in Major League Baseball.”<\/p>\n
The Rays showed the renderings during the Wednesday night broadcast of their game against the New York Yankees, then released them later.<\/p>\n
“Ballpark design is always in motion, but we felt it was time to pause and share with our fans where we are today and anticipate going in the future,\u201d team CEO Ken Babby said. \u201cWhat we are unveiling today is a response to what Rays fans have told us they want \u2014 a comfortable and inviting ballpark that honors the intimate connection between fans and the game, while at the same time incorporating modern amenities and design innovations that they expect and deserve. We\u2019re listening and working hard to deliver on what we feel will be the best ballpark experience in the game, bar none.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rays ownership reached a tentative agreement earlier this year with Hillsborough College to build the stadium and mixed-use entertainment district on the college campus and to renovate some of the college\u2019s buildings.<\/p>\n
“Dynamic lighting systems will enhance night games, while expansive views of the sky and surrounding mixed-use development create an open, yet connected feeling,” the team’s release said. “The approximately 30,000 fixed seats can expand for special events, ensuring flexibility for concerts, conventions and other major gatherings.”<\/p>\n
According to the team, an independent economic analysis projects the broader development will generate $55.5 billion in total economic impact over 35 years, support 11,900 new permanent jobs, and attract approximately 10 million annual visitors to the district.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The property for the project is located next to the New York Yankees\u2019 spring training facility and across a highway from Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/p>\n
In February, the team released renderings of the proposed stadium and mixed-use district<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Rays are seeking $976 million in public contributions to the project, with $796 million from the county and $180 million from the city.<\/p>\n Tampa city leaders last month pushed back a vote on the stadium<\/a> until August.<\/p>\n In May, by a 5-2 vote, Hillsboro<\/a>ugh County commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding<\/a> related to the building of a new stadium. The Hillsborough College Board of Trustees also gave its OK to a lease agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Team officials say they want to be in the new facility in time for the 2029 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday gave a glimpse of what the inside of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1242,1238,28,276,115,139,596,29208,275,110,135,3815,137,136],"class_list":["post-333800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-professional-sports","tag-app-sports","tag-florida","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-pinellas-county","tag-rays-stadium","tag-spectrum-news-staff","tag-sports","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333800","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=333800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}