{"id":382038,"date":"2026-08-26T23:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382038\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T23:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:06:21","slug":"tampa-city-council-to-vote-on-2-3-billion-rays-stadium-deal-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382038\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa City Council to vote on $2.3 billion Rays stadium deal Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa City Council is set to vote Thursday on a proposed $2.3 billion stadium and mixed-use development that could bring the Tampa Bay Rays across the bay.<\/a><\/p>\n

The latest deal calls for about $876 million in direct contributions from the city and Hillsborough County. That’s about $100 million less than the public contribution outlined in the non-binding memorandum of understanding approved in May.<\/p>\n

Most of that money, about $796 million, would come from Hillsborough County.<\/p>\n

The city’s portion of the deal has changed significantly since May, including how Tampa would pay for it.<\/p>\n

Under the latest proposal, Tampa would provide $80 million, paid in four $20 million installments. Councilman Bill Carlson says that money would be structured as a loan that would be paid back with interest.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Rays unveil community benefits and legacy plan for new stadium project in Tampa<\/a><\/p>\n

“The MOU said we would pay $180 million and it was essentially a grant, we wouldn’t get it back. Now we don’t pay anything up front, we offer an $80 million loan to the TIF that is now $20 million a year and we get it back with interest,” Carlson said.<\/p>\n

The latest plan does not use Community Investment Tax (CIT) money from the city. Instead, it calls for the creation of a tax increment financing district, or TIF, around the proposed stadium and mixed-use development, which is expected to include restaurants, residences and retail.<\/p>\n

A portion of the new property tax revenue generated as the area develops would be used to pay back the city’s $80 million and another $100 million loan from the Rays.<\/p>\n

Carlson said taking CIT out of the equation was critical in getting his support for the project.<\/p>\n

“I was against using CIT money because I didn’t want money taken away from fire trucks, police cars and other projects. That was the first thing we took off the table,” Carlson said.<\/p>\n

Carlson says once the city’s $80 million is paid back, the TIF would provide a new revenue stream that could be used for roads, flooding and parks.<\/p>\n

But first, Tampa City Council has to approve the deal.<\/p>\n

Carlson said Wednesday the documents were still evolving ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n

“I think we need to represent and approve what we told the public we’d put in, so as long as the things that we promised the public are in there, I think it’s a really good deal for the city,” Carlson said.<\/p>\n

Thursday’s Tampa City Council meeting begins at 9 a.m. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people are expected to attend to provide public comment.<\/p>\n

Hillsborough County commissioners will then hold a special meeting Friday to consider their portion of the deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa City Council is set to vote Thursday on a proposed $2.3 billion stadium and mixed-use development that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[52111,276,135,3815,610,137,136],"class_list":["post-382038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-bill-carlson","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tampa-city-council","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382038","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=382038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}