{"id":383076,"date":"2026-08-28T00:38:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T00:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383076\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T00:38:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T00:38:38","slug":"a-timeline-of-tampa-bays-ballpark-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383076\/","title":{"rendered":"A timeline of Tampa Bay’s ballpark saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

For four decades, Tampa Bay has chased, built, proposed and debated baseball stadiums, with the Rays’ latest plan bringing the soap opera to another turning point. Here’s a look at the lore:<\/p>\n

1984 \u2013 Frank Morsani\u2019s Tampa Bay Baseball Group buys 42% of the Minnesota Twins with plans to move them to a proposed stadium next to Tampa Stadium. MLB pressures Morsani to sell to Minneapolis interests with the promise of getting an expansion team.<\/p>\n

1986 \u2013 Despite a warning from Major League Baseball, St. Petersburg City Council votes to build a stadium to lure a team. The $85 million project is planned for a historically Black neighborhood known as the Gas Plant District. Residents and businesses are displaced. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A sign marks the site of the future Florida Suncoast Dome in the Gas Plant district of downtown St. Petersburg in the late 1980s. <\/p>\n

1988 \u2013 St. Petersburg aggressively courts the White Sox, but an eleventh-hour Illinois assembly vote keeps the team in Chicago. The city also makes a bid for the Texas Rangers, who are ultimately bought by a group led by George W. Bush.<\/p>\n

1990 \u2013 The Florida Suncoast Dome opens without a baseball team at a cost of $138 million. Morsani’s group competes with a rival local bid for an upcoming expansion franchise.<\/p>\n

\"Vince<\/p>\n

Charles W. Gill<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

via Wikipedia<\/p>\n

Vince Naimoli nearly brought the San Francisco Giants to Tampa Bay and ended up with the Devil Rays. <\/p>\n

1991 \u2013 The Tampa Bay Storm become the first pro tenant at the dome. A week later, MLB chooses Miami and Denver for expansion sites over St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

August 1992 \u2013 Vince Naimoli agrees to buy the Giants for $115 million and move them to St. Petersburg, but National League owners block the sale.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Stuart Sternberg becomes principal owner in 2025 and begins the search for a new home venue. <\/p>\n

November 1992 \u2013 Morsani sues MLB, saying MLB reneged on promises. The parties settle 11 years later. <\/p>\n

1993 \u2013 Renamed the Thunderdome, the dome begins hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning for two NHL seasons.<\/p>\n

1995 \u2013 Naimoli\u2019s group is awarded an expansion franchise and names them the \u201cDevil Rays.\u201d The city\u2019s 30-year lease includes terms that prevent the team from looking outside Pinellas County for another venue.<\/p>\n

1997 \u2013 The Tampa Bay Storm move to Tampa’s Ice Palace after winning four Arena Football titles over six seasons. <\/p>\n

1998 \u2013 The Devils Rays begin play in the renamed Tropicana Field.<\/p>\n

2005 \u2013 Minority owner Stuart Sternberg take control from Naimoli, beginning an era of on-field success and takes over a 19-year quest to replace the Trop, which draws minimal crowds and does not produce sufficient revenue to remain competitive. \u201cDevil\u201d is erased from the nickname.<\/p>\n

2007 \u2013 The Rays propose building a new ballpark with a sail-roof design on the city\u2019s waterfront, replacing Al Lang Stadium, then abandon the plan two years later.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Rays’ new ownership proposes a sail-design covering over a new waterfront ballpark on the Al Lang Stadium site in 2007. <\/p>\n

2010 \u2013 The Rays begin a push to expand their stadium search beyond St. Petersburg, including the ABC Coalition’s regional site search.<\/p>\n

2016 \u2013 St. Petersburg finally gives the team permission to explore sites elsewhere in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.<\/p>\n

2018 \u2013 The Rays unveil plans for a $900 million stadium in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood. The deal collapses amid the team\u2019s concerns over financing.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/p>\n

Another rendering: a Ybor City ballpark in 2018. The Rays pull out of the deal because of financing concerns. <\/p>\n

2019 \u2013 Saying the region is “simply not well-suited” to host a full schedule, Sternberg proposes splitting home games between Tampa Bay and Montreal, with a new outdoor Bay area ballpark. Three years later, MLB rejects the \u201cSister City\u201d concept.<\/p>\n

\"Tropicana<\/p>\n

The tattered Teflon roof was removed from Tropicana Field’s dome following Hurricane Milton.<\/p>\n

2022 \u2013 The Rays and Hines propose a new $1.3 billion ballpark surrounded by a $6.5 billion private-public redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District.<\/p>\n

2024 \u2013 Hurricane Milton tears the roof off Tropicana Field in October. City council votes Dec. 5 to invest $287.5 million on stadium construction. Pinellas twice delays a vote on spending $312.5 million. When finally approved Dec. 17, the planned opening from 2028 to 2029 adds significantly to the cost.<\/p>\n

March 2025 \u2013 The Rays walk away from the Gas Plant deal. MLB begins pushing Sternberg to sell the franchise and assists in finding possible buyers.<\/p>\n

\"Renderings<\/p>\n

Renderings of the new ballpark and redeveloped Tropicana Field site in St. Petersburg proposed by Rays and Hines.<\/p>\n

April 2025 \u2013 The Rays play their home schedule at 10,046-seat Steinbrenner Field in Tampa because of hurricane damage at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay beats Pittsburgh 7-0 in the first of 61 sellouts.<\/p>\n

October 2025 \u2013 Patrick Zalupski’s group buys the Rays with the first order of business being a new \u201cforever home.\u201d Ownership, fronted by CEO Ken Babby, settle on Hillsborough College property across from Raymond James Stadium.<\/p>\n

January 2026 \u2013 Rays announce a plan for a $2.3 billion stadium and a surrounding privately financed mixed-use development that will include a \u201creimagined\u201d Hillsborough College campus. <\/p>\n

August 2027 \u2013 Tampa City Council votes 4-3 to approve the financing and development contract on the Rays’ proposed Tampa stadium. The Hillsborough County Commission must still sign off. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For four decades, Tampa Bay has chased, built, proposed and debated baseball stadiums, with the Rays’ latest plan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-383076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383076","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=383076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}