{"id":384129,"date":"2026-08-29T02:08:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T02:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/384129\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T02:08:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T02:08:41","slug":"fans-react-to-news-of-new-tampa-bay-rays-ballpark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/384129\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans react to news of new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/\">WWSB<\/a>) &#8211; Fans gathered at Tropicana Field ahead of tonight\u2019s Tampa Bay Rays game against the San Diego Padres said they were excited following news that Hillsborough County commissioners approved the county\u2019s share of a deal for a new Rays ballpark.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">While walking around Tropicana Field, where the Rays currently play, a reporter spoke with the Lakewood Ranch High School baseball team about the vote and the team\u2019s game against the Padres.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Members of the team said they are excited for the new stadium in Tampa, even though there will be a difference in distance. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/2026\/08\/27\/tampa-city-council-approves-80-million-new-rays-stadium\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawT-4QxwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMUY1Q2R4UmNtdk1DTHB2RmxzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeMut2Pnon53s9QZcv0ZRM-y0atfLI63jEKTLEz5eaECXeow9WRiOwlgBs3O0_aem_mh8VJz0COTOTa9qS6zanNw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/2026\/08\/27\/tampa-city-council-approves-80-million-new-rays-stadium\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawT-4QxwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMUY1Q2R4UmNtdk1DTHB2RmxzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeMut2Pnon53s9QZcv0ZRM-y0atfLI63jEKTLEz5eaECXeow9WRiOwlgBs3O0_aem_mh8VJz0COTOTa9qS6zanNw\">Tampa City Council, Hillsborough County Commission approve funding for new Rays stadium<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The team was at Tropicana Field to watch batting practice ahead of the game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Hillsborough County commissioners voted 5-2 to approve the county\u2019s share of the proposed $2.3 billion stadium project during a special meeting. The deal calls for the county to invest nearly $800 million toward the new ballpark, one day after Tampa City Council approved the city\u2019s $80 million share.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">With the vote complete, the Rays can move forward with plans for a 113-acre mixed-use ballpark district at Hillsborough Community College\u2019s Dale Mabry campus. The Rays plan to begin construction as soon as possible, with the goal of playing games in the new stadium for the 2029 season.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WWSB) &#8211; Fans gathered at Tropicana Field ahead of tonight\u2019s Tampa Bay Rays game against&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[153928,153929,153926,135,153925,137,136,153927],"class_list":["post-384129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-hillsborough-county-ballpark-vote","tag-lakewood-ranch-baseball-team","tag-rays-new-stadium-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-rays-fan-reaction","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tropicana-field-rays-padres"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384129","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=384129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}