TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 When the deciding vote to build a Rays stadium was cast \u2014 at 12:45 p.m., by the Hillsborough County Commission on Friday \u2014 angels did not weep.<\/p>\n
Clouds did not part, and thunder did not shake the rafters. But if you were listening closely, you just might have heard a community exhale.<\/p>\n
This was not just the end of a journey, but the realization of a quest. Some might say a crusade.<\/p>\n
When seeking the origins of this tale, you need to go back much further than last fall when Ken Babby and Patrick Zalupski\u2019s ownership group began chasing the ballpark at Hillsborough College. Even beyond the 19 years since the Rays first fixated on a waterfront site in St. Pete during their initial pursuit to replace Tropicana Field.<\/p>\n
The story of Major League Baseball finally arriving in Tampa \u2014 the city, not the region \u2014 can be traced to the 1980s and the formation of the Tampa Bay Baseball Group by a handful of business leaders. The plan, at the time, was to build a domed ballpark entirely with private money next to the old Tampa Stadium, near where Raymond James Stadium now resides.<\/p>\n
It was 40 years and 35 days ago that Tampa\u2019s dream of being a Major League Baseball town was dashed by the St. Petersburg City Council\u2019s bold decision to build its own domed stadium on spec and a prayer.<\/p>\n
Forty years since baseball\u2019s then-commissioner told St. Pete\u2019s mayor that the city was not a strong candidate to land a team. Forty years worth of insults and empty bleachers at the Trop. Forty years of baseball fans in Tampa grumbling that baseball was doomed on the wrong side of the bridges.<\/p>\n
All of which led to Friday morning, when the most elusive stadium in baseball became a reality.<\/p>\n
And all it took was a 5-2 vote by the commission a day after the Tampa City Council approved the deal 4-3.<\/p>\n
Two votes and a commitment to build a $2.3 billion ballpark, that is.<\/p>\n
Finally, it is Tampa\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
Soon, it will be Tampa\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n
This is what Major League Baseball wanted. Today, and 10,000 yesterdays ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing that (St. Pete) got the team all those years ago, and the sacrifices that were made and the visionary thinking that went into that,\u201d said Will Weatherford, former Speaker of the Florida House and current Rays limited partner. \u201cThere\u2019s always a risk in building a new ballpark, and today is no exception. This community is taking a risk on the Rays by bringing them here, but I think it\u2019s a transformational moment. There\u2019s going to be a material difference with the Rays playing in Tampa.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just math. It\u2019s numbers, it\u2019s volume, it\u2019s people. I think the community is going to embrace this team. They already have. There is already a diehard fanbase, and Tampa is going to take it to another level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tampa is closer to the heart of Tampa Bay\u2019s geographical area. It\u2019s the region\u2019s corporate center. In a market that lacks some of the economic advantages integral for baseball, a ballpark in Tampa has long been considered a necessary component.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why former owner Stuart Sternberg spent years trying to work a deal in Ybor City and Channelside. It\u2019s why the Rays mourned a missed opportunity along the Tampa Riverwalk. And it\u2019s why the Zalupski group turned its full attention to the Hillsborough College site once Gov. Ron DeSantis showed a willingness to intercede.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a reason it\u2019s taken years for this to happen. The cost of stadiums has outpaced inflation at a frightening pace.<\/p>\n
When the Tampa Bay Baseball Group first envisioned the stadium across the street from the current Hillsborough College site, the estimated cost in 1983 was $40 million. Today\u2019s $2.3 billion cost is nearly 60 times higher.<\/p>\n
Elected officials are pushing the idea that the public contribution to the ballpark is in the $876 million range. The reality \u2014 when factoring in the state\u2019s contribution to rebuild the Hillsborough College campus, the virtual gifting of 113 acres, the interest costs on loans and bonds, the repayment of the Rays\u2019 $100 million loan \u2014 the true price tag in public funds is well over $1 billion.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s an enormous investment and, accordingly, a huge risk.<\/p>\n
It might also be the only path to survival for MLB in Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
Even while winning an uncommon number of games on the field, the Rays have perpetually finished near the bottom of the league in attendance. Is it the fault of Tropicana Field\u2019s location? Is it the fault of the stadium\u2019s starter-home quality? Or is it an overall market deficiency? We\u2019re about to find out.<\/p>\n
\u201cTropicana Field was outdated the day it opened in 1998,\u201d said Hillsborough Commission chair Ken Hagan, who has spearheaded Tampa\u2019s efforts to lure the Rays for nearly 20 years. \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s climate-controlled and comfortable. But I\u2019ve been to every major-league ballpark, and when you see what a real ballpark is, you realize the Trop is a minor-league facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our forefathers inherently knew that Tampa would be the better baseball market. There\u2019s a rich history going back to our Cuban descendants, the Negro Leagues, the Smokers, Babe Ruth hitting his longest home run (at Plant Field). We have an enormous baseball history. And from a population standpoint \u2014 using MLB\u2019s paradigm of 30 minutes from the ballpark \u2014 you more than double the population and business support in Tampa.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor all of those reasons, yes, I think today\u2019s decision rights a wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
There still is much to be done. You do not have to strain your memory to recall the celebration in St. Pete in 2024 when Sternberg and his partners struck a deal to build a state-of-the-art ballpark on the opposite end of the Trop site. Within a few months, the deal had fallen apart. In a project of this size, deadlines can be missed, circumstances can change, and lawsuits can be filed.<\/p>\n
For now, however, the signs point toward success. Construction for a temporary campus for Hillsborough College students will get underway in September, and groundbreaking for the ballpark likely will happen in January.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, the Rays handed out T-shirts and signs after getting approval for their St. Pete ballpark:<\/p>\n
“Here to Stay,”the slogan read.<\/p>\n
Now, it looks like the Rays are heading out of St. Pete after all, but they remain in Tampa Bay. Maybe a little editing would be helpful:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Here\u2019s, a New Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 When the deciding vote to build a Rays stadium was cast \u2014 at 12:45 p.m.,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[104,27920,135,137,136,1740],"class_list":["post-385203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-entertainment","tag-page_2","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385203","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=385203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}