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Rendering of Tampa Bay Rays new stadium courtesy Tampa Bay Rays. <\/p>\nRendering of Tampa Bay Rays new stadium courtesy Tampa Bay Rays. <\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Rays received county approval on Aug. 28 on a financing plan that will allow them to build a new stadium, a day after city officials approved their contribution to the $2.36 billion ballpark, which replaces Tropicana Field.<\/p>\n
The Hillsborough County Commission voted 5-2 to approve its $796 million share of the new MLB stadium, which will have a minimum of 28,000 seats and be located near Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL\u2019s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/p>\n
Most of the funds will come from the county\u2019s Community Investment Tax (roughly $360 million) and Tourist Development Tax money (approximately $303 million). The Tampa City Council city voted 4-3 on Aug. 27 to approve $80 million. Another $30 million will come from federal disaster recovery funds.<\/p>\n
The Rays are set to invest approximately $1.37 billion plus all cost overruns. The club is also expected to privately finance a surrounding mixed-use district. The new stadium is expected to open in 2029.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tampa Bay Rays enthusiastically thank and applaud the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners for making history,\u201d said Rays CEO Ken Babby in a statement. \u201cBy virtue of its approval of a county investment in partnership with the Rays and the city of Tampa, today our entire region can celebrate the coming of a privately financed and mixed-use neighborhood, a reinvented Hillsborough College campus, and a new ballpark that secures the long-term future of Major League Baseball here in Tampa Bay. \u2026By making the Forever Home a reality, the Rays are now home forever in Tampa Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finding a long-term ballpark in the Tampa Bay area was a priority for the new ownership group spearheaded by managing partner Patrick Zalupski.<\/p>\n
In October 2025, during the group\u2019s introductory news conference, Zalupski told attendees that finding a new ballpark was their \u201cfirst and highest priority\u201d adding \u201cIt\u2019s going to be challenging but we\u2019re confident that we can be successful here in Tampa Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Less than a year later, the deal for a new multi-purpose ballpark at Hillsborough College\u2019s Dale Mabry campus in Tampa is closer to reality.<\/p>\n
Populous has nearly completed the ballparks schematic design. Following city and county approval, the Rays can proceed to the community benefits agreement process and begin bond\/funding validation. Bond validation must occur before major demolition and construction can begin. If everything goes as planned, the ballpark will open in 2029.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are incredibly grateful to everyone who invested their time, energy, ideas and trust in getting us to this moment,\u201d Zalupski said in a statement. \u201cWe recognize there is still important work ahead, and we look forward to continued collaboration to deliver on the promise of this transformational project. Today is an incredible day for Tampa Bay. \u2026Forever starts now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ballpark and surrounding multi-purpose district will be a few miles from downtown Tampa along Dale Mabry Highway, across the street from the NFL Buccaneers\u2019 Raymond James Stadium and next to George M. Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees\u2019 spring training facility.<\/p>\n
![\"Rays2\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Rays2.jpeg\")
New stadium will seat at least 28,000 and host concerts and other events. Rendering courtesy of Tampa Bay Rays\/Populous<\/p>\n
The fixed-roof stadium will be owned by Hillsborough County, with the Rays paying $4 million annually in rent. The initial term of the use agreement, which includes a non-relocation agreement, is for 35 years.<\/p>\n
The Rays have said that the facility will host non-baseball events, as well as the broader development\u2019s potential to create a destination for businesses, hospitality and entertainment. As part of the project, the district will also include a revamped and modernized campus for Hillsborough College.<\/p>\n
Since 1998, the Rays have played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, with the exception of 2025, when the team moved to Steinbrenner Field following hurricane damage at Tropicana Field. The Rays returned to Tropicana this season and their lease agreement expires after the 2028 season. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s already been a lot of work going on behind the scenes to prepare for a moment when the county and city said yes,\u201d added Babby on MLB.com. \u201cEven this afternoon, I spent most of the day hitting \u2018Go\u2019 on a lot of major decisions, which we\u2019ll be able to talk about over the next few weeks and months.\u00a0But it\u2019s all systems go for the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa, and excited about the road ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rendering of Tampa Bay Rays new stadium courtesy Tampa Bay Rays. The Tampa Bay Rays received county approval…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-386867","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\/386867","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=386867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}