{"id":77221,"date":"2025-12-09T17:28:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T17:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/77221\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T17:28:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T17:28:09","slug":"as-a-new-year-approaches-new-tampa-bay-rays-owners-say-stadium-talks-are-progressing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/77221\/","title":{"rendered":"As a new year approaches, new Tampa Bay Rays owners say stadium talks are progressing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa Bay Rays CEO Ken Babby, part of the Major League Baseball team\u2019s new ownership group, said leaders are considering \u201ca handful\u201d of sites for a new stadium and related development in the Tampa Bay region, the Tampa Bay Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But details on what those sites are continue to be elusive.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Times at MLB\u2019s winter meetings in Orlando, Babby said he was confident that if the team identified a good public\/private partnership, a new stadium could be ready for the 2029 season.<\/p>\n

The Rays are currently set to continue playing at Tropicana Field through the 2028 season. That\u2019s a one-year extension on the team\u2019s original 2027 deadline that was implemented after the Rays had to play elsewhere for the 2025 season while Tropicana Field was repaired following massive roof damage from 2024\u2019s Hurricane Milton.<\/p>\n

While new site details so far remain sparse, comments since the new owners took control of the Rays in late September<\/a> indicate most options are on the Tampa side of Tampa Bay, including possible locations at the Hillsborough Community College campus across from Raymond James Stadium, in Ybor City, the Rocky Point golf course, or the Florida State Fairgrounds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Times reported that owners have met with all but one member of Tampa City Council and that Tampa Mayor Jane Castor had toured the Atlanta Braves park, The Battery, at their request. The ownership team has consistently lifted the Atlanta ballpark development as a model for their eventual development plans.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a\u00a0press conference<\/a>\u00a0in October, Joe Zalupski, who led the ownership team through the Rays\u2019 sale, acknowledged the time frame was \u201caggressive and audacious<\/a>,\u201d but said he\u2019s confident the team can find a home in the region for the 2029 season.<\/p>\n

Punctuating his caution, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week at an ownership meeting that the timeline was feasible, though urgency was needed. The Oakland Athletics, now simply the A\u2019s, are building a $2 billion ballpark<\/a> in Las Vegas, which only broke ground in June but is still expected to open for the 2028 season.<\/p>\n

Asked in October whether the ownership team would entertain the contract previously entered into to continue playing ball in St. Petersburg, which fell apart after Hurricane Milton blew the roof off Tropicana Field last October, Zalupski didn\u2019t rule it out. But he also didn\u2019t commit, reiterating that the team is exploring all options in the region.<\/p>\n

Access to land will be the biggest challenge, but also the most important consideration, the new owners said earlier this year. They are looking for about 100 acres to accommodate hotel, office, retail, restaurant and entertainment space.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If the Rays are unable to identify a site and reach an agreement in time for a 2029 season opening, it is still possible to extend the existing contract to play another season at Tropicana Field. St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch has already said he believes that will happen.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Catalyst last month<\/a>, Zalupski said Rays owners had discussed extending the team\u2019s lease on Tropicana Field \u201conly in passing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a stadium that can be their home for five, seven years, whatever makes sense,\u201d Welch told the\u00a0Catalyst. \u201cAnd then long term, it\u2019ll have to be a different conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welch called a short-term lease extension practical and the \u201cfirst, best option\u201d for\u00a0the Rays<\/a>. \u201cI think it will probably have to happen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Rays CEO Ken Babby, part of the Major League Baseball team\u2019s new ownership group, said leaders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5756,43457,2346,43458,135,3815,137,136],"class_list":["post-77221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-jane-castor","tag-joe-zalupski","tag-ken-welch","tag-rob-manfred","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77221","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=77221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}