The Tampa Sports Authority is set to issue two reports to the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County by March on a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium — one on building one for full-season play, and one for a shared model where the team plays half its home games in Montreal. The Tampa Bay Business Journal says talk of a new stadium in the Ybor City neighborhood has “gained momentum in recent weeks,” which in this case refers to the Rays partnering with a website that runs feel-good stories about local businesses while getting funded by those same local businesses, plus a bunch of signs reading “RaYbor City: Future Home of the Rays”:
Momentumy!
The rest of the article is filled with assorted tidbits about a potential Rays stadium, some more unintentionally hilarious than others:
- The study will “analyze the stadium’s economic impact on areas like ancillary retail, commercial, and housing development” and “provide a check on the Rays, including on the stadium cost.” To that end, it will be conducted by Irwin Raij, who has previously worked for MLB on both the relocation of the Montreal Expos and the pursuit of an Oakland A’s stadium deal, so you know he’s impartial. No, not “impartial,” what’s that other word…
- Ken Hagan, aptly IDed here as “Hillsborough county commissioner, TSA board member and leading stadium advocate for over a decade,” says a new stadium could have a sun shade like the Miami Dolphins‘ stadium rather than a full roof to save money; points to the $131 million, 24,000-seat College World Series stadium in Omaha as a potential model; and then in the next breath says, “We can’t build a minor league park. I mean, what if they picked up and left?” Ummm, wouldn’t you have them sign a lease first? Is Ken Hagan seriously thinking about building a stadium on spec and then saying to Rays owner Stuart Sternberg, “Do you like it? Will you stay now?” I have some followup questions!
- Sternberg has previously offered to pay for half the cost of a $700 million stadium, and TSA President and CEO Eric Hart said, “We need to make sure we have a clear understanding of what half looks like.” I was all set to make fun of this — Hart with a pencil and paper doing long division, trying to calculate half of $700 million — but then, in the stadium world “half” often can end up meaning “a whole lot less than half” after tax breaks and infrastructure payments and the like are factored in, so hopefully that’s what Hart means, and not just that he misplaced his calculator.
Hagan also teased some potential “creative” funding options for the public’s half, or “half,” including “primarily user fee driven, tourist tax dollars,” which will be a challenge given that Hillsborough County doesn’t have all that much surplus tourist tax money, and vowed that “there’s not going to be any general revenue dollars,” which isn’t that reassuring given that tourist tax money can be used to pay for all sorts of things that the county would otherwise need to use general revenue funds for. So, so many followup questions…
This gives me big Peotone Airport/Lincoln National Airport vibes.
Surely Tampa area officials have enough common sense to not insult the intelligence of local sports fans with publicity stunts like these? Perhaps that’s asking for too much…
Yard signs!
The end is near!
Burma
Shave
The sales tax that financed the Bucs” Raymond James Stadium expires in 2026. But since Ray Jay will be 28 years old by then (or about 9 years over it’s useful life, in current NFL blackmail standards) if the tax is renewed we can expect the Glazers to demand most of that to build a new stadium for them.
God forbid they should use all of the money for roads and schools instead of those amenities that fans are demanding like refrigerated cupholders or Corinthian Leather seats.
They did throw a few coins at real stuff recently, which Ken Hagan probably supported to soften the flak he’ll get for the next giveaway.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/hillsborough/2021/11/03/hillsborough-okays-repaving-roads-with-community-sales-tax-dollars/