The proposed Tampa Bay Rays stadium at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry Campus in Tampa may not have a design or a funding plan, but it does now have a price tag: $2.3 billion, according to Tampa Sports Authority CEO Eric Hart. And that’s just the stadium itself, before the cost of a planned surrounding mixed-use development, or the cost of relocating college facilities to one corner of the campus to make room for the stadium district, or the cost of acquiring the land from the state in the first place (assuming Rays owner Patrick Zalupski plans on paying anything for that, which only he and his lame-duck pal Gov. Ron DeSantis know).
As for where the money for all this would come from, Rays CEO Ken Babby made clear that a bunch of it would be on taxpayers’ tab:
“We need a great public/private partnership where the community, whether it be the county or the city or both, the state, all come together to build something really special here for Tampa Bay. That’s how we’re thinking about it.”
Fox13’s Evan Axelbank has a little more on possible revenue sources: The Rays owners, he said, are “considering a host of options, including community redevelopment funds, hotel taxes, car rental fees and the creation of special taxing districts that would take money from the development itself.” (Note to Evan: A special taxing district doesn’t really take the money from the development itself.) There would also be the value of getting to use all that state land — somewhere between $250 million and $1.7 billion, according to economist Geoffrey Propheter — plus getting out of paying property taxes for 99 years and parcel fees, which he just guesstimated at $839 million in present value. Total public price tag: Who the hell knows, but “way over $1 billion” seems a fair bet.
Tampa and Hillsborough County elected officials, who would have to sign off on any stadium subsidies, are so far saying all the right things about how any plan has “gotta be good for taxpayers, it can’t just be good for [the Rays],” but there’s still a long ways to go. After Hart added that the Rays would provide an economic analysis of the stadium project, the sports authority voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend that the city and county conduct their own study. Hart again:
“That’s why you’re seeing me doing economic analysis, because I think that would give better answers to be able to answer all your questions,” Hart said. “So right now, I would tell you that there’s ingredients, but there’s no soup. So it might be premature for us to say they’re at a point or not. There’s nothing like that at that level.”
I’m not sure there’s even ingredients yet, really, but it’s your metaphor, go with it. One thing’s for sure: Whatever the mystery soup ends up having in it, it’s likely to be really, really expensive.
“No, no, don’t do your own analysis. Mine will be better. Trust me!”
Okay, man.
Well, it’ll be hard to be *worse* than a team-written report.
The logical followup question to the sports authority is “Are you going to get an actual economist to do this, or just find a consultant who’ll give you the answer you want?”
Since the site is a community college, aren’t the current property taxes and parcel fees $0? If it remains college property the next 99 years, then the tax revenue would still be $0.
True, but if the state is offering up community college property to commercial businesses, such as the Rays, it could offer them to tax paying businesses, like a Target Store. So just because the state is not currently generating income from the land, does not mean it doesn’t have taxable value.
Central Park doesn’t generate any taxes — that means NYC should give it to me for free!
Good point Warren. If the Rays plan to instruct the elected officials of the state, county or city to create a TIF zone, the current property tax revenue of $0 will be significant… there is no ‘current’ benefit from which to measure the tax increase in the zone from.
And much like the situation in Las Vegas, this initial cost estimate will only be revisited much later and under duress to incorporate cost increases and inflation. Pay no attention to what’s happening to the relative strength of the US dollar…
Agreed. Better make it an even $5Bn in subsidy. The Rays need cost certainty – and at as close to zero as is possible.
The rest of us can go fish.
“where the community, whether it be the county or the city or both, the state, all come together to build something really special here for Tampa Bay”
So it’s like medieval church building, except with PSLs on all the pews?
Love it when these ghouls try to define common words like “community” — something anyone can easily explain in their own words — and the best they can come up with is “the layers of government that give me money.”
For something the vast majority of residents will never set foot in. (And that’s true even in places where the local team is popular.)
You want to build something for your entire community? Try a park or a library or almost anything but a sports stadium/tribute to your vanity.
“something the vast majority of residents will never set foot in” also describes a library in the U.S.
If you want the community to show its support, put it up for a vote! Let the community decide how to spend its tax dollars!
Isn’t offering tickets for sale effectively putting the team’s support level up for a vote every home game?
And the answer in TSP has always been “meh, whatevs”