Rays Ballpark Financial Plan in Works in Tampa Bay

Financial plans for a new baseball stadium in Tampa Bay to host the Rays for half of each Major League Baseball season are being examined by the city of Tampa, Mayor Jane Castor told The Tampa Bay Times last week.

The Rays’ lease at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg expires after the 2027 season and the team has been looking for a new stadium for several seasons now. Its “sister city” plan as proposed is to play games in Tampa Bay earlier in the season when the weather will be milder before moving to Montreal to finish the season after the Canadian spring thaw is complete. A promotional campaign planned by the team was scheduled to start during the MLB playoffs but was later tabled.

Hillsborough County and the Tampa Sports Authority would finance a 27,000-capacity ballpark to host spring-training games and half of the regular season, with the team playing the other half at a new Montreal ballpark. The Rays have said they would pay half of the estimated $700 million cost in Florida. Any split-season plans would still have to be approved by Major League Baseball.

“Nothing is off the table with the exception of the citizen’s footing the bill for the stadium,” Castor said to the Times. “Everything is still possible as a funding mechanism. … I envision more than one proposal presented to the Rays.”
As for the Montreal stadium, Quebec would be willing to subsidize its construction if it is shown to generate sufficient fiscal revenue for the province, Premier François Legault said in March. Montreal has been without a baseball team since the Expos left for Washington after the 2004 season.