Tampa Bay Rays officials say they are moving forward with plans for a new stadium and surrounding multiuse development in Tampa, restarting a discussion that has cycled through multiple proposals for nearly three decades. After signing a nonbinding memorandum of agreement with Hillsborough College, the team said it is now continuing negotiations with city leaders as it looks to bring a new venue to a 113-acre site along Dale Mabry Boulevard, across the street from Raymond James Stadium and near the Yankees’ spring training home at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Under the agreement announced last week, the Rays’ memorandum with Hillsborough College calls for a multiuse facility on the Dale Mabry Boulevard property and includes the creation of new campus facilities for the college. The agreement also provides a six-month window for negotiations, with the team saying it is still working through major details of what the stadium would look like and what public steps would be required to finalize the project.
The Rays have not released many of the proposal’s specifics, including whether the stadium would include a roof, but they have said they want one. Team officials also pointed to the location’s parking and access challenges, saying they will work with Tampa officials, Hillsborough County, local law enforcement and planning experts to prioritize parking and overall mobility as talks continue.
The push for a Tampa-based venue follows the team’s history of attempting to leave Tropicana Field’s St. Petersburg location without fully reaching agreement, a process that has included stalled talks and earlier proposals. The Rays last March withdrew from a $1.3 billion stadium deal with St. Petersburg, citing Hurricane Milton and delays that would likely drive up the cost, and the most recent turn in negotiations is tied to the changes that followed the hurricane’s damage.
Hurricane Milton struck Florida’s Gulf Coast in October 2024 and ripped Tropicana Field’s roof to shreds. The Rays played the entire 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, which underwent a 120-hour makeover after the Yankees’ final spring training game to prepare for the Rays’ opening day, while repairs at Tropicana Field moved ahead. The team expects to return to St. Petersburg for the 2026 season and is under lease at Tropicana Field through at least the 2028 baseball season.
In the background of the new stadium talk is how the franchise has been reshaped by ownership changes. Stuart Sternberg pulled out of the proposed St. Petersburg stadium deal and sold the team in part because the hurricane damage and rising costs for repairs and new construction changed the calculus, according to the team’s history outlined by the report.
The damage to Tropicana Field also feeds into a broader discussion of attendance and venue suitability that has fueled periodic new-stadium talks. Tropicana Field opened in 1990 at an initial cost of $138 million and featured what the team at the time described as the world’s largest cable-supported domed roof, with panels made of “translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass” supported by 180 miles of cables connected by struts. In the seasons the team spent playing elsewhere, attendance figures reflected the shift, with the team’s sellout total and draw at Steinbrenner Field and subsequent estimates showing how relocation affected demand.
Rays CEO Ken Babby said the negotiations are still at an early stage and that more work remains before any project can move forward. “What I can say with certainty is that we believe with conviction that we’re going to be able to create a world-class work-live-learn-play development here in Tampa Bay, and we’re very, very encouraged and pleased by today’s outcome,” Babby said in comments tied to the outcome of the day’s agreement. The team also said that it expects to manage the site’s challenges through a collaborative planning process, while Florida officials have laid out limits on financial support.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the state will not help finance the stadium, even as he agreed to help facilitate the relocation of a juvenile justice facility on the property and said the state could likely help pay for sewers and roads around the area. The Rays have offered few details so far on how much money the ownership group plans to contribute or what they are asking for from Tampa, Hillsborough County or the state, and they have similarly avoided releasing additional design elements beyond their stated interest in having a roof.
The proposal arrives with new leadership in place for the franchise. Last September, a group led by Patrick Zalupski finalized the deal to purchase the team from Sternberg, with Forbes estimating Zalupski’s net worth at $1.4 billion. Zalupski is the team’s control person and a co-chair along with Bill Cosgrove, and Babby was named the team’s CEO after serving as CEO of Fast Forward Sports Group, a company that owns minor league teams including the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and Double-A Akron RubberDucks. The Rays’ ownership timeline also includes Sternberg taking control from founding owner Vince Naimoli in November 2005 and overseeing the rebranding from the Devil Rays after the 2007 season, as the franchise remains focused on its next steps for a venue and district that it says would reshape its future in Tampa Bay.