Rays Baseball In Tampa? Proposed Site Will Be Team’s ‘Preferred Option’: Hillsborough Commissioner

TAMPA, FL - Will the Tampa Bay Rays be playing baseball games near Ybor City in the coming years? Commissioner Ken Hagan thinks so. Hagan said Wednesday he would be “very surprised” if the team did not announce by the end of the year that a Hillsborough County location between Ybor City and Channelside is the Rays preferred site for a new stadium.

The competition for a new Rays stadium site has been waged between Hillsborough and Pinellas counties for more than a year and the selection of the site near Ybor is considered a significant step in the possible relocation of the team from St. Petersburg.

The Rays outdated ballpark, Tropicana Field, is one of the sites being considered by St. Pete officials for construction of a new stadium. Other Pinellas sites are also possible.

Hillsborough and Pinellas are the only counties competing for a new stadium under an agreement between the Rays and the city of St. Petersburg reached in January 2016.

A rendering of the potential Hillsborough stadium site shows a ballpark between Channelside Drive on the west and North 15th Street on the east.

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In an interview on the Ronnie and TKras show on 620 WDAE, Hagan said the county has reached a deal to gain control of roughly 14 acres in the Ybor City-Channel District area near downtown. He said the site has access to Ybor parking garages, the street car line (which could be expanded) and a possible marina. He said Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has toured the area.

But Tampa Bay Rays' president Brian Auld says the team has not made any decisions on a new stadium site and will evaluate the Ybor site.

In a statement, Auld said: “This is another important step in the site selection process, and we are grateful for the time and attention that went into making it a possibility. We look forward to getting to work evaluating this option, along with those in Pinellas County including the Tropicana Field site, as a potential future home for Rays Baseball in Tampa Bay for generations to come.”

The Rays have ranked at the bottom of major league baseball attendance for many years. Critics of the Tropiciana Field site say it is too long of a drive for many Rays fans in the Tampa Bay area.

Hagan agreed that the search for a new home for the Rays still has many obstacles, primarily who will pay for a stadium that could cost more than $600 million.

He said the Rays will need to contribute hundreds of millions to a new ballpark. The era of publicly funded sports stadiums is over, Hagan said. He said the county will not propose a sales tax increase to pay for a new stadium, such as the tax hike that generated money for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stadium.

The county commissioner said there will be “no sweetheart” deals for the new ballpark.

Meanwhile, St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman took to Twitter to say he expected the Rays to stay in his city. "Confident the Rays will be playing #BaseballForever in St. Pete. Hills. County has a long way to go. Regardless, St. Pete comes out on top."

Patch.com file photo