Tampa Advanced $80 Million for the Rays’ Ballpark on a Revote by a Sick Councilman Phoning In From Home
The Tampa City Council voted Thursday to ask a court to validate the city’s plan to issue up to $80 million in bonds for its share of the Rays’ new ballpark. The motion failed 3-3 on the first attempt and then passed 4-3 after a councilman who was home sick voted virtually.
That is how a $2.3 billion stadium project moved forward: one ill council member logging in from his house.
What the vote actually did
Less than the headline suggests. The council approved asking a court to rule that the city may legally borrow for this purpose. It does not authorize issuing the bonds, and bond counsel Steve Miller described the vote as strictly procedural.
Councilman Bill Carlson, who was sick, cast the deciding vote from home after the first count came back tied. Councilman Charlie Miranda was among the three no votes, objecting that the team has not finalized other outstanding items including a community benefit agreement and the stadium lease.
Council chair Alan Clendenin framed it as optionality. “This is an opportunity that gives us a tool in our tool chest to be able to fund our obligation,” he said.
The money
Tampa has already agreed to pay the Rays $20 million a year for four years. If the city issues the bonds, its total payments could reach $140 million with interest. The approval does not authorize property taxes, and the city could use tourist development taxes instead of bonds.
The ballpark itself is estimated at $2.3 billion. The Rays committed to paying half and covering all cost overruns, with Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa covering the remainder. Both had previously approved the overall financing plan.
The site is the Hillsborough College Dale Mabry campus in the Drew Park neighborhood, across Dale Mabry Highway from Raymond James Stadium. The Rays hope to break ground next month and open for the 2029 season. No court validation hearing date has been reported.
Miranda’s objection is the one worth taking seriously
The lease is not finalized. The community benefit agreement is not finalized. And the council just voted to start the legal process for borrowing money against an obligation whose terms are still open.
That is not unusual in stadium financing and it is not reassuring. The sequencing almost always runs this way, with public bodies advancing financing machinery while the binding documents that protect the city trail behind. By the time the lease arrives, the political cost of saying no has gone up considerably.
Nothing in any of this alleges wrongdoing by the Rays, the city or any official. The project has gone through the normal approvals. The question Miranda raised is about order of operations, and it is a fair one.
The timing is remarkable
This happened while the Rays were playing in the American League Championship Series, two wins from a World Series and two losses from elimination. Cleveland leads them 2-1.
A franchise that has never had a long-term ballpark solution, after years of failed St. Petersburg proposals, is finally building one, and the decisive procedural vote was cast over video by a man with a cold. WFLA called it a narrow 4-3 vote, which is accurate and still undersells how close it came to not happening.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
