TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Rays have secured what they hope will be the first of two stadium deal approvals this week.
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Tampa’s City Council approved a definitive agreement Thursday for a $2.3 billion baseball stadium on Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus, 4-3.
Council members Bill Carlson, Alan Clendenin, Luis Viera and Naya Young voted in favor. Lynn Hurtak, Guido Maniscalco and Charlie Miranda voted against the team’s proposal. Hillsborough County Commissioners will vote Friday morning.
Tampa’s slice of the deal changed significantly after council members heavily scrutinized the draft deal approved in May, which asked for $180 million from the city. Carlson delivered the fourth “yes” necessary to keep the deal alive but vowed to reject it in the future. After that narrow approval, Tampa officials continued to question the proposed plan, for months debating terms and delaying votes. The team worked to craft an agreement more appealing to the skeptical council while weighing options with no city involvement at all.
The revamped city contribution no longer asked City Council members to approve the use of dollars from the Community Investment Tax, a county sales tax that pays for roads, public buildings and upgrades to existing stadiums. County commissioners said the sales tax would be off-limits to any new stadiums before it was renewed by voters in 2024. At the city level, numerous council members — enough to deliver a negative vote — had objected to use of the tax.
The city’s portion is now an $80 million loan to replace the sales tax ask. A $100 million ask from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency is no longer part of the deal, either. The Rays are covering that difference with a loan.
The plan is for the team and city to get their respective advances back with interest from property tax revenues generated from the team’s proposed mixed-use district of restaurants, residences and retail surrounding the stadium.
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“I’ve had a bunch of people ask me, why did you change your mind?” Carlson said. “I didn’t change my mind, the deal changed.”
There was excitement from stadium supporters inside council chambers on Thursday, but the celebration started days earlier.
At a conference last Friday announcing the city had come to an agreement with the county and the team, Clendenin unbuttoned his dress shirt to reveal a Rays jersey customized with his name.
“I just can’t understate how big this is,” Clendenin, the city’s most outspoken supporter of the deal, said then.
He maintained his messaging Thursday.
“This agreement deserves our support,” Clendenin said. ”It’s not merely a vote on a baseball stadium. It is a vote on whether Tampa is prepared to compete for investments, jobs, housing, education and opportunity.”
There was plenty of disagreement, too. Hurtak strongly criticized Young for supporting the deal despite the lack of a definitive community benefits agreements. Young strongly took issue with Hurtak’s critique.
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Tampa Bay Times staff writer Lizzy Alspach contributed to this report.