{"id":1682,"date":"2026-05-25T13:36:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T13:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1682"},"modified":"2026-05-25T13:36:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T13:36:33","slug":"rays-ceo-work-to-finalize-ballpark-deal-wont-include-financial-concessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1682","title":{"rendered":"Rays CEO: Work to finalize ballpark deal won\u2019t include financial concessions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NEW YORK \u2014 Taking a quick break from talks with Tampa and Hillsborough County officials to attend to the more fun part of the job \u2014 watching his majors-best team play the Yankees \u2014 Rays CEO Ken Babby said there is still \u201ca lot of work to be done\u201d in finalizing agreements to fund construction of a new ballpark.<\/p>\n

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But he made clear that work would not include any substantial changes to the financial terms laid out in the nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was approved by the governing bodies of both municipalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollectively we are not reopening a discussion on the economics in the MOU approved by the county commission and city council,\u201d Babby told the Tampa Bay Times at Yankee Stadium over the weekend. \u201cWe do recognize that there are many unresolved issues, and we will begin focusing on that this coming week.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current framework of the deal to build a $2.3 billion domed stadium on the site of the Hillsborough College campus across from Raymond James stadium calls for a $976 million public contribution, with $796 million from the county and roughly $180 million from the city.<\/p>\n

The Rays will pay the remaining 55% of the stadium project, roughly $1.27 billion, plus any overruns, as well as maintenance. (The team in a separate deal will privately finance a surrounding mixed-used development it says will cost $8 billion to $10 billion.)<\/p>\n

The numbers in the stadium deal, Babby said, \u201care what they are,\u201d with the team unlikely to make further concessions or additional contributions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked for six months to reach the framework, so when you bring it to the public body, that doesn\u2019t open up the dynamic to renegotiate the framework,\u201d Babby said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve acknowledged that there\u2019s definitive issues that still need to be resolved \u2014 definitive, important issues that need to be resolved \u2014 before we come back for final votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babby declined to identify the specific issues that will be targeted for discussion and made only a veiled reference to where\/how compromise can be reached.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe remaining definitive issues have economic cost to them, so I think that\u2019s where our focus will lie,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What that likely won\u2019t include, he said, is the team further increasing its share of the project cost, having already done so when reducing its original request for public funding from $1.065 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county and city really pushed hard on us and continued to push to make the deal a better deal for the public, and they did that. And they continue to push hard,\u201d Babby said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve given a lot. We continue to take on more and more, and we believe this is a fair framework.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some changes to the team\u2019s funding plan, he said, involved Community Investment Tax dollars, which he said were \u201csubstantially\u201d reduced during negotiations.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Rays have continued to move in a number of ways,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, we started the conversation talking about bonding the CIT money. We faced resistance from both the county and city, and reluctantly moved to more of what\u2019s called a \u2018pay-go\u2019 model, where the public funds are going to be paid to us over a window of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city then came back and said we want our CIT money going specifically into the infrastructure of the building, and we agreed to do that specifically to the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Babby reiterated that the CIT funding component \u2014 which currently includes $80 million from the city and $360 million from the county \u2014 remains \u201ca critical component\u201d of the project.<\/p>\n

Another example of the team making concessions, he said, is its increase in overall contribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve moved our investment from our ownership group now to north of $1.2 billion,\u201d he said. \u201cThat number\u2019s moved substantially as we\u2019ve increased our investment, and I think that\u2019s how the community needs to think about this project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an investment that the county is making, the city\u2019s making, and the Rays are making. It\u2019s going to generate $55 billion of impact and 11,900 jobs and, with the help of the state, rejuvenate a college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babby said the goal is now to continue talks and draft \u201cdefinitive documents\u201d that will be voted on by the same county and city bodies as the final deal.<\/p>\n

The team originally set a June 1 deadline, but with that seemingly unlikely to be met, he said the target is \u201cas quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The county on May 20 approved the MOU 5-2. The city council was a tougher sell, with a 4-3 vote in favor May 21. And Bill Carlson said he only voted in favor to continue the discussion, but will be a \u201cno\u201d on the actual deal.<\/p>\n

Babby said the ownership group, led by co-chairs Patrick Zalupski and Bill Cosgrove, understands the need for debate and discussion among stewards of public funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all part of the process,\u201d he said. \u201cI think elected officials have a responsibility to ask tough questions. We encourage that. Ultimately it\u2019s our job, it\u2019s the Rays\u2019 job, to strike the right public-private partnership that gives them a deal that they can move forward. We believe that we have a framework to do that, and are going to continue to work with the county and city to move that into definitive documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babby said the MOU approvals, coupled with Hillsborough College officials agreeing to a lease for the stadium site, was \u201can enormous momentum step in moving this project forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the opposition and remaining issues to address, Babby said they still believe a deal can, and will, be made.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we heard in both meetings that we still have some work to do to resolve issues, and that\u2019s expected in a project like this, in a project of this size,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we also heard that there\u2019s a resounding interest in the community to move this project forward, even beyond the elected officials \u2014 public comment at both meetings was resoundingly positive. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re at sea, sometimes the waves are high, and the wind is hard and fast, but we believe the ship will come in. We still feel confident, but we still have a lot to do to get this finished. And I think all sides are really working in good faith to make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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CEO Ken Babby said there is much work to do to finalize the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium deal, but talks won’t include additional financial concessions on the $2.3 billion project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nRays CEO: Work to finalize ballpark deal won\u2019t include financial concessions - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1682\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rays CEO: Work to finalize ballpark deal won\u2019t include financial concessions - 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