{"id":286827,"date":"2025-10-08T15:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/286827\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T15:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:24:11","slug":"tampa-bay-rays-start-process-to-find-home-for-ballpark-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/286827\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa bay Rays start process to find home for ballpark this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

The process for the Rays to find a home for their new ballpark<\/a> begins this week with meetings with officials in St. Petersburg and Tampa, something the new ownership group said that it was \u201cnot allowed to do\u201d until the\u202fpurchase from previous owner Stuart Sternberg<\/a> was completed, according to Marc Topkin of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who attended the group\u2019s introductory press conference yesterday — as did St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch — said that she \u201cexpects a collaborative effort from Hillsborough County interests to be \u2018competitive.\u2019\u201d But she reiterated that the \u201ccity is \u2018not going to spend tax dollars on building\u2019\u201d a ballpark. Castor said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to be right in there working with the new owners to see if Tampa is the best place for the Tampa Bay Rays.\u201d Welch said that St. Petersburg also \u201ccould have interest in discussing a new\u201d ballpark but would \u201cput city priorities first.\u201d New Rays Managing Partner & co-Chair Patrick Zalupski said that building the ballpark as part of a larger mixed-use development \u201cis essential to the success of the team on the field as they seek to \u2018build a championship-caliber\u2019 team.\u201d While the group \u201cplans some improvement to the business side of the operations,\u201d such as sponsorships, along with community outreach, the \u201csearch for the new stadium — and \u2018forever home\u2019 — will be top priority\u201d (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 10\/7<\/a>).<\/p>\n

FINDING THE PLACE<\/b>: In Tampa, Colleen Wright notes Zalupski is seeking a new ballpark \u201cthat sounds almost identical to what his predecessor proposed<\/a> then abandoned earlier this year<\/a>.\u201d The team\u2019s new ownership group — which includes Zalupski, co-Chair Bill Cosgrove and CEO Ken Babby — \u201coffered no allegiance to the city where the team has played for almost three decades.\u201d Welch was not sure about attending yesterday\u2019s news conference until Zalupski\u2019s group \u201carranged a same-day meeting with him in St. Petersburg.\u201d Welch said, \u201cWe\u2019ve been counted out before in the city of St. Pete. We know what our assets are, we know who our partners are in the county, but we also know that we have other interests.\u201d St. Petersburg City Council members mentioned that Zalupski\u2019s lobbyist, Stephanie Cardozo, \u201cmade phone calls inviting them to the news conference from Friday to Monday\u201d (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 10\/8<\/a>).<\/p>\n

POSITIVE PRESENCE<\/b>: In Tampa, John Romano wrote the new owners \u201cmade a positive first impression\u201d\u202fat their introductory presser. They were \u201caffable, self-deprecating and seemed sincere.\u201d There were \u201cno missteps, but there was also very little in the way of details.\u201d And that \u201cspeaks to the challenge that lies ahead.\u201d Romano: \u201cThis is a multilayered riddle that needs to be solved in the next few months if the Rays intend to be in a new ballpark by 2029.\u201d With a \u201ctimetable this aggressive,\u201d Zalupski and his crew \u201csurely have a favored site already in mind.\u201d And early indications are they \u201cmight be focused on the Hillsborough College campus across from Raymond James Stadium.\u201d Romano added the \u201cbiggest hurdle of all — who pays for stadium construction?\u201d Zalupski \u201cavoided a direct question about the possibility of splitting ballpark costs,\u201d but his explanation of a public-private partnership \u201csounds as if the Rays are banking on public funds.\u201d Romano: \u201cThere are various ways a public contribution could be configured, but Mayor Jane Castor made it clear money would not come from the city\u2019s budget\u201d (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 10\/7<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The process for the Rays to find a home for their new ballpark begins this week with meetings…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":286828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[3457,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-286827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-leadership","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115339242318440950","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}