AUSTIN, Texas — What appeared to be a done deal now appears to be in jeopardy.
A new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays continues to be surrounded by questions despite Florida officials voting to approve funding for a $1.3 billion ballpark.
Earlier this week, county commissioners in Florida approved issuing more than $300 million in bonds to fund their share of the project. Under the agreement, the city and county would put up about half the cost, with the Rays covering the rest, including any cost overruns.
However, the ongoing stadium saga has the Rays pushing for more. Rays co-president Matt Silverman claimed the twice-delayed vote pushed the project back, increasing costs significantly.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred recently met with several skeptical commissioners to stress the project's importance and the league's desire to keep a team in the region. Now a report from ESPN's Jeff Passan points to Austin being a likely destination if the franchise decides to relocate.
The Rays will play the 2025 season at the New York Yankees' spring training complex after Tropicana Field suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Milton. ESPN reports that Florida officials believe it can repair the stadium in time for the 2026 season, but the Rays say it wouldn't be ready until the last year of their lease in 2027.
The push for Major League Baseball in Central Texas
A newly formed group in Austin continues its push to bring the MLB to Austin.
The Austin Baseball Commission was founded in early July with hopes of building "the largest, broadest community effort" in the city's history.
Manfred already stated the MLB expects to expand by 2029, with reports saying the league could go from 30 teams to 32 teams. But the Austin commission says they're already behind.
“Salt Lake City’s further along, Portland’s further along, Nashville’s further along,” Matt Mackowiak said. “Austin is a market that is maturing literally on a daily basis and becoming not just a major national market, but a global market with global events."
Austin is still the largest American city without a team in the "big four" leagues of the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. Major League Soccer club Austin FC became the city's first professional sports team in 2021.
There's also the thought that the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros could intervene, which Mackowiak dismissed.
“This idea that we have to ask Dallas’s permission if we can have nice things is ridiculous,” Mackowiak said.
The owners of the current 30 MLB teams have the final say. While they're still early in the process, supporters of a new Rays stadium in the Tampa Bay area point to the bigger picture behind keeping baseball by the bay.
The proposed stadium is a signature piece of a broader $6.5 billion revitalization project known as the Historic Gas Plant District, which refers to a predominantly Black neighborhood that was forced out by the construction of Tropicana Field and a highway.
Supporters say the development would transform an 86-acre tract in the city’s downtown, with plans for a Black history museum, affordable housing, entertainment venues, office and retail space — and the promise of thousands of jobs.
“This is much, much bigger than a stadium,” Pinellas County Commission Chair Kathleen Peters said at a November meeting. “It’s about the investment we can make and the return on that investment that can guarantee we can keep our taxes low.”
