Tampa Bay Rays Finally Move Closer To New Stadium

The Tampa Bay Rays are finally approaching replacing their atrocious home stadium. 

In 2023, after months of relocation rumors, the Rays announced they'd worked out a deal on a new stadium with the city of St. Petersburg.

READ: The Rays Aren't Going Anywhere, Set To Announce New Stadium Deal

But as is so often the case with stadium proposals, there were plenty of hurdles to clear before the project could start moving forward. One of the biggest hurdles was just cleared on Thursday. The St. Petersburg City Council approved plans on a massive, $6.5 billion project that includes the $1.3 billion stadium. Public funds will be used for a substantial portion of construction, though the city council said they do not expect to impose any new taxes.

"This is a day that has been more than 40 years in the making," Ken Welch, the mayor of St. Petersbug said. "It is a major win for our city."

"It is my belief that we are in an incredibly unique moment in our city’s history that is unlikely to be replicated in any other way that will be meaningful to our community," Brandi Gabbard, city council member, said after the vote.

"It's always been our intention and my intention to have the team remain in Tampa Bay, specifically St. Petersburg," Rays owner Stu Sterberg said. "We have never considered taking the team elsewhere, out of the region."

"We’ve made a number of missteps over the years. We dust ourselves off. We come back again," Sternberg added. "Things change in life, things change around in markets, and they change around in baseball. But as we’ve always been clear: We wanted to be here, and we want to be here to stay."

Apr 1, 2024; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA;  a general view of the stadium before a game between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays during opening week at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay Rays Could Finally Have Modern Stadium

The Rays have perennially been near the bottom in attendance rankings in Major League Baseball, with little doubt that their awful home stadium is at least partially responsible. 

Renderings of the proposed new building are a vast improvement.

The new 30,000 seat stadium will, in theory, be part of a broader development project, similar to the neighborhood surrounding Truist Park in Atlanta. Providing further opportunities for fans to stay around the ballpark area has been a wildly successful stadium-building strategy. And on top of the new facility itself, that's something the Rays have not previously enjoyed.

That said, the Marlins have a relatively new park with state-of-the-art amenities and have never been able to draw big crowds. But it's an exciting time for Rays fans to finally be able to compete with other franchises. They're generally good enough at it on the field, soon they might be able to off the field as well.