Rays pitch their plan for a stadium on Hillsborough College site

Tampa Bay Rays CEO Ken Babby offered new assurances about taxpayer risk during the first of three planned public meetings on building a ballpark-anchored development on Hillsborough College land.

In addition, college president Ken Atwater outlined how students could be impacted by the project in the short and long term.

About 100 people attended the Tuesday gathering at the student services building on the college’s Dale Mabry campus. Speakers included students, staff, Rays fans and area residents, with concerns including the use of tax dollars, traffic and student disruptions.

Babby reiterated the team’s commitment to paying at least half the cost of building the estimated $2.3 billion stadium, with the rest coming from the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County.

But he pledged any public money for the stadium would not affect other community projects. He added the Rays will take on 100% of any cost overruns.

“We took a no-harm approach to the work that we’re doing. No part of our financial proposal will take funding away from other priorities that the city and county have committed to,” Babby said. “No part of our financial proposal will take money away from other sports teams in the community that desperately also have asked for resources around an opportunity.

The meeting included a video rendering of the development. The Rays said construction on the indoor, 30,000-seat stadium would begin in late 2026 to reach the team’s goal of moving for the 2029 season.

The college and team have a nonbinding memorandum of understanding to negotiate a proposal for the 113-acre site, currently the location of the 56-year-old campus, which Atwater said would need about $50 million to overhaul.

The plan has the backing of Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, which agreed to remove deed restrictions that will allow talks to commence.

An analysis by the team projects the development would attract 10 million people annually, Babby said. The stadium is expected to host about 175 events each year.

The surrounding development would include hotels, offices, restaurants, residential and recreational areas that would be “100 percent” privately financed, with tax dollars from the district used to eventually pay off the tab.

The team said it also wants to recruit a Fortune 500 company as an anchor tenant.

And Hillsborough College would be relocated to the west end of the property along Lois Avenue.

During construction, however, classes and athletics may have to move off-site until the new buildings are ready, Atwater said.

“It may mean instead of moving to temporary, we move to rental facilities or some other location or we share locations for some of our other sister institutions like the University of Tampa or like USF, which may be a possibility,” Atwater said.

“We will adjust accordingly, but believe me we will remain open and available to deliver the instruction we do.”

Atwater told students to look at the long-range picture of having a completely rebuilt campus with as much as 600,000 square feet of learning space.

On Tuesday, Babby said talks were underway with the city and Tampa Sports Authority on traffic and infrastructure improvements.

Earlier, the team said it was meeting with stakeholder groups across the community, including first responders, members of the business community and civic leaders.

But overall details for the development remain in the “early innings,” Babby said, adding the Rays would take input from the public meetings into consideration.

Steve Newborn covers the environment and politics in the Tampa Bay area for NPR affiliate WUSF.