TALLAHASSEE — A key Republican senator on Tuesday threw cold water on the Legislature assigning $150 million to help the Tampa Bay Rays build a new stadium in Hillsborough County.
Sen. Ed Hooper, a Clearwater Republican who leads the Senate budget committee, told reporters that he didn’t think the state should be assigning any money to the effort until local governments reach agreements with the Rays.
“The locals, Hillsborough County and the city, there seems to be some heartburn at the request,” Hooper said Tuesday. “And until they resolve that, I don’t think the state needs to be involved.”
The statements, on the opening day of the Legislature’s budget negotiations, add additional pressure on the Rays to reach non-binding agreements with Tampa and Hillsborough County to assign $1 billion in public funding for a new stadium.
Earlier this month, Rays CEO Ken Babby told the Tampa Bay Times that the team’s priority is securing the commitments by the end of May.
“The state needs to know that the county, the city and the Rays are committed to this partnership,” Babby said.
Hillsborough County has said it’s unlikely to meet the team’s June 1 deadline.
The Rays want to build a $2.3 billion stadium on Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus. To help the college rebuild, the Senate assigned $50 million in its proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The House assigned nothing.
But since then, the Rays have said they need $100 million more from the state to rebuild the college and another $30 million for transportation projects.
Hooper’s statements doesn’t mean the funding is dead. The Legislature’s budget negotiations are expected to wrap up by the end of this month.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has come out in strong support for the Rays’ relocation. The team’s new owner, Patrick Zalupski, gave $250,000 to DeSantis’ failed presidential campaign.
