Gov. Ron DeSantis’ final state budget officially includes $50 million in funding tied to the Tampa Bay Rays’ proposal for a stadium on Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus.
DeSantis, who will leave office in January after serving consecutive terms as governor, signed Florida’s 2026-27 budget during a news conference hosted at the same college building where, in February, he endorsed the Rays’ proposal alongside Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred. Ken Atwater, the college’s president, was among those invited to stand beside DeSantis as he inked the spending plan.
The initial legislative request from Republican state Sen. Danny Burgess in January did not mention the Rays’ stadium plans. But on Monday, DeSantis made clear the funding for “campus improvements” is intended for the college redevelopment that the construction of the Rays’ proposed stadium would necessitate.
“If that does come to fruition,” DeSantis said of the Rays’ proposal, “no one’s gonna benefit more than Hillsborough College.”
“It’s gonna be a huge, huge thing for this campus. It’s really gonna elevate it to the next level, and we’re committed to making sure … that we (the state) capitalize on those opportunities on behalf of Hillsborough College.”
The baseball team, in addition to the stadium, has proposed a surrounding mixed-use development with entertainment, restaurants, hotels and, with the funding approved Monday, a revamped Hillsborough College.
Previously, it was uncertain whether the college would be able to secure the state funding without the Rays first reaching a binding stadium deal. But Florida’s Legislature assigned the funding in May, days after Hillsborough’s County Commission and Tampa’s City Council both approved a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with the Rays for a $2.3 billion stadium. The team is “working actively on definitive agreements” and intends to bring them forward “very soon,” Rays CEO Ken Babby told the Tampa Bay Times earlier this month.
For DeSantis, who in 2022 expressed opposition to allocating taxpayer dollars for professional sports stadiums, Monday’s funding approval represents his latest show of support for the Rays’ proposal, which, as presently constructed, includes a nearly billion-dollar public contribution. In February, weeks after the initial news conference, DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet voted to give the college 22 acres of nonconservation land for a Rays stadium.
“I’ve said it from the beginning. I don’t wanna lose a Major League Baseball team,” DeSantis said on Monday, reiterating that while Orlando remains a viable suitor, Tampa is his preference. “What would it say if you lost a team to Raleigh, Durham or Nashville?”
