They grumbled. They harrumphed. For the cameras, they dramatically furrowed their brows.
You know what Hillsborough County commissioners didn’t do during Thursday’s workshop?
Kill the Rays stadium proposal.
Which brings us to today’s takeaway:
There is a deal to be made here.
Not all seven commissioners are on board, but it appears there is enough interest in rescuing Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay, investing in a massive mixed-use development and claiming to have been a part of something historic that a majority of commissioners seem willing to vote for this.
They just need some help from the Rays.
The perception at this point is that this has been a one-way negotiation. The Rays have invented the rushed timeline, they have named the price, they have determined where the public funding will come from. And they are acting as if none of that is negotiable.
Maybe that’s not exactly how this has all come down but, as I said, that’s the perception.
And that’s a problem for the county commissioners and city council members who are being asked to approve the largest public subsidy of a Major League Baseball stadium in history.
Those politicians need a victory. They need a cover story. They need to be able to go back to constituents and explain how they got important concessions by standing up to the Rays and demanding a better deal.
The question is whether the Rays will acquiesce.
The team says its margin for error is slim. After spending a reported $1.7 billion to buy the franchise and pledging to front $1.3 billion for the cost of a $2.3 billion stadium, the Rays suggest they are stretched to the limit. And, while they haven’t adequately explained the need for a rushed deadline, it’s not that difficult to understand that concern.
This deal does not work without Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s support. Not only has DeSantis publicly endorsed the Rays plan — including a social media post encouraging commissioners to get on board hours before Thursday’s workshop — he’s also thrown considerable economic weight behind it.
By pledging $150 million to rebuild the Hillsborough College campus, plus another $30 million for transportation projects, plus providing the Rays with 100 or so acres of prime land for redevelopment, DeSantis has provided the franchise with a crucial financial windfall to recoup their investment in the ballpark.
But DeSantis’ time in the Governor’s Mansion is coming to a close.
And just as the team’s 2024 plan to rebuild on the Tropicana Field site was upended by a hurricane that delayed bond sales beyond a November election that changed the makeup of the Pinellas County Commission, the Rays cannot afford to risk DeSantis becoming more of a lame duck than he already is.
So what concession can the Rays offer politicians?
If you read the letter that was sent to Hillsborough commissioners ahead of the workshop, wiggle room seems nonexistent. And yet, I have a hard time believing the Rays will let a deal of this size die with a take-it-or-leave-it stance. And I doubt that Major League Baseball would be happy if that’s how baseball ends in Tampa Bay.
The memo of understanding submitted by the Rays to the county does not need to be radically rewritten. There just needs to be some acknowledgement that the county is, you know, a partner in this marriage. That the concerns voiced by commissioners were heard. That the Rays did not dictate all the terms of this prenup.
I don’t know if that means delaying upcoming votes for another month. I don’t know if that means swapping a couple buckets of up-front money in exchange for down-the-road tourism revenues. I just know that this train is large enough to swap out some of the boxcars.
The Rays have already done the hard part. They seem to have convinced a hefty portion of elected officials and residents that Atlanta’s success with a village-like redevelopment in Cobb County that has added $577 million in property taxes and provided enough other revenues to cover annual bond payments for Truist Park, that Hillsborough County now wants a cut of that growing trend.
And if the county approves its share of funds ($750 million), it’s going to put a tremendous amount of pressure on the Tampa City Council to follow through with a fraction of the revenues ($251 million) requested.
Eventually, the politicians will have to put their names behind a vote.
If the Rays want this deal to happen, they should find a way to make it a little easier to say yes.
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