Tampa City Council chairperson Alan Clendenin said Tuesday that terms of the public financing request for a proposed Tampa Bay Rays stadium at Hillsborough College’s main campus have not been finalized despite growing calls for their disclosure.
Clendenin, who is a member of the Tampa Sports Authority, said at the agency’s meeting Tuesday that “it’s not even put to pencil at this point.” The city and county have forecast possible votes on an agreement April 15 and 16, respectively.
“It’s still all in flux. They’re still negotiating everything,” Clendenin said. “There’s still some very consequential items to be resolved.”
The Rays are proposing a $2.3 billion stadium that would be half covered by the city and the county. It would be part of a larger complex on Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus across from Raymond James Stadium. The proposal comes after years of failed talks in St. Petersburg, where the Rays are under contract to play for another three years.
Sports Authority CEO Eric Hart said Tampa and Hillsborough County are awaiting an economic impact analysis on both the stadium and mixed-use development by AECOM, which is expected by the end of the week.
“I would say there’s a lot of verification that needs to be talked about,” Hart said.
Hart said he expects there to be five or six major agreements, with 15 or 16 sub-agreements that still need to be worked out.
“Because some of our existing agreements, as you know, with the teams, we have obligations, and we have to make sure those obligations are covered,” Hart said.
Clendenin told reporters after the meeting that there would not be a vote before AECOM presents its study because the city needs to verify assumptions made by the Rays.
“I believe that we’re probably 80% there,” Clendenin said. “But you know, that last little bit of it is always the more difficult because, of course, if it was the easy stuff, they would’ve been accomplished, you know, weeks ago.”
Sports Authority member Joe Robinson asked if the agreement would be similar to what Hillsborough College has in place with the Rays.
“There’s so many moving parts and this is the biggest economic event to potentially happen to the city of Tampa in history,” Clendenin said.
Clendenin said the city is also waiting on the Florida Legislature to approve a budget that would provide state money for transportation work around the proposed stadium.
The Sports Authority board on Tuesday voted to give Hart the flexibility to spend another $30,000 for an additional study of the cost estimates for the roof a proposed Rays stadium. The team changed its design once the original study done by Skanska was underway, rendering it out of date.
Clendenin was the only vote against that expenditure. He said the $49,000 that was spent on the first study was “premature.” He said he wanted to make sure before the Sports Authority had any more money, that Skanska had all the timely information required.
Board member Andy Scaglione, a skeptic of the deal who has raised many questions about the details, said he was commissioning a poll on the proposed Rays stadium in Tampa and would make sure to share those results with the board.
Sports Authority board chairperson Patrick Manteiga asked about parking, an issue repeatedly raised by board members. Hart said he has received a parking proposal from the Rays, but there are “significant challenges” to work through, including potentially losing about 3,000 spaces.
Clendenin acknowledged that much of the negotiating has been “behind the scenes.” Manteiga pointed out that most of the public discussion surrounding the proposed Rays stadium deal has played out at Sports Authority meetings.
“We provided a conversation about the stadium that is not happening anywhere else,” Manteiga said.
