It appears the Tampa Bay Rays are willing to endure their current stadium today for a brighter tomorrow.
On Tuesday, the vision of the Rays building a new home stadium appeared to be close to fruition. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis were in Tampa, along with Rays representatives, to offer support and provide updates on plans that would place a stadium at the 133-acre Hillsborough College–Dale Mabry Campus.
Plans are for the Rays to play three more seasons at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, then moved into their new home for the start of the 2029 season.
Rays officials are said to be offering to pay a minimum of 50 percent toward stadium construction costs. The stadium proposal is expected to include restaurants, retail stores, and a hotel under mixed-used development. Hillsborough College is expected to receive new facilities as well.
The campus is across Dale Mabry Highway from the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Raymond James Stadium, and less than one mile south of the New York Yankees’ George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Patrick Zalupski, a Jacksonville, Florida, real estate developer, and Zalupski’s partners purchased the Rays in September of last year for a reported $1.7 billion. Zalupski is the team’s managing partner and co-chairman, while Bill Cosgrove is the other co-chairman. Ken Babby serves as the Rays’ chief executive officer.
Since the 2025 MLB season concluded, Tampa Bay hasn’t spent wildly in the free agent market, nor traded for players who could be seen as game-changers. In February, the Rays picked up third baseman Ben Williamson, who has 85 games of MLB experience, from the Seattle Mariners in a three-team swap. In December, Tampa Bay signed veteran center fielder Cedric Mullins to a one-year contract.
Gavin Lux, a two-time World Series champion with the Los Angeles Dodgers (2020 and 2024), was acquired in a multi-team deal from the Cincinnati Reds.
Longtime Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe, newcomer Jake Mangum, and relief pitcher Mason Montgomery are now Pittsburgh Pirates. These are the highlights of what could be classified as a quiet offseason for the Rays.
What makes securing a new stadium vital to keeping the Rays in Florida is the need to increase home attendance.
It has long been argued that the drive to Tropicana Field in Pinellas County from Hillsborough and surrounding counties was tedious at best. Box-office figures tell a chilling story. In the 28 seasons of the Rays, minus the 2020 COVID season, and the 2025 season when the team played home games in a minor league ballpark in Tampa, only once did the team surpass the average American League attendance figure.
During Tampa Bay’s inaugural season of 1998, the team, then known as Tampa Bay Devil Rays, averaged 30,942 fans at home games. In drawing 2,506,023 fans to 81 home games, the Rays bested the American League average of 2,298,169.
Tampa Bay has seen attendance at Tropicana Field drop throughout its tenure in that stadium.
The last three MLB seasons illustrate the decline. A fresh start with a new stadium could help energize Rays’ fans. Last season, playing at Steinbrenner Field after Hurricane Milton blew much of the roof off of Tropicana Field in October 2024, the Rays drew fewer than 800,000 fans to home games. In 2024, Tampa Bay saw an average of 16,515 fans at Tropicana Field, 28th among all 30 MLB teams. From the 2021 to the 2023 season, the Rays, predictably, came in 27th place once, and 28th place twice in attracting home fans.
During the franchise’s existence, the team has twice won the American League pennant. Yet even in 2008, with a team that went five games deep in the World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay still finished 26th among MLB clubs in attendance. Although playing the Dodgers in the 2020 World Series at a neutral site (Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas) where a limited number of fans were permitted into the ballpark, fans were prohibited from in-person attendance due to the pandemic during all 60 regular-season games.
The Hillsborough County Commission is expected to address the latest proposal for a new Tampa Bay stadium this week during a regularly scheduled meeting. Some public funding is expected with the current proposal. The city of Tampa and the Tampa Sports Authority will also be consulted for any funding proposal.
