If Rays' stadium MOU gets local OKs, work will begin 'to hash out every single detail'
By Steve Newborn
May 15, 2026 at 6:03 PM EDT
Mayor Jane Castor says she expects the city council and county commission to pass the non-binding agreement, allowing negotiators to fill in the blanks on multiple documents in the complex deal.
Tampa Bay Rays CEO Ken Babby stood alongside Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan on Friday in their first press conference since a tentative agreement to build a stadium in Tampa was reached.
A non-binding memorandum of understanding details plans to pay for the construction of the $2.3 billion ballpark on land now occupied by the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough College.
The MOU released Thursday caps the public contribution at $976 million.
ALSO READ: Tampa Bay Rays reach a preliminary stadium agreement with city and county
The next step is approval by the Hillsborough County Commission and Tampa City Council.
Then, Castor said, the hard part begins.
"Now, we just have to hash out every single detail," Castor said. "So in essence, this MOU is sort of the outline. Now we have to fill in each of those blanks."
Hagan said some of the specific details still have to be worked out.
"There has been significant give and take on both sides," Hagan said. "We've been doing everything we can, trying to be as creative as possible to identify sources that can be used that prevent us from raising taxes, from raising fees."
Hagan said no essential services will be affected by the public stadium investment. Most of the money would come from tourist bed taxes and a recently passed sales tax extension that had been marketed as not being used to build sports stadiums.
"This is a complex deal with six or seven lengthy documents, everything from community benefit agreement to lease agreement, nonrelocation agreement, finance agreement, three or four others I can't think of off the top of my head," Hagan said.
The Rays have committed $1.27 billion plus all cost overruns. According to the MOU, here's how the public financing breaks down:
Hillsborough County — approximately $796 million
The stadium would anchor a privately developed multiuse district, with offices, hotel, restaurants and recreation, as well as a rebuilt Hillsborough College. A good chunk of the upfront payments would be paid back with future property tax growth in the surrounding Drew Park Community Redevelopment Area.
Hagan said government officials can never lose track that the stadium would be a significant private and public investment.
"And so it's incumbent on us to be meticulous and look into every detail, not just short-term but long-term," Hagan said.
ALSO READ: Florida CFO Ingoglia pressed on Cabinet's land giveaway for Rays stadium
Hagan added that the county would do nothing to put either taxpayers or Hillsborough's AAA credit rating at risk.
Commissioners are set to vote on the MOU at their Wednesday meeting. If it passes, the city council will follow on Thursday.
From left, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, Hillsborough County Commission Chair Ken Hagan and Rays CEO Ken Babby smile for the cameras after their news conference on the stadium memorandum of understanding on May 15, 2026. (3706x2291, AR: 1.6176342208642513)
Castor said she expects it to pass, which would allow work to continue on the deal.
"I can't imagine that any elected official would vote no on this memorandum of understanding," she said. "It's non-binding and in essence what it says is that we have crafted the basics of an agreement, and so to vote 'no' on something that is going to allow us to further hash out the details would be a mistake."
Babby urged all parties to help reach a lasting deal.
"While we still have work to do, we urge the county commission this next week to move this deal forward, to move this process forward at both the county commission and the city council," he said. "We are here together today standing as one, committed to play baseball as the Tampa Bay Rays here in April of 2029."
The Rays had set a June 1 deadline to reach at least a tentative financing agreement. Their lease at St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field ends in 2028, so they want the new ballpark open by March 2029.
The deadline was spurred in part by a need to get $130 million in state funding to rebuild Hillsborough College on a corner of property and upgrade infrastructure and roads. No state money would go to stadium construction. Legislators have a deadline of the end of the month to come up with a budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9vP4jUJFgE&t=2s
A non-binding memorandum of understanding details plans to pay for the construction of the $2.3 billion ballpark on land now occupied by the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough College.
The MOU released Thursday caps the public contribution at $976 million.
ALSO READ: Tampa Bay Rays reach a preliminary stadium agreement with city and county
The next step is approval by the Hillsborough County Commission and Tampa City Council.
Then, Castor said, the hard part begins.
"Now, we just have to hash out every single detail," Castor said. "So in essence, this MOU is sort of the outline. Now we have to fill in each of those blanks."
Hagan said some of the specific details still have to be worked out.
"There has been significant give and take on both sides," Hagan said. "We've been doing everything we can, trying to be as creative as possible to identify sources that can be used that prevent us from raising taxes, from raising fees."
Hagan said no essential services will be affected by the public stadium investment. Most of the money would come from tourist bed taxes and a recently passed sales tax extension that had been marketed as not being used to build sports stadiums.
"This is a complex deal with six or seven lengthy documents, everything from community benefit agreement to lease agreement, nonrelocation agreement, finance agreement, three or four others I can't think of off the top of my head," Hagan said.
The Rays have committed $1.27 billion plus all cost overruns. According to the MOU, here's how the public financing breaks down:
Hillsborough County — approximately $796 million
- $360 million — Community Investment Tax
- $303 million — Tourist Development Tax
- $103 million — other unspecified county funds
- $30 million (approximately) — HUD disaster recovery reimbursement funds
- $80 million — Community Investment Tax
- $100 million — CRA/tax-increment funding
The stadium would anchor a privately developed multiuse district, with offices, hotel, restaurants and recreation, as well as a rebuilt Hillsborough College. A good chunk of the upfront payments would be paid back with future property tax growth in the surrounding Drew Park Community Redevelopment Area.
Hagan said government officials can never lose track that the stadium would be a significant private and public investment.
"And so it's incumbent on us to be meticulous and look into every detail, not just short-term but long-term," Hagan said.
ALSO READ: Florida CFO Ingoglia pressed on Cabinet's land giveaway for Rays stadium
Hagan added that the county would do nothing to put either taxpayers or Hillsborough's AAA credit rating at risk.
Commissioners are set to vote on the MOU at their Wednesday meeting. If it passes, the city council will follow on Thursday.
From left, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, Hillsborough County Commission Chair Ken Hagan and Rays CEO Ken Babby smile for the cameras after their news conference on the stadium memorandum of understanding on May 15, 2026. (3706x2291, AR: 1.6176342208642513)
Castor said she expects it to pass, which would allow work to continue on the deal.
"I can't imagine that any elected official would vote no on this memorandum of understanding," she said. "It's non-binding and in essence what it says is that we have crafted the basics of an agreement, and so to vote 'no' on something that is going to allow us to further hash out the details would be a mistake."
Babby urged all parties to help reach a lasting deal.
"While we still have work to do, we urge the county commission this next week to move this deal forward, to move this process forward at both the county commission and the city council," he said. "We are here together today standing as one, committed to play baseball as the Tampa Bay Rays here in April of 2029."
The Rays had set a June 1 deadline to reach at least a tentative financing agreement. Their lease at St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field ends in 2028, so they want the new ballpark open by March 2029.
The deadline was spurred in part by a need to get $130 million in state funding to rebuild Hillsborough College on a corner of property and upgrade infrastructure and roads. No state money would go to stadium construction. Legislators have a deadline of the end of the month to come up with a budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9vP4jUJFgE&t=2s