Despite only having about 400,000 residents, a fraction of cities like Chicago, Miami, NYC and LA, Tampa is a haven for sports. The Buccaneers routinely fill their 69,000-person stadium. The Lightning had the second-highest average attendance last season. The USF Bulls brought out over 30,000 people at the majority of the games, and even smaller teams like the Tampa Sun, the USL Women’s Super League soccer team, saw plenty of fans. However, despite this city’s undeniable affinity for sports, one team simply can’t find success: The Tampa Bay Rays.
Or, as it might be more fitting, the Saint Petersburg Rays. This is because, despite having Tampa in name, the Rays actually play just across the bay in the smaller city, leaving many fans with a commute to the stadium that could last well over an hour, making going to the games incredibly unattractive. This issue isn’t just an inconvenience- it’s almost killed the entire franchise.
Statista reveals that the Rays are the second least valuable baseball team, sitting just over one billion dollars. Additionally, USA Today reported that the team is third to last in terms of salary cap, or how much they spend on players’ salaries.
Overall, the Rays are quite literally a dying franchise, simply because they can’t get fans to go to their games. With no one wanting to spend hours traveling to a run-down stadium, the team has very little money coming in due to a lack of sponsors and almost no ticket sales, making it difficult for the team to retain players or make improvements to where they play.
When the Rays were purchased by new owners at the end of September, it was made clear very quickly that a new stadium was a top priority.
“We think without that revenue generation, it’s going to be really, really challenging or nearly impossible to compete with the major markets,” head of the Rays ownership group Patrick Zalupski said in an introductory press conference. “For us, this is critical to building a championship team.”
No matter how determined the team’s new owners are, finding a location to build a stadium isn’t going to be easy, especially with how ambitious the proposed plans are right now.
The Official MLB Site announced that the Rays’ current plans are based on the Atlanta Braves Battery, complete with parks, restaurants, hotels, commercial centers and more, building a whole new district and local economy around the Stadium. This project is estimated to require at least 100 acres of land, which most people believe is best found in Ybor, not just because of available space, but because stadiums in downtown Tampa thrive.
Benchmark International Arena (formerly Amelie Arena), the home of the Lightning, has experienced some of the best turnouts in the country, packing out games literally every night of the week, in large part due to its easily accessible location in downtown Tampa. If the Rays were to move a few miles over from the city, it seems like success would be guaranteed, especially after seeing the results of the team moving out of Saint Petersburg temporarily last season.
In the wake of the two hurricanes that hit Tampa in 2024, Tropicana Field was left in ruin, with the roof completely gone, forcing the Rays to move into the Yankees’ spring training facility, Steinbrenner Field. Steinbrenner is located significantly closer to the City of Tampa, positioned right next to Raymond James Stadium, where the Buccaneers play, and attendance rose as a result.
CBS 10 Tampa Bay reported that while at Steinbrenner field, the Rays averaged over 90% of capacity, and even sold out 61 games, something unheard of when they played at the farther, and admittedly larger, Tropicana Field.
So if there’s such overwhelming evidence that a change of location would benefit the Rays, why hasn’t anything been built? The answer is money, and who’s going to pay it. Throughout the Rays’ last owner’s attempts to build a new stadium, there was constant disagreement between team management and the cities of Tampa and Saint Petersburg over the use of public funds.
Brookings reveals that cities commonly contribute money to the building of stadiums; however, the Rays were simply asking for too much and giving constantly shifting estimates, prompting the cities to back off and refuse support. Despite these issues, however, the Rays organization is still determined to get government support.
“It’s critical to have a public and private partnership,” Zalupski said when asked about government help.
Although the process of finding a new place to play has been an incredibly tiring process for everyone involved, fans included, most people are just happy the team isn’t moving to another market. Even though it might not be for years, it’s good to know the Rays organization and its new owners are working towards creating a brighter future in Tampa.
