Major corporate welfare about to happen in Orlando area

Nice Write up..

It would make sense to move The TB Rays to Orlando. Baseball fans can see their team play against the Rays and if there are any Rays fans - hahaha They too can enjoy their team. But Now will have better highway's...

I do agree this is a MLB team that needs to pay for their Own stadium.
Florida already Taxes everything and the folks that Live there don't need and more....
Or put more burden on the visitors...

They get a revenue sharing in MLB from the more profitable teams Like the Red Sox and Yankees.

They should get a low interest loan from The Gov't but not use Tax dollars on it.

I totally agree. Orlando doesn’t have the market, or interest, in a baseball stadium. Another thing to add: that space that they’ve been eyeing next to Aquatica is way too small. If it does go through, the infrastructure to sustain the stadium won’t be big enough to support itself. A baseball stadium is already large enough but then you have to add parking, a tolls area, and help change the traffic infrastructure in the surrounding area. That 528 exit/I-Drive area can already can get bad enough. Even if barely anyone goes to the game, it’ll impact traffic in the area like crazy. Imagine Epic Universe and a baseball game both ending around 10pm and that entire area will be insane lol.

Also, those poor houses in Williamsburg right behind that area… I’m sure the value for those properties will drop if this happens.

The Magic works in Orlando as a good basketball fandom but a reason not as much interest for MLB or NFL.

It’s a shame that the Rays have had to play at the Trop all these years. Ownership should be forced to sell the team or face Contraction.
@the__man: thanks for this write up. I live further north in Jacksonville but I support your cause.

I'm completely against public funding of sports stadiums, and there's a fairly substantial body of research showing that public funding of sports stadiums is a loser's game for the public.

Here's just one site among many supporting that position:

https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mje/2022/01/15/cities-should-not-pay-for-new-stadiums/

Let the fat cat owners build their own facilities just like other businesses have to.

I dug into the Rays' stadium issue last summer before we took our first ever visit to Tropicana Field (we've almost completed the full set of 30 ballparks with Marlins, White Sox, and Tigers the only current stadiums left until teams move into new digs). My understanding of the situation was that the team and local government had a deal in place to build a new stadium and entertainment complex pretty much right next to Tropicana Field. However, there were still some final details to work out (most notably the final costs) when Hurricane Milton struck and ripped the roof off Tropicana Field. Milton did significant damage to the ballpark to the point where the costs to perform repairs made it nearly impossible for either the city or the team to have enough resources to fund the new stadium. It then became a standoff between the 2 parties with both sides using the hurricane damage to leverage more money out of the other side for the new stadium. Once the lawyers got involved to determine who would pay for the repairs to Tropicana Field - necessary, but ultimately money being flushed down the toilet with a potential new stadium just 3-4 years from opening, it destroyed any momentum to get the new stadium deal over the line.

I do think stadium/arena projects need to be a compromise between teams and municipalities because ultimately everyone benefits from a properly planned and managed stadium/arena complex. Also, I think it's a common misconception that municipalities are handing out money to billionaires. I can't say that I know the details of every major stadium/arena project in the US, but most of them would require some level of local funding for basic essentials like roads, transit, utilities, public safety, etc.. whether the property was used for a stadium, an apartment/condo complex, or public green space. Now, those costs are higher for a stadium/arena than for most other uses, but a stadium/arena, particularly one that can be used 150-200 days a year generates far more tax revenue and economic impact than pretty much any other use.

I also think a lot of sports franchise owners look at Atlanta and the impact/success of The Battery, which is the commercial development adjacent to Truist Park. Owners now don't just want a fancy new stadium for their team(s), they want to because developers so they can profit from the economic activity around their stadium. Owners understand the limitations of a stadium/arena in terms of revenue generation that occurs only during events and capped by the number of seats and prices they can charge for tickets. Surrounding properties don't have many of those limitations, and if planned property can generate revenue 24/7/365. In fact, in Washington, DC, the owner of the Caps/Wizards/Mystics leveraged the concept of Truist Park and the surrounding Battery complex to eventually get a $1 billion renovation to Capital One Arena, which has been a major economic engine for Washington, DC over its 25+ year history.

The Rays had been trying for over a decade to get Tampa to build them a stadium, even going as far as announcing that they were building a new stadium in Ybor with renderings and all. Then it turned to be an "emperor had no clothes" situation when they couldn't find funding for it. Their lease at the Trop ends after the 2028 season so they felt like they needed to make a deal to have a stadium for 2029, and ended up making a deal with St Pete because they couldn't get one in Tampa.

Then when Hurricane Milton damaged the Trop they said they could no longer commit to the deal because Pinellas County delayed the vote to issue the funds (by just a few weeks) because they were dealing with the fallout from the hurricane, and delaying it those few weeks were going to cause millions of dollars in overruns. Which was complete BS but I think the Rays ownership realized building a new stadium in the same location was just going to have the same problems, so they basically backed out. Pinellas County and St Pete even voted to approve the funds after this all happened to call the Rays out on their BS, and the Rays still backed out.

Ironically (IDK if its the city, county, or both) had recently lowered the insurance coverage on Tropicana field to save money on the premiums, so they aren't getting nearly enough insurance money to replace the roof. However they are contractually obligated to give the Rays a place to play through 2028+1 because they didn't do it this year, so by contract the city/county are going to have to pay a massive amount of money out of pocket to fix the Trop just to have the team most likely move out of the county right after.

But that brings up another issue on why St Pete is now dragging their feet on fixing the Trop, because if the Rays move to Orlando they will probably want to play at ESPN at Disney since that's where their new fanbase will be so St Pete now doesn't want to fix the Trop.

One has to question with all these drama and facing the possibility of playing several years at a spring training park, or playing in a fixed Trop with no fans since they are moving, would it have been better just to pay for the stadium themselves in the first place? MLB would never want that though because it sets the precent that [gasp] other cities would not fund new ballparks in the future

There is some good news to report: today the baseball people made their pitch to the county and the commissioners and mayor were not impressed. While one commissioner endorsed it the rest of them basically said "you're going to come here with all these benefits for you, and none for the residents?" Mayor Demings said he would not endorse their current plan and they have to come up with a better deal for taxpayers for him to entertain the idea.