Commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday that Major League Baseball feels a sense of urgency to find a new ballpark for the Rays and expressed his belief in Tampa Bay as a full-season Major League market.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the Owners Meetings in Orlando, Manfred addressed the Rays’ stadium search for the first time since MLB’s executive council rejected the club’s “Sister City” plan to split future seasons between the Tampa Bay area and Montreal. The Rays’ use agreement at Tropicana Field, their home park since the franchise’s inaugural season in 1998, expires after the 2027 season.
“My hope is that Tampa — the officials in the Tampa Bay region — and the Rays can work together to find a solution that will keep a full season of baseball in Tampa,” Manfred said. “We think Tampa is a Major League market, and we want to find a solution that makes the club economically viable in that market.”
The Rays’ search for a new home park has been ongoing for 15 years. They scrapped plans for a ballpark on the Al Lang Stadium site more than a decade ago, couldn’t reach a deal in 2018 on a proposal for a roughly $900 million, fixed-roof stadium in Ybor City, and then MLB’s executive council voted against their “Sister City” proposal last month.
MLB granted the Rays preliminary approval to explore the split-season concept in June 2019 then officially nixed the idea on Jan. 20. Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg said that day the rejection was “flat-out deflating” for club officials, who had spent years working on the plan, but stated, “We’re going to keep trying here in this market.”
“I’m encouraged by, I think Mr. Sternberg’s tone the day of the announcement was, I thought it was perfect,” Manfred said. “In an extraordinarily difficult situation, I thought his tone was great. I think some of the comments from civic leaders in the region have also been encouraging.”
Once again, the Rays are determined to explore all their options for a full-time home park on either side of Tampa Bay. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, new St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and other local officials have publicly expressed optimism that they can come up with viable proposals to keep the Rays in the area.
On Jan. 20, Sternberg said the Rays had engaged in “very far advanced” conversations regarding an open-air stadium in Ybor City, but those talks were focused on a ballpark designed for the split-season plan. Sternberg noted then, however, that Tampa also “had some plans in the background” for a full-season ballpark. The Tampa Bay Times reported earlier this week that analysis commissioned by the Tampa Sports Authority projected that a full-season, 27,000-capacity stadium could be built in Ybor City for about the same cost — less than $1 billion, notably — as the Rays’ 2018 proposal.
Time is of the essence, however. The Rays must find a location, figure out the financing and have a stadium built before Opening Day 2028. Considering the necessary planning and construction, the Rays will most likely need to have a deal in place at some point next year.
“We do have a sense of urgency with respect to the Tampa situation. They have been in a substantial period of uncertainty as to where they’re going to play, which in turn dictates the economic outlook for the franchise,” Manfred said. “That’s a bad thing. It’s a bad thing for a business. It hampers the ability of the business to operate and the club to operate in the most effective way. So we do have a sense of urgency.”