Tampa pitches costly stadium
Proposed site would be the smallest in majors.
The Rays have consistently ranked near the bottom in attendance at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, about 20 miles away from the proposed new site.
The Tampa TAMPA, FLA. —
Bay Rays on Tuesday unveiled an elaborate plan for a new domed stadium that would take them across Tampa Bay to the Ybor City section of Tampa at a cost of nearly $900 million.
The 30,842-seat stadium would be the smallest in Major League Baseball and would be covered by a fully enclosed and translucent roof, not a retractable dome.
Stuart Sternberg, principal owner of the Rays since 2005, called the plan “a dramatic break from the past” and explained the blueprint as the franchise’s latest attempt to make a longterm commitment to the region.
“That has the best opportunity to happen here in Tampa, at the center of the Tampa Bay region,” Sternberg said. “We believe that baseball cannot only survive but thrive here in Tampa, and Tampa Bay, and all the growth that comes ahead of us.”
The Rays have consistently ranked near the bottom in attendance at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, about 20 miles away from the proposed new site. The Ybor City site is bordered by Channelside Drive on the west, 15th Street on the east, 4th Avenue on the north and Adamo Drive on the south.
No plans were revealed about stadium financing. The Rays, now in their 21st season in the American League, made the presentation partly to solicit corporate support.
“The test is when people see this,” explained Matt Silverman, the club’s president. “If people are getting behind this vision for how our ballpark can look and see how it can feed into Ybor City, if we’re on the same page there, we have a better shot at figuring out the plans.”
Melanie Lenz, the Rays’ chief development officer, calculated the “total project cost” as $892,429,823, 30 percent of which applies to the roof.
Sternberg has said he expects to play at Tropicana Field for at least four or five more years, and a best-case scenario for the opening of the new ballpark would be 2023.
“I think you’re looking at a four-to-five-year buildup, 36 months on the construction side,” Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said. “Will we live or die based on whether we have this stadium? No. We’re going to be fine with or without it, but I would love to have it.”
PARK PROPOSAL
Cost: The estimated price tag for the entire project is $892 million. The ballpark itself is projected to cost $809 million and related infrastructure — including a parking garage and a pedestrian bridge — is pegged at $83 million. The cost of the stadium includes one of its standout features, a translucent roof expected to cost almost $245 million.
Capacity: The proposed ballpark will seat 28,216 people. Add in standing areas, and the total capacity will be 30,842. That would be the fewest seats of any Major League Baseball venue. By comparison, the latest configuration of Tropicana Field — with the upper seats tarped (and closed off) — is 31,042.
Special elements: The architectural firm Populous worked with the Rays to design the proposed stadium, which includes these elements: see-through sliding glass walls, a fixed translucent roof and architectural features — such as a brick facade — that
would integrate the stadium into its surroundings in Tampa’s historic Latin district.
The roof: The translucent section of the roof, which will cover the outfield, will be made from a synthetic fluoropolymer known as Polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE. Architects looked at using other transparent material that admits enough ultraviolet light to grow a grass field. But even with extensive use of grow lamps, the team would have faced replacing the field four or more times a season, said Rays chief development officer Melanie Lenz. That’s why the new stadium will have artificial turf.
Timetable: A new stadium is expected to take several years to complete. Rays officials said they are shooting to have the stadium ready to open by the start of the 2023 season. That would require construction to begin by spring 2020.
— TAMPA BAY TIMES