Considering Florida’s extreme political climate, a surprising number of candidates for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners indicated some level of government support for a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark in Tampa.
Party affiliation didn’t seem to be a factor in how candidates responded to queries from 10 News on how they’d approach bringing the Rays to Tampa and what sort of public assistance would be appropriate. The most popular form of assistance, and one that has been mentioned in the past, is using an existing TIF district and putting that money, as well as hotel taxes, toward a downtown ballpark. Here‘s a typical response from the 10 News report:
In 2014, [Republican candidate Victor] Crist says “Hillsborough County should have a back-up plan in the event St. Petersburg and the Rays are unable to come to a satisfactory agreement” and although he doesn’t support any new taxes, he indicated existing revenues, such as a TIF district and brownfield tax credits could help bond stadium construction. He also called on the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council to help break the current stalemate.
With county elections coming up, you can expect plenty of talk about a new Rays ballpark: the issue has been quiet lately, but it’s getting obvious some sort of solution is needed. The trade of David Price for financial reasons may have been a very unpleasant reminder to Rays fans that at the end of the day that no matter how well the team drafts and developers, maintaining a competitive team will require some financial investments — investments the Rays aren’t in a position to make when drawing small crowds to the Trop.
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