October 9, 2025 • 9 mins
Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor At Large Ashley Kritzer breaks down what’s next for the Rays as their new ownership group evaluates options for a stadium site and broader redevelopment project. She explains the challenges, the timeline, and what it could mean for fans and the future of the franchise in Tampa Bay.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're joined by Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large
Ashley Kreutzer. You can find her work in a whole
lot more at Tampa Bay Business Journal dot com and
you can follow her on social media too at Ashley Kretzer. So, Ashley,
let's talk about the new Tampa Bay Rays owners who
held a news conference on Tuesday to discuss their vision
for the team and a new ballpark. And honestly, it
(00:20):
almost sounded like they paid one point seven billion dollars
for redevelopment project, more than a baseball team.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You know, it was interesting yesterday when patricks Lusky started speaking,
we had our first look at him, Ken, Babby and
Bill Costcro of the three chiefs I think that we're
going to see at the Helm, and it did sound
a lot about development, more than I expected. Right out
of the gate. He came out and said, we want
to have this new stadium open for opening day twenty
twenty nine, which is incredibly aggressive. And he also dropped
(00:51):
to figure one hundred acres, which was very specific and
very limiting in the terms of number of available sites,
although he did say there are more sites of that
size than one would guess. A little bit of mystery
if you will. But so those two details, when a
developer has a timeline and an acreage number like they
usually have something in mind, those don't come out of
(01:11):
thin air.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, And if you take a look at the acreage
available at certain locations like Dalesborough College Campus on Dale
Maybray right by ray j I think that's about one
hundred eight acres, or so Florida State Fairgrounds about one
hundred and then Tropic Canna Field at ninety five acres.
It would seem to rule out. I'm curious to get
(01:34):
your thoughts on this Ebor Harbor, which is much smaller.
And then there were some talk about like maybe West
Shore could be a destination there, but those would be
smaller areas they are.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
And that was my first thought when he said one
hundred acres, is that we're no longer talking about an
urban stadium in Ebor City. Ebor Harbor I think is
under thirty acres. The totality of gas Works, which is
from the historic district of Ebor City all the way
down to the Channel Strict, is around fifty acres. Water Street,
for comparison, is fifty acres. Midtown Tampa is twenty two
acres and the west short plausa of them all. I
(02:08):
don't think that's one hundred acres. I think that's closer
to fifty.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, it's between I think like fifty two to fifty
four somewhere in there. So let's start with Tropicana Field
in that site. I don't know, this is just a
vibe that I'm getting. I feel like they want to
be on the other side of the Bay.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I feel like that vibe that you're getting is accurate.
I feel like they are really leaning into this premise
that the stadium needs to be in the center of
the population base, which is Tampa. You know, that's something
that's been said for years. If that's why attendance is
so low, I mean, now you can say nobody really
went to Steian Brenner Field in the argument as well.
It was outdoors. Of course, they're not going to go.
So it will be interesting to see if that stadium
(02:49):
does get built, you know, right in the dead center
of Tampa in terms of geography on that HCC site,
and what the attendance looks like in that case, if
that solves all their woes.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
We're joined by Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at Large,
Ashley Kreutzer, Let's talk about that college campus site on
Dale Maybry again adjacent to Steinbrenner Field, right there by
ray Ja. It does seem like that's an area you've
got midtown Tampa, not that far you could have, you know,
all the big sports teams, not all you could the
Lightning obviously in downtown, but you know, the Bucks, the
(03:22):
Rays all in the same area, and you've got a
large area that could be redeveloped. Do you think does
it feel like that might be the leading spot?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Listen, on paper, it certainly seems like it is right
for all the reasons you just mentioned, the cohesiveness with
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right across the street. Steinbrenner Field
is right there, and it's also a beautiful piece of
real estate that is quite frankly underutilized. And so far
it sounds like they have a willing partner in Hillsboro
Community College, because I spoke to their chairman of the
(03:57):
board of Trustees yesterday who confirmed they are an early negotiaation.
Greg Cellistan is very excited about this possibility, saying that
you know, HCC would actually continue to have a presence
as part of that district if this deal did come
to fruition. But this is very very early, like they're
not even talking about getting engaged. They're just on the
first couple of dates.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Well, but things can move quick if if there's a connection,
if love is in the air. Yeah, yeah, What about
what about the Florida State Fairgrounds because I think that's
interesting too. You get the Mid Florida Credit Union Amphitheater
to get the hard rock, right, there a lot of
land out there as well.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Is that something that that could make sense a little
further removed from the I think the center population, but
also maybe you get some people from Lakeland which is growing, right.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And I think that's those are all fair points and
I think that you know, it's probably a bit of
an easier deal and in terms of how do you
get that done because it's it's open land for the
most part, and you're right, like pulling pulling in traffic
from Pope County I think has always been and something
that the Rays wanted to do and argued that they
could do better if they were in Tampa. And you
(05:06):
never know, maybe one of these sites, any of these
sites are being mentioned, are just leveraged for another site,
So you really don't know. None of us, unfortunately, are
in the boardroom with these guys. We don't know exactly
which one is the front runner. The vibes certainly seemed
to be centered around HCC at this present moment.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Is there another area that we haven't mentioned that you
think could be in play? Because they seem to allude
to like you had mentioned earlier, there are more spots
than you might think. Is there something that we're not
thinking of that could be in play?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I don't think they are thinking of this, But when
they started talking about the Battery in Atlanta, my mind
immediately went to Wesley Chapel where there is more land
and if you look at where the battery is. And frankly,
when that deal got done, when the Atlanta Braves struck
their deal to build what is now the Battery, a
mixed use districts surrounding that ballpark, it was controversial because
it's not in Atlanta, It's in Todd County suburbs. A
(06:00):
lot of people were like, why don't you call it
the Cobb County Braves, Like you're not the Atlanta Braves.
So the more they talked about the Battery, I was like,
wait a minute, is this potentially a Pasco County play.
I don't really think that is what they're talking about.
It's just what one calls to mind when you talk
about the battery, which is thirty minutes with traffic outside
of downtown Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
The redevelopment project itself something that we've seen in other
parts of the city on a smaller scale. I mean hotels,
office buildings, retail, restaurant, you know, the whole deal.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And I think that only makes sense. I think that
they would be fools to turn down the potential development
revenue from ancillary development like that. I mean, you see
how well it worked for Water Street when Jeff Finnick
was a partner in that deal and the owner of
the Lightning. Obviously, you've seen it work for the Brave.
That's been a huge part of the Braves financial success.
And it's even been discussed in terms of the repositioning
of Raymond James Stadium. It's overdue for a big renovation
(06:54):
and part of that seems like it would include mixed use.
And when you look at both Raymond James and the
HCC site all located in terms of road access, but
they're kind of deserts in terms of entertainment, restaurants, literally
anything like that you could walk to. I mean, you
can get in your car and be international in a
few minutes. But that's not really the game day experience
anyone wants. Your USF is spending how much money to
(07:16):
build a stadium that's walkable to campus because everyone wants
that walkable game day experience.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Well, there are those those dance clubs months Venus and
honestly that are in the in the vicinity.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
But no, you're right, true, we can't overlook those key parts.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Last thing I want to ask you about tied to
all of this, the money on it.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
What they didn't say yesterday.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Now, yeah, on the Hillsboro side, there are some complications.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
There are complications, and there's been a number of floded
in recent weeks that they are going to ask for
a billion dollars. They haven't confirmed that. I did see that.
Josh Wastell told the Tampa Bay Times yesterday that he
has heard that figure. He's a Hillsborough County commissioner. So
regardless of whether it's a billion dollars or six hundred
million dollars, I think that's what everyone needs to know
and that was a big part of the questioning yesterday
(08:08):
is just what is the public ask? There's no point
in dragging this out. We know there's going can be
one can Babby hinted heavily at that. If this will
be a public private partnership, this is not going to
be Los Angeles where the Kronkey family funded four billion
dollars of development privately, or even the new proposal in
Denver that looks like it's privately funded. They are going
to make a public ask. So I think for everyone involved,
(08:30):
the community of the taxpayers, politicians, business leaders, and the
team itself, just make the ask everyone wants to know. See,
let's see is there a deal that can be made?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large Ashley Kreutzer. You
can find her work on this and a whole lot
more Tampa Bay Business Journal dot com, and you can
also follow her on social media too at Ashley Kreutzer. Ashley,
really great stuff, Thanks so much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
It's a Ryan Gorman Show five to nine every weekday
morning on news Radio two u FLA
We're joined by Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large
Ashley Kreutzer. You can find her work in a whole
lot more at Tampa Bay Business Journal dot com and
you can follow her on social media too at Ashley Kretzer. So, Ashley,
let's talk about the new Tampa Bay Rays owners who
held a news conference on Tuesday to discuss their vision
for the team and a new ballpark. And honestly, it
(00:20):
almost sounded like they paid one point seven billion dollars
for redevelopment project, more than a baseball team.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You know, it was interesting yesterday when patricks Lusky started speaking,
we had our first look at him, Ken, Babby and
Bill Costcro of the three chiefs I think that we're
going to see at the Helm, and it did sound
a lot about development, more than I expected. Right out
of the gate. He came out and said, we want
to have this new stadium open for opening day twenty
twenty nine, which is incredibly aggressive. And he also dropped
(00:51):
to figure one hundred acres, which was very specific and
very limiting in the terms of number of available sites,
although he did say there are more sites of that
size than one would guess. A little bit of mystery
if you will. But so those two details, when a
developer has a timeline and an acreage number like they
usually have something in mind, those don't come out of
(01:11):
thin air.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, And if you take a look at the acreage
available at certain locations like Dalesborough College Campus on Dale
Maybray right by ray j I think that's about one
hundred eight acres, or so Florida State Fairgrounds about one
hundred and then Tropic Canna Field at ninety five acres.
It would seem to rule out. I'm curious to get
(01:34):
your thoughts on this Ebor Harbor, which is much smaller.
And then there were some talk about like maybe West
Shore could be a destination there, but those would be
smaller areas they are.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
And that was my first thought when he said one
hundred acres, is that we're no longer talking about an
urban stadium in Ebor City. Ebor Harbor I think is
under thirty acres. The totality of gas Works, which is
from the historic district of Ebor City all the way
down to the Channel Strict, is around fifty acres. Water Street,
for comparison, is fifty acres. Midtown Tampa is twenty two
acres and the west short plausa of them all. I
(02:08):
don't think that's one hundred acres. I think that's closer
to fifty.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, it's between I think like fifty two to fifty
four somewhere in there. So let's start with Tropicana Field
in that site. I don't know, this is just a
vibe that I'm getting. I feel like they want to
be on the other side of the Bay.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I feel like that vibe that you're getting is accurate.
I feel like they are really leaning into this premise
that the stadium needs to be in the center of
the population base, which is Tampa. You know, that's something
that's been said for years. If that's why attendance is
so low, I mean, now you can say nobody really
went to Steian Brenner Field in the argument as well.
It was outdoors. Of course, they're not going to go.
So it will be interesting to see if that stadium
(02:49):
does get built, you know, right in the dead center
of Tampa in terms of geography on that HCC site,
and what the attendance looks like in that case, if
that solves all their woes.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
We're joined by Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at Large,
Ashley Kreutzer, Let's talk about that college campus site on
Dale Maybry again adjacent to Steinbrenner Field, right there by
ray Ja. It does seem like that's an area you've
got midtown Tampa, not that far you could have, you know,
all the big sports teams, not all you could the
Lightning obviously in downtown, but you know, the Bucks, the
(03:22):
Rays all in the same area, and you've got a
large area that could be redeveloped. Do you think does
it feel like that might be the leading spot?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Listen, on paper, it certainly seems like it is right
for all the reasons you just mentioned, the cohesiveness with
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right across the street. Steinbrenner Field
is right there, and it's also a beautiful piece of
real estate that is quite frankly underutilized. And so far
it sounds like they have a willing partner in Hillsboro
Community College, because I spoke to their chairman of the
(03:57):
board of Trustees yesterday who confirmed they are an early negotiaation.
Greg Cellistan is very excited about this possibility, saying that
you know, HCC would actually continue to have a presence
as part of that district if this deal did come
to fruition. But this is very very early, like they're
not even talking about getting engaged. They're just on the
first couple of dates.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Well, but things can move quick if if there's a connection,
if love is in the air. Yeah, yeah, What about
what about the Florida State Fairgrounds because I think that's
interesting too. You get the Mid Florida Credit Union Amphitheater
to get the hard rock, right, there a lot of
land out there as well.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Is that something that that could make sense a little
further removed from the I think the center population, but
also maybe you get some people from Lakeland which is growing, right.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And I think that's those are all fair points and
I think that you know, it's probably a bit of
an easier deal and in terms of how do you
get that done because it's it's open land for the
most part, and you're right, like pulling pulling in traffic
from Pope County I think has always been and something
that the Rays wanted to do and argued that they
could do better if they were in Tampa. And you
(05:06):
never know, maybe one of these sites, any of these
sites are being mentioned, are just leveraged for another site,
So you really don't know. None of us, unfortunately, are
in the boardroom with these guys. We don't know exactly
which one is the front runner. The vibes certainly seemed
to be centered around HCC at this present moment.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Is there another area that we haven't mentioned that you
think could be in play? Because they seem to allude
to like you had mentioned earlier, there are more spots
than you might think. Is there something that we're not
thinking of that could be in play?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I don't think they are thinking of this, But when
they started talking about the Battery in Atlanta, my mind
immediately went to Wesley Chapel where there is more land
and if you look at where the battery is. And frankly,
when that deal got done, when the Atlanta Braves struck
their deal to build what is now the Battery, a
mixed use districts surrounding that ballpark, it was controversial because
it's not in Atlanta, It's in Todd County suburbs. A
(06:00):
lot of people were like, why don't you call it
the Cobb County Braves, Like you're not the Atlanta Braves.
So the more they talked about the Battery, I was like,
wait a minute, is this potentially a Pasco County play.
I don't really think that is what they're talking about.
It's just what one calls to mind when you talk
about the battery, which is thirty minutes with traffic outside
of downtown Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
The redevelopment project itself something that we've seen in other
parts of the city on a smaller scale. I mean hotels,
office buildings, retail, restaurant, you know, the whole deal.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And I think that only makes sense. I think that
they would be fools to turn down the potential development
revenue from ancillary development like that. I mean, you see
how well it worked for Water Street when Jeff Finnick
was a partner in that deal and the owner of
the Lightning. Obviously, you've seen it work for the Brave.
That's been a huge part of the Braves financial success.
And it's even been discussed in terms of the repositioning
of Raymond James Stadium. It's overdue for a big renovation
(06:54):
and part of that seems like it would include mixed use.
And when you look at both Raymond James and the
HCC site all located in terms of road access, but
they're kind of deserts in terms of entertainment, restaurants, literally
anything like that you could walk to. I mean, you
can get in your car and be international in a
few minutes. But that's not really the game day experience
anyone wants. Your USF is spending how much money to
(07:16):
build a stadium that's walkable to campus because everyone wants
that walkable game day experience.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Well, there are those those dance clubs months Venus and
honestly that are in the in the vicinity.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
But no, you're right, true, we can't overlook those key parts.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Last thing I want to ask you about tied to
all of this, the money on it.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
What they didn't say yesterday.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Now, yeah, on the Hillsboro side, there are some complications.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
There are complications, and there's been a number of floded
in recent weeks that they are going to ask for
a billion dollars. They haven't confirmed that. I did see that.
Josh Wastell told the Tampa Bay Times yesterday that he
has heard that figure. He's a Hillsborough County commissioner. So
regardless of whether it's a billion dollars or six hundred
million dollars, I think that's what everyone needs to know
and that was a big part of the questioning yesterday
(08:08):
is just what is the public ask? There's no point
in dragging this out. We know there's going can be
one can Babby hinted heavily at that. If this will
be a public private partnership, this is not going to
be Los Angeles where the Kronkey family funded four billion
dollars of development privately, or even the new proposal in
Denver that looks like it's privately funded. They are going
to make a public ask. So I think for everyone involved,
(08:30):
the community of the taxpayers, politicians, business leaders, and the
team itself, just make the ask everyone wants to know. See,
let's see is there a deal that can be made?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large Ashley Kreutzer. You
can find her work on this and a whole lot
more Tampa Bay Business Journal dot com, and you can
also follow her on social media too at Ashley Kreutzer. Ashley,
really great stuff, Thanks so much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
It's a Ryan Gorman Show five to nine every weekday
morning on news Radio two u FLA
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