The Major League Baseball (MLB) team Tampa Bay Rays haven’t yet reached a final agreement to build a new ballpark in Tampa (Florida, US) but they are already imagining the possibilities their proposed ‘Forever Home’ would offer beyond baseball.
‘Forever Home’
The Tampa Bay Rays’ ‘Forever Home’ is a proposed $2.3 billion ballpark and 100-plus-acre mixed-use development project targeted to open in 2029. It features an intimate 30,000-seat climate-controlled venue with a transparent fixed roof, an expanded touch tank and surrounding lifestyle districts.
Renderings Released
‘mlb.com’ stated that the Rays released on July 27th four new renderings of their planned $2.3 billion ballpark hosting special events: a concert, a college graduation, a sprawling volleyball tournament, and a wrestling championship.
The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area (US). The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a Member club of the American League (AL) East Division.
The 25,025-seat Tropicana Field, nicknamed ‘The Trop’, is a domed multipurpose stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. ‘The Trop’ is the home of the Major League Baseball (MLB) team Tampa Bay Rays.
‘Generational Opportunity’
Commented Ken Babby, Tampa Bay Rays Chief Executive Officer (CEO), “A ‘Forever Home’ ballpark for the Rays is about creating an economic engine for our region through a steady and vast array of special events that will drive hotel occupancy, restaurant traffic, parking revenue, airport activity, and transit usage. In doing so we create thousands of jobs across hospitality, entertainment, security, operations, and support services. It’s the definition of a generational opportunity for our region.”
Year-round Destination
‘mlb.com’ further stated that one of the ideas behind the Tampa Bay Rays’ plan to build a massive mixed-use development on the site of the Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus in Tampa (Florida) is that it would be a year-round destination to “work, live, learn, play”, not just a place to host 81 regular-season Major League Baseball (MLB) games.
Thus, the roughly 30,000-seat ballpark would be designed with more than baseball in mind.
Renderings Released
The Rays said the images they released on July 27th are “representative of the ballpark’s versatility and year-round capability to host major concerts and touring shows, graduations, championship sporting events, sports festivals, large-scale civic and community gatherings, and virtually any programming of any size.”
‘Single-purpose Facilities’
Added Babby, “One of our missions in designing the new ballpark was to solve a fundamental problem with single-purpose facilities. With 81 Rays games plus special events the ‘Forever Home’ will be active and generating economic value throughout the year. In short, we feel it can be one of the busiest venues in sports, entertainment and events. That’s not just good for the Rays – it’s transformational for the hotels, the restaurants, the parking operators, the transit agencies, the security companies, and the many other businesses and the workers throughout Tampa Bay.”
Prime Location
According to the Rays, the ballpark would double as the largest indoor event facility in the Tampa Bay Region and among the largest in the State of Florida.
That would seemingly make it a prime location for the uses they highlighted in their latest round of renderings: Major concerts, graduation ceremonies (for the Hillsborough College and others), the national youth sports festivals, and the signature ring sport events (wrestling, mixed martial arts, boxing, etc.,).
The club also noted that the space could “accommodate qualification competitions for the global athletic events”.
‘Best-in-Class’
Opined Babby, “We’re designing this facility with intention. Every detail, from the club (seating area) placements to the flexibility of the seating Bowl to the infrastructure supporting the events has been considered with multiple uses in mind. As important, we insist on every experience for everyone being the best-in-class in sports, entertainment and the unique events.”
The Rays hope to open their new ballpark in time for Opening Day in 2029. In May, the City of Tampa and the Hillsborough County agreed to continue their negotiations with the club by approving a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlined the framework of a potential deal.
Funding Agreement
The team, the city and the county have not yet reached a funding agreement to build the ballpark.
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