Tampa Bay Rays Unveil Ambitious Mixed-Use Stadium Plan, Targeting 2029 Opening

The Tampa Bay Rays ownership group wants their new ballpark open by April 2029. CEO Ken Babby shared this timeline on the "Hunks Talking Junk" podcast with Nick Friedman.

"We intend to open a new ballpark by April of 2029," Babby said, according to Florida Politics. "That's not a date we picked casually. We've studied comparable projects across the league, and we believe Tampa Bay deserves certainty and momentum."

Babby's group aims to replicate what the Atlanta Braves built at Truist Park — the Battery district. Plans include hotels, offices, shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues across 100 acres, all wrapped around the ballpark.

"We're not just building a ballpark," Babby said. "We're looking to build a mixed-use development — work, live, play — that creates jobs, attracts major companies, and delivers lasting economic impact for Tampa Bay."

Challenges loom large. "In North America, at least in my eyes, there's not a professional sports team in more crisis and has more headwinds than the Tampa Bay Rays," he said. "But there's also no better place and no better community to take on that challenge."

The ownership group will contribute significant money but needs help from taxpayers. "We're going to write a big check," Babby said, according to Fox 13 News. "We already wrote a big one to buy the team. We're going to write another one to build the ballpark. But we need it great public private partnership where the community, whether it be the county or the city or both, the state, all come together."

Where will it go? Hillsborough Community College's campus could work. So could the state fairgrounds or Ybor City. St. Petersburg hasn't been ruled out despite killing an earlier stadium deal last October.

Hillsborough Community College trustees vote today on whether to set aside 100 acres for this project. The meeting starts at 4 p.m.

Stadium talks have dragged on through more than twenty years and four St. Petersburg mayors. The new owners want to finish what others couldn't.

"We believe baseball deserves a forever home right here, in the region," Babby said. "And we're committed to making that happen."