{"id":2219173,"date":"2024-04-12T07:52:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T11:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rays-stadium-development-district-to-exceed-initial-cost-estimates-report\/"},"modified":"2024-04-12T07:55:44","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T11:55:44","slug":"rays-stadium-development-district-to-exceed-initial-cost-estimates-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rays-stadium-development-district-to-exceed-initial-cost-estimates-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Rays Stadium and Development District Costs to Surpass Initial Estimates"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frays-stadium-development-district-to-exceed-initial-cost-estimates-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2219173&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A recent report indicates that the cost of constructing \u200ca \u200cnew Tampa\u200b Rays stadium could surpass initial estimates, potentially burdening taxpayers. The proposed project includes developing 65 acres in \u200dthe Gas\u200d Plant District, offering amenities such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">affordable housing<\/a>, retail spaces, and entertainment venues, with an initial cost\u2062 projection of \u200b$1.3 billion. The funding for the project is planned to be shared among the City of St. \u2063Petersburg, Pinellas County, and the Tampa Bay Rays&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/history-repeats-itself-democrats-are-using-tactics-of-the-marxists-of-1917-in-russia-to-steal-2020-election\/\" title=\"History Repeats Itself: Democrats Are Using Tactics of the Marxists of 1917 in Russia to Steal 2020 Election\">ownership<\/a> \u200bgroup, Rays-Hines. \u2062However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-cori-bush-rushes-to-defense-of-very-violent-criminals-rioting-attacking-guard-in-jail\/\" title=\"Democrat Cori Bush Rushes To Defense Of \u2018Very Violent\u2019 Criminals Rioting, Attacking Guard In Jail\">concerns raised<\/a> by Florida \u200bTaxWatch suggest that\u2064 the actual total cost could reach $2.4\u2063 billion due\u2064 to \u2063additional expenses like parking infrastructure and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/electric-vehicles-could-be-getting-more-expensive-in-florida\/\" title=\"EVs may become pricier in Florida.\">lost revenues<\/a>, highlighting financial challenges for \u200cthe city and county.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2014 A new report shows that a new Tampa Rays stadium could cost taxpayers far more than initially thought.<\/p>\n<p>The new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays would include the development of 65 acres in the historic Gas Plant District that surrounds the field, which would offer affordable housing, shopping and entertainment venues at an initial cost estimate of $1.3 billion.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/florida\/article_e95577ce-0625-11ee-97d7-f374c17e01bc.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>cost<\/strong><\/a> of the project would be shared between the City of St. Petersburg, Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay Rays\u2019 ownership group Rays-Hines.<\/p>\n<p>The city would pay an estimated $287.5 million, which would include $130 million towards infrastructure, while the county would pay $312.5 million and Ray-Hines would pay the remainder and any overruns.<\/p>\n<p>However, a report from <a href=\"https:\/\/floridataxwatch.org\/Research\/Full-Library\/if-you-build-it-he-will-come-florida-taxwatch-looks-at-the-tampa-bay-rays-ballpark-proposal?page38459=1&#038;size38459=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Florida TaxWatch<\/strong><\/a> raised concerns about the real cost of the project to the city and the county, which is estimated to be a total of $2.4 billion, not $600 million, when accounting for parking garages, infrastructure support and lost revenues.<\/p>\n<p>According to the report, the city would pay an estimated $1.6 billion, including $704 million for the new stadium and supporting infrastructure, $411 million in lost property taxes and $545 million in lost city revenue from the sale of 64 acres to Ray\u2019s ownership.<\/p>\n<p>Pinellas County would pay its share of $809 million, $587 million towards the new stadium and $222 million in lost property taxes. Neither the city or the county has the funds to cover this expense.<\/p>\n<p>The report further notes that as of 2022, per game attendance averaged 13,927, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/equal-pay-day-2021-where-do-women-actually-stand\/\" title=\"Equal Pay Day 2021: Where Do Women Actually Stand?\">revenue generated<\/a> in 2022 by the franchise was $248 million,\u00a0 ranking the Rays 28th out of the 30 Major League Baseball teams.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be clear, Florida TaxWatch is not drawing conclusions as to whether the Tampa Bay Rays\u2019 ballpark proposal is \u2018good\u2019 or \u2018bad,&#8217;\u201d said Florida TaxWatch acting president and CEO Jeff Kottkamp said in a news release. \u201cWith this report, we simply outline a variety of important factors, including a few major risks, that should be taken into consideration by local officials in order to determine if the plan is in the best interest of Tampa Bay area taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the day, fulfillment of the deal will require hundreds of millions of local taxpayer dollars \u2014 which could be used to pay for other needed services and improvements in the community \u2014 and therefore, we believe it should receive close and careful scrutiny before a decision is made. We look forward to discussing our research and recommendations with all involved stakeholders as the matter comes before the St. Petersburg City Council and Pinellas County Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kennesaw State professor J.C. Bradbury, opposes these types of stadium deals and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jc_bradbury\/status\/1776600160430129504\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>posted<\/strong><\/a> on X, formerly known as Twitter, that stadiums are \u201cterrible development anchors,\u201d and that the initial $600 million proposal alone would cost $5,263 per household.<\/p>\n<p>However, according to the new estimated cost to the city being $1.6 billion, this would translate to $14,035 per household.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe social benefits of hosting sports teams are difficult to measure, but they\u2019re not incalculable. I doubt most residents would be willing to pay that much and that\u2019s the burden they\u2019re required to bear to fund this proposal.\u201d Bradbury posted to X.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent report reveals that the cost of a new Tampa Rays stadium could surpass initial estimates, potentially burdening taxpayers. The proposed stadium project encompasses 65 acres in the Gas Plant District, featuring affordable housing, retail, and entertainment options, expanding beyond the original budget projections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2219174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24101770652541-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2219173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24101770652541-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2219173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2219174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2219173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2219173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2219173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}