$1.7B MLB Stadium Plans Shared In Central FL To Woo Tampa Bay Rays

ORLANDO, FL — An initiative led by Orlando Magic co-founder Pat Williams hopes to woo either the Tampa Bay Rays away from St. Petersburg or draw a Major League Baseball expansion team to Orlando with a new $1.7 billion stadium in the City Beautiful.

If the ballpark moves forward, a domed, 45,000-seat stadium would be built on 35.5 acres owned by Orange County on International Drive near SeaWorld. It will also include retail shops, restaurants, office space, 1,000 hotel rooms and a convention center.

Williams told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that while he’s open to accommodating the Rays at the site, while also focusing on attracting an expansion team to Central Florida.

The website for his project’s scouting group, the Orlando City Baseball Dreamers, said that “there are several possibilities (for where the team will come from,) including Orlando acquiring a team from another city or Major League Baseball selecting Orlando as a destination for an expansion team.”

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At the end of January, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch chose the Rays in partnership with Houston-based developer Hines out of four pitches to redevelop 86 acres in the Historic Gas Plant District, which includes the team’s home, Tropicana Field.

With their lease at Tropicana Field expiring in 2027, the baseball team has promised that their proposed ballpark would be completed by 2028.

Though the team appears to be making long-term plans in St. Petersburg, Rays’ president Brian Auld has indicated that they could still leave the area.

With the Tropicana Field lease expiring, “time is of the essence,” he told Patch at the end of January. “We’ve got to pursue every option available to make sure this team stays in Tampa Bay. We owe it to everybody to make sure we do everything possible that this team stays here.”

This puts Orlando in a position where it could potentially lure the Rays away from the Tampa Bay area, Williams told the Orlando Sentinel.

“Orlando is ready for baseball, and this is our best and maybe our last chance,” he said. “Time is running out on Tampa Bay, and the question is: Can they get a ballpark built? More importantly, can we get a ballpark built?”

The Orlando Dreamers recently filed an application with the Orange County Tourist Development Tax task force to partially fund the new stadium and associated parking garages, according to a news release from the group.

The application for TDT funds calls for the county to issue a $975-million, 30-year municipal bond with the balance of the project being financed by the MLB team and its affiliates, the news release said. “No additional government funding for ongoing stadium operations would be required from Orange County beyond the initial investment.”

The proposed project also calls for $700 million in private funds, the largest private investment ever for a publicly owned MLB stadium, the Orlando Dreamers said.

The group also recently spearheaded an economic and fiscal impact study for building a new MLB stadium in Orange County.

The stadium’s construction phase would create more than 20,000 jobs and boost the local economy by more than $2.7 billion, according to the report and analysis conducted by JLL, a professional services firm, the group said.

The report also estimates that once the stadium is completed, the area will see about 25,000 new permanent jobs and an annual output of $1.16 billion into the county’s economy.

Over 30 years, the stadium could bring more than $40 billion into the local economy when considering spring training and other development projects on the parcel, the Orlando Dreamers added.

"Orlando has proven in the years since the Magic began playing in 1989 that it is every bit a big-league sports town,” Williams said in a statement. “With the Central Florida tourist industry bouncing back from COVID and Orange County reporting a record $336 million in tourist tax collections in 2022, we have a timely and great opportunity to put these funds to work in a way that will accelerate our region’s growth. It’s time to step up to the plate and bring MLB to Orlando.”