Where Do Bucs’ Stadium Renovations Stand After Rays’ Ballpark Deal?

Last week was monumental for the Tampa Bay area, with both the Tampa City Council (4-3) and Hillsborough County Commission (5-2) passing the Tampa Bay Rays’ $2.3 billion ballpark deal – a deal that will see the Rays make the move from St. Petersburg to Tampa and once again become across-the-street neighbors with the Bucs.

This time, of course, the Rays and Bucs will be permanent neighbors.

In 2025, the Rays played at Steinbrenner Field while repairs were being made to Tropicana Field, their longtime home that had been badly damaged by Hurricane Milton in October of 2024. But now, the move to what they’re calling their “forever home” on the plot of land where Hillsborough College sits will have them taking up residence right there on Dale Mabry, across from Raymond James Stadium.

There will be plenty of questions in the long term as far as the Bucs are concerned. How the planned development around this new ballpark – a mixed-use “live-work-learn-play” district – will impact the Bucs gameday experience is one of the more exciting prospects, while the matter of traffic on days when both teams have scheduled home games is less exciting to think about.

Granted, there are cities throughout the country that have their MLB and NFL teams’ stadiums in the same footprint and the leagues will often think about that when it comes to the schedule-making process. But with the lack of public transportation in Tampa, any occurrence of both teams playing on the same day is sure to be a logistical nightmare.

Those are all questions for the future, though, as current plans have the Rays’ new ballpark opening for the 2029 season. The more immediate question pertaining to the Bucs is where their own pursuit of stadium renovations stands after this deal – which includes $796 million from the county and $80 million from the city – has passed.

Tuesday brought a bit of an update on that front.

So, Where Do Bucs’ Plans For Stadium Renovations Stand Right Now?

Hillsborough County commissioner Ken Hagan, who also serves on the Tampa Sports Authority board, joined Jay Recher on Tuesday’s episode of the Jay Recher Podcast and provided an update on where things currently stand with the Bucs and their plans to upgrade Raymond James Stadium after the finalization of the Rays’ ballpark deal.

“Legitimate question,” Hagan said. “We’ve been working with the Buccaneers on identifying the projects that are the most urgent. We did set aside funding out of the CIT that was reauthorized last year for stadium improvements. So, I was adamant that we were gonna dispose of the Rays’ ballpark issue first, and then we would begin, in earnest, with Ray Jay discussions. We’re in the midst of that now.

“I’m not worried about being able to fulfill our commitment or our partnership. The Buccaneers and the Glazers have been great partners. I was front and center of the last renovation agreement, and at the time, they assumed – as the Rays did here – they assumed all cost overruns and bringing it on time and different things. So, they’ve been great partners. I’m sure they’re going to do the same this time around.”

Back in April, the Bucs took the first step in the renovation process, requesting a meeting with the Tampa Sports Authority to discuss their plans for upgrades to Raymond James Stadium. Near the end of May, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the organization was seeking $1 billion from the Tampa Sports Authority, with the team possibly paying one-third and the public covering the rest.

Despite some leaders pushing to take care of the Bucs before dealing with the Rays’ situation, Hagan was among those who took the opposite stance, wanting to sort out the future of baseball in the Tampa Bay area before discussing the idea of more money going to the Glazer Family for Ray Jay updates.

So, What Gets Priority With Bucs’ Plans For Stadium Upgrades?

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of what Hagan told Recher during Wednesday’s show was at the very beginning of his answer, when he spoke about ironing out the projects that are “most urgent” with Raymond James Stadium. That sure makes it sound like the initial idea, at least from Hagan’s side with the county and Tampa Sports Authority, is to address the Glazers’ wants and needs for the stadium’s upgrades in phases. Or if not that, the idea seems to be only addressing what’s necessary.

So, what takes priority? That’s something Hagan got further into.

“The majority of our improvements are in two areas. First and foremost, I want the average fan to be able to enjoy whatever upgrades or improvements are made, such as last time we had the big-screen TVs, the ribbon boards, the tower boards,” he said. “In other words, [they’re] not just gonna be for the fat cats in the suites and club level. So, that’s paramount.”

Let’s stop there.

Perhaps the biggest headline-grabber with the Tampa Bay Times’ May report about the organization’s plans for these upgrades was the inclusion of sun shades that would cover parts of the stadium seating, similar to what the Miami Dolphins have at Hard Rock Stadium. That would seem to fall under the category of project that the average fan would be able to enjoy and benefit from.

Hagan continued.

“And secondly, Raymond James Stadium every year gets ranked in the top five of ballparks and facilities for the various areas that they’re judged on,” he said. “So, it’s a very serviceable facility. It’s got a significant shelf life left. So, we just wanna make sure that the facility itself is technologically advanced, that it’s as nice as it can be because not only do we wanna be able to compete for future Super Bowls and major events, but also your major concerts and acts that fall under Live Nation.

“They have a certain threshold of quality – it’s got to be up to NFL standards and facilities like that – for them to do these big shows. So, if we wanna continue to be able to bring in the Taylor Swifts and BTS and all the other concerts and shows that we have… Those two shows alone, after we covered all of our expenses and all of our responsibilities, netted the county I think between $3 million and $4 million. So, a significant ROI on these events. So, it’s incumbent on us to ensure that we have a state-of-the-art technologically advanced Ray Jay in order to continue to bring in these major acts and events that provide the ROI.”

What those potential technological advancements might be remain to be seen, as most of the talk (and about half of the proposed $1 billion ask) has been about shade from the sun inside the stadium. There hasn’t much, if anything, shared publicly as far as what tech upgrades the stadium might need (anything tech-related feels like it’s above this writer’s pay grade) to compete with other state-of-the-art facilities throughout the NFL and the rest of the sports world. But it’s clear that those will be talked about as priorities, too.

If anything, it’s notable that the sides are getting together and talking. The Bucs have a January deadline to negotiate the lease agreement, and there had reportedly been private talks about a five-year extension. But given that it’s already the start of September and the fourth quarter of the 2026 calendar year isn’t far off, it’s good to know that these talks are happening.

As for Hagan, the county and all involved with working through the Rays’ deal? There’s no rest for the weary. The Bucs are clearly up next at the negotiating table.

“I’m not worried about it,” Hagan told Recher. “We’re earnestly working with them now, and hopefully sooner than later we’ll be able to have something that we can bring forward.”