Ybor Stadium was a proposed

baseball park A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

in the

Ybor City Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly ...

neighborhood of

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. If approved and constructed, it would have served as the home of the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

Proposal

In 2017, the

(MLB) finished the season with an average paid attendance of 15,477 per game, the lowest in MLB, and a stadium with the lowest capacity in MLB in

Tropicana Field Tropicana Field (commonly known as the Trop) is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose domed stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The stadium has been the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) since the ...

(31,042). The Rays have been looking for a new site to build a stadium, as

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

is difficult for fans from

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

to access. On July 10, 2018, the Rays announced they would vacate Tropicana Field and relocate to the

neighborhood of Tampa, between 15th Street and Channelside Drive from east to west, and between Fourth Avenue and Adamo Drive from north to south. While the Rays have a contract to play in Tropicana Field through 2027, they have reached an agreement for an early departure. The architectural firm, Populous, announced the futuristic ballpark would feature "dramatic" sliding glass walls and a fully enclosed, translucent roof. The park would use

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

. Construction was estimated to cost $892 million. Ballpark construction was estimated at $550 million; the roof would cost approximately $245 million, with about $83 million coming from ancillary infrastructure spending. The construction costs also included a parking garage and pedestrian bridge. The Rays announced they were expecting taxpayers to fund most of its construction, despite some controversy regarding the limited evidence of public benefits arising from subsidizing such projects. The stadium would be a year-round entertainment venue and will not be exclusively used for baseball games. The proposal called for 28,216 seats with a total capacity of 30,842, which would make it the smallest MLB stadium by capacity. The ballpark was slated to be ready by the start of the 2023 season. However, in December 2018, the project was abruptly cancelled.

References

{{Tampa Bay Rays Tampa Bay Rays Unbuilt stadiums in the United States Sports venues in Tampa, Florida Baseball venues in Florida

Proposal

See also

References