Shadow of Stadium

There’s a reason Hillsborough politicians are racing forward with a vote — before we have details on how a Rays stadium will even be funded. Or exactly what it’ll cost!

April 15? Voters should recall any elected official who plays a part in ramming this project down taxpayers' throats in such an expedited manner. This isn't just bad public policy, it's unethical. tampabay.com/news/hillsboro…

*checks watch* Yup, still no finance plan as Tampa area politicians head toward an enormous subsidy vote.

Phew, Rays say they’ll pay construction overruns. Now, can someone ask them how many more billions they want in subsidies for their baseball-adjacent development?

Can anyone in Tampa point me to a deal your politicians negotiated hard, and they wound up beating a private corporation in a negotiation?

I enjoyed the “financing plan coming soon” headline more when I first read it in 2013.

A story as old as time

@jasmartinez76 @_j3r3my_T @kenbabby Yes, he also chose not to use real numbers. 👏

@_j3r3my_T @StadiumShadow @kenbabby Did you know Tampa gave a 100 mil to the bolts ownership for benchmark and water st project? According to buckhorn who was on air, that has yielded 1bil in revenue that wasn’t there before.

BTW - Rays subsidies now up to $2.25B in public cash, land, and tax breaks….and counting!

@jasmartinez76 @_j3r3my_T @kenbabby This is definitely not the county’s first rodeo in handing teams free money. But don’t you think, maybe, the county should have chosen economists, rather than marketing people?

@_j3r3my_T @StadiumShadow @kenbabby stated on air that the county and city recommended whom to use for economic studies thus far and that’s what they have used. Not at tax payer expense. It’s whom the city and county have used in the past. This isn’t the areas first rodeo

History shows elected officials are far more likely to be removed from office by voters angry they gave public funds to sports team owners than by those mad a team moved, but when did lobbyists ever let facts get in the way of a good extortion scheme? fieldofschemes.com/2026/03/13/238…

@beanmansam 1) That’s not my job. This account has existed for 17 yrs to: - advocate for taxpayers - ask ques nobody is asking - debunk propaganda 2) also, my tone is only negative to subsidy cheerleaders who don’t want to hear facts 🙉🙂

@StadiumShadow Why is it that every time i see a post from you it’s ALWAYS negative. You haven’t had one positive thing to say ever.

I listened…so you don’t have to. Here are the hilarities that ensured: 1) There were no major updates. 2) Hagan still can’t explain how Hillsborough will fund $1B-$2B in stadium subsidies plus addl development subsidies…

@IndyCarTim Sure. Will humor. Offer corrections?

@StadiumShadow Literally everything you just said is WRONG.

- JP, you want to claim 30yrs of county revenues, without counting any of the 30yrs of financing costs (~$1B extra) - oh also, these are inflated team revenue projections, not legit independent analysis

JP suggests $6B over 30yrs is “almost 6x” ROI on the Rays’ tax ask. Except, JP, you should know: - $1B present day is NOT same as $1B decades into future - You didn’t include any of county’s opportunity cost - You didn’t include any of the addl development subsidies And…

Where’s the “it won’t use any tax money!” crowd now?

@ThomasAKaspar @_j3r3my_T What are you talking about with upfront financing? To build a ballpark, the municipality must bond out construction up-front. Then they pay their bonds over the next ~30yrs.

It’s not an up front financing deal like Stu wanted . These already wealthy aggressive owners are not looking to pump and dump . All indications are this will be long ball financing that can fail like anything else . Today Babby specifically mentioned no interference in anything else including Bucs improvements . I think the blighted Drew Park 800 acres possibilities is something the city and developers are keeping quiet .

Rays may eat overruns from stadium construction… But taxpayers eat the cost of any revenue shortfalls related to: - MLB strike - hurricanes - flood - recession - pandemic, war, etc, etc

@ThomasAKaspar @_j3r3my_T Qualified perhaps. But do you think there’s a sliver of a chance, after building all those other things, that they don’t have enough change sitting around in their sofa cushions for MLB?

Really did it have anything to do with Stu Sternberg ? Do we have a hockey arena Do we have NFL stadium Do we have Tampa Yankees Do we have USF stadium Do we have an International Airport I think you need to again take a look at the five star ownership group , synergy with DeSantis and the mayor and understand that they are one million times more qualified to build an MLB baseball stadium than you .