TAMPA, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred and others reiterated their support for the Tampa Bay Rays’ quest to build a ballpark at the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough College at a news conference Tuesday.

“Baseball belongs in Tampa Bay,” DeSantis said. “Baseball can succeed in Tampa Bay.”

But few questions were answered about the team’s plans to forge what Rays’ CEO Ken Babby called a “fair public-private partnership.”

The team’s owners are seeking a large chunk of public funding for the stadium, which could reportedly cost as much as $2.3 billion. Some local leaders are sour on the idea of spending additional tax dollars on another stadium and question whether Tampa has the money to support a third major pro sports franchise.

DeSantis grew up playing baseball in Dunedin and later in college. In an address that invoked spring training, the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and other baseball luminaries with connections to Tampa Bay, from Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff to Ted Williams, the governor said baseball is “in the DNA of this area.”

The Rays’ owners have moved swiftly since purchasing the team in September and picking their preferred stadium site last month.

At a meeting in January, the college’s board of trustees unanimously approved a non-binding memorandum of understanding outlining the team’s plans to build a stadium, campus buildings and a mixed-use development around them, similar to The Battery Atlanta, home to the Braves’ Truist Park. It would include restaurants, residences and retail on the 113-acre site.

DeSantis said Tuesday that the state will “be conveying the land to the college and they’ll be able to negotiate use.”

He also said the state is “looking to help” fund new buildings for Hillsborough College on the site.

“State money, in terms of baseball, is not something that we’ve done. But I think when you look at (Hillsborough College), the reimagining, some of the buildings need massive amounts of deferred maintenance,” he said, mentioning a tour he took of the area recently. “I’d rather put that money to the reimagined campus than trying to rehab some of the old buildings.”

Now, the Rays are marketing their project to city, county and state leaders as they seek funding and begin to negotiate a financing plan. Hillsborough County commissioners are scheduled to get an update Wednesday.

The team’s owners have said they plan to pay for at least 50% of the stadium cost, as well as future repairs and renovations and any construction cost overruns, according to a document from County Commissioner Ken Hagan’s office.

The rest, they hope, will come from various public funding sources. That could include money from a tourist tax on short-term rentals and hotel stays; Hillsborough County’s half-percent sales tax that pays for roads, schools and other public projects; and a property tax assessed on the area around the stadium site.

But several local leaders say they are skeptical about spending public money on a stadium. Some have outright rejected it.

Mayor Jane Castor, who attended the news conference, has said for months that the city is “not going to spend tax dollars on building” a stadium. But she has not ruled out sending money toward public projects that support it, such as roads and drainage.

On Tuesday, Castor said it was heartening to see strong support for baseball in the region.

“We’re too big of a region to lose a major sporting franchise,” she said.

Hagan, who has long supported a Rays stadium in Hillsborough County, said, “I’ve never felt as confident as I am right now.”

In 2024 — the last time the Rays brokered a financing plan for a stadium to replace Tropicana Field — St. Petersburg and Pinellas County agreed to split an approximate $600 million public contribution, with the team covering another $700 million. The team declined to move forward with the proposal.

A final financing deal will require approval from county commissioners and the Tampa City Council, with several other local leaders and organizations likely to weigh in.

A handful of those leaders attended the news conference Tuesday, including county commissioners and several members of the Hillsborough College Board of Trustees. Also present were a number of Rays leaders, including managing partner Patrick Zalupski, co-chair Bill Cosgrove and former team president Matt Silverman.

The Rays’ non-binding agreement with Hillsborough College gives the school 180 days to exclusively negotiate and vote on a final deal with the team.

It is unclear whether official votes from the city and county must happen within the 180-day timeline, or what would happen if that deadline passes without a resolution. It took twice as long for the Rays to negotiate their now-dead stadium deal with St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.

Babby has said the team hopes to have a stadium ready by April 2029; the Rays’ Tropicana Field lease expires after the 2028 season. He said Tuesday that the team will release renderings of the ballpark and mixed-use development in the coming days.

DeSantis has previously signaled his support for the stadium plan. But, he has cautioned, a stadium in the region is not guaranteed.

“Orlando wants this,” he said Tuesday.

Manfred told the Tampa Bay Times that this was the best of the attempts to build a Rays stadium that he’s been involved with since taking over as baseball commissioner in 2015.

“The level of support for the concept they’re dealing with here is really, really high compared to some of the other efforts,” he said.

But during the news conference, Manfred echoed DeSantis, while stopping short in answering whether this represents a last chance for Rays baseball in Tampa Bay.

“There are alternatives in Florida,” he said. “We’re at a point in the history of the club that something needs to get done.”

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