Tampa Sports Authority says Bucs should trump Rays in cash requests
A week ago, Tampa Sports Authority board members talked during a finance committee meeting about their preference to prioritize their obligations to the Bucs and Raymond James Stadium ahead of any attempt to build a baseball stadium.
On Tuesday, the board decided to make that discussion official.
The Sports Authority voted to send letters to the Hillsborough County Commission and the Tampa City Council specifying that proposed renovations at Raymond James Stadium should take precedence over building a baseball stadium when it comes to allocating public funds.
"I think that we should let the county know that we're greatly concerned," said board member Tony Muniz, who made the motion for the letter. "There's only so (many) dollars that we have out there, and that we need to take care of our current tenants."
Board member Alan Clendenin, who is also the chair of the Tampa City Council, argued that elected officials in the city and county are the people responsible for making those financial decisions and that the Sports Authority has numerous facilities and clients and is equally adept at managing all their needs.
"It's the Tampa Sports Authority," Clendenin said, "not the Bucs sports authority."
Board member Luciano Prida also expressed reservations about the letter.
"There's so much out there that hasn't been resolved or settled and I think us getting locked into a position actually creates an issue for us if we have to make some changes to comply with what the county and city finally come up with," Prida said. "It just locks us into a position that reduces our flexibility to be able to make some decisions, depending on how this thing falls out."
With seven of the 11 members of the board present and Muniz attending virtually, the motion to send the letter passed easily with only Clendenin voting against it.
The county commission and city council already have approved a nonbinding memo of understanding that would provide $796 million from the county and $180 million from the city in public funds for the proposed $2.3 billion baseball stadium. The Rays are now negotiating with both the county and city on final documents that would lock in the funds and other obligations. Those documents would also need to be approved by county commissioners and city council members before the deal is final.
Sports Authority board members are concerned that the Bucs are apparently contemplating a roughly $1 billion makeover of Raymond James Stadium and could be seeking as much as two-thirds of the cost to be provided in public funds.
"I don't know that it's necessarily bad to remind (the county and city) that we feel that keeping (Raymond James) stadium up and running is one of our major, No. 1 items as far as the Sports Authority is concerned," said board chair Patrick Manteiga.
Among other items, the board also unanimously endorsed a proposal for an operating agreement with USF that would have the Tampa Sports Authority manage the football team's on-campus stadium that is scheduled to open in 2027.
TSA president and CEO Eric Hart said USF would get the bulk of revenues from stadium operations but the TSA's expenses would all be met and the authority could make additional money by bringing other events to the 35,000-seat facility. The agreement is for four years with two three-year options available.
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This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 8:25 PM.