How do you get a single municipality to finance a regional asset? You don’t.
Major League Baseball franchises often seek public participation in facility financing, yet public subsidies have consistently sparked debate over their long-term fiscal value. In Tampa Bay, the Rays’ pursuit of a new stadium on public land has centered on a financing package heavily reliant on tourist taxes and the Community Investment Tax (CIT). Multiple Hillsborough County commissioners have questioned using CIT dollars—originally intended for infrastructure, public safety, and education—for a professional sports stadium. Some assert that “this agreement does not happen without CIT funding,” even as others claim voters did not contemplate stadium use when renewing the tax. [wtsp.com], [yahoo.com]
At the same time, delays, unresolved cost estimates (with potential escalations related to roof design), and questions about public benefit have intensified scrutiny over reliance on traditional stadium subsidies and the recently proposed funding framework from the Tampa Bay Rays. [wtsp.com]
This concept paper proposes an alternate financing strategy: the creation of a publicly traded stadium ownership entity, with 51% retained by Rays ownership and 49% offered to regional residents and businesses. This model aims to:
Drawing from successful examples like The Battery Atlanta, where the Atlanta Braves integrated team ownership with mixed-use development through a publicly traded corporate structure, this model offers Tampa Bay an innovative, inclusive, and financially responsible path forward. [fullsportsnet.com]
1. The Battery Atlanta as a Revenue Diversified Sports District
The Atlanta Braves’ model integrates baseball operations with real estate revenues in The Battery Atlanta, a $1.1 billion mixed use district generating significant foot traffic—over 9 million annual visitors, exceeding three times the average game attendance. [fullsportsnet.com]
By building out offices, retail, hotel, and entertainment assets adjacent to Truist Park, the Braves created a robust revenue ecosystem not counted as baseball revenue, enabling reinvestment and competitive growth. The Battery ultimately became a net positive for Cobb County taxpayers, generating more property tax revenue than the county’s debt service obligations. In 2022, The Battery remitted $2.5 million in property taxes and channeled $38 million in tax revenue to regional public entities, with property values rising from $5 million to $736 million since development began. [atlanta.urbanize.city]
2. Publicly Traded Sports Ownership: Atlanta Braves Holdings
Atlanta Braves Holdings is a publicly traded entity (BATRA, BATRK), enabling fans and investors to buy shares, strengthening public transparency and engagement. The annual financial report along with the Earnings Webcast shows how business and operations is broken down as well as the stadium, team franchise, and mixed-use development. The company balances revenues between baseball operations and mixed-use development, reporting $663 million in total revenue in 2024, including $67 million from mixed use development. [bravesholdings.com]
This model, blending team operations, venue assets and community integrated development, demonstrates how publicly traded ownership creates investor alignment, enhances governance transparency, and diversifies income, reducing pressure for public subsidies.
3. Limitations of Traditional Public Subsidies
Economic research broadly shows that publicly funded stadiums rarely generate the economic growth claimed. Studies conclude that benefits to residents often fall short of public expenditure. [journalistsresource.org]
When public funding is used, it is generally most effective when tied to infrastructure, multi-use districts, or public facing assets, not exclusively to the stadium itself. This underpins the argument for shifting Tampa’s public participation away from direct stadium subsidies and toward infrastructure improvements with demonstrated community benefit.
This proposal establishes a Tampa Bay Regional Stadium Entity (TBRSE), a publicly traded corporation owning the stadium facility and associated revenue streams (excluding team operations).
1. Proposed Equity Structure for the Stadium including an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE).
This structure mirrors the local accessibility ethos seen in Atlanta Braves Holdings while ensuring stability through majority team ownership. [fullsportsnet.com]
2. Shareholder Benefits
3. Revenue Streams Feeding RTBSE
4. Team Lease Payments & Ticket Surcharges
A modest surcharge (e.g., $1–$2 per ticket) can support maintenance and capital repair reserves, an idea already floated as a potential alternative funding tool in local debate. [wtsp.com]
5. Long Term Real Estate Appreciation
As demonstrated in The Battery’s appreciation from $5 million to $736 million in under a decade, real estate value capture is a powerful financial driver. [atlanta.urbanize.city]
Public funds should be directed exclusively to infrastructure that benefits the community, not toward the stadium structure itself. This approach respects public concerns that CIT was not intended for sports facilities, reduces public tax liability, and ensures that it focuses public investment on needed infrastructure. [floridapolitics.com], [wtsp.com]
1. Permitted Infrastructure Uses for Public Funds
These uses improve overall quality of life by supporting neighborhood services, support economic development beyond the stadium, and align with the principles of public benefit.
2. City-County Cost Sharing
Because the stadium will serve as a regional asset:
To enhance financial viability, TBRSE would receive:
This contrasts with previous concerns about 99-year leases offering full property tax exemption, which were criticized in traditional subsidy proposals. [fieldofschemes.com]
Under the new model:
VI. Maintenance, Capital Renewal, and Financial Sustainability
Stadiums typically have a 30-year useful life, requiring clear long term renewal planning. [nuveen.com]
This shields the public from risks documented in failed public financing deals elsewhere.
In response to local calls for transparency, a publicly traded structure ensures:
1. Phase 1: Feasibility and Structuring
2. Phase 2: Initial Public Offering (IPO) and Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE)
The Tampa Bay region has an opportunity to pioneer a bold, equitable, and financially responsible stadium financing strategy that honors voter intent, protects public priorities, and creates a shared regional asset. By establishing a publicly traded stadium facility, mirroring the Braves’ innovative and successful approach at The Battery Atlanta, the region can reduce dependence on contentious public subsidies, foster local ownership, empower residents economically, and ensure that the stadium supports, not strains, the community.
Rays ownership will benefit from substantial, recurring revenue not tied to baseball performance through mixed-use development adjacent to the stadium. The Rays get local, loyal, invested partners who have a financial interest in the team’s, the stadium’s and the district’s success.
This model embraces transparency, distributes risk fairly, and connects the stadium’s success to the prosperity of the community it serves. With thoughtful implementation and regional cooperation, Tampa Bay can create the nation’s first publicly traded, locally owned major-league stadium, setting a new standard for sports infrastructure financing in the United States.