NFL team demands $1bn stadium funds with 90-mile relocation to join Jaguars in Orlando mooted

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are watching their new neighbors very closely.

A $2.3 billion ballpark is set to be built on the Hillsborough College Dale Mabry campus — over the road from Raymond James Stadium.

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The Tampa Bay Rays are asking for around half the cost to be fronted by the public purse, with the Bucs next in line for a handout.

Raymond James opened in 1996 and was last refurbished at a cost of over than $160 million between 2016-18.

The Glazer family paid much of the cost, with the The Tampa Sports Authority — funded by Hillsborough County — contributing $29 million.

Per the Tampa Bay Times, the Bucs’ owners want to meet with the Tampa Sports Authority next week to discuss renovations that could cost almost $1 billion.

Board member Tony Muniz asked Sports Authority CEO Eric Hart for a ballpark estimate of how much money would be sought.

“It’s a significant number on these stadiums,” Hart said. “What that number looks like, I don’t know.”

New arenas in Nashville, Buffalo and Las Vegas all cost at least $2 billion, with the Jacksonville Jaguars spending $1.4 billion on the project to transform EverBank Stadium.

“Look around the country and you can see what’s happening around in these arenas and the kind of money it’s taken to keep them state-of-the-art,” Hart added. “They’re significant, but they’re also big economic engines.”

An improved stadium would help bring events like the Super Bowl and College Football Playoff championship game to Tampa.

The Bucs’ negotiating position is helped by the fact there is just 10 months until a deadline to extend their lease by five years.

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Could the Bucs be headed to Orlando after the Jaguars?

The Jags will set up at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium in 2027 as the work on EverBank is completed.

That has set up a 90-mile road trip for the Bucs in 2027 — a record for the shortest journey ever.

Camping World is in the middle of a $400 million renovation of its own and would likely be the Glazers’ preferred venue should a switch for the Bucs be required.

The Rays will create a mixed-use development surrounding their new home.

Bucs may have to play hardball over stadium funds

Their NFL neighbors — worth a hefty $6.6 billion per Forbes — will be keen to follow suit as teams look to increase revenue streams.

“We’re talking about a baseball stadium and substantially more activation and enormous footprint of other economic development opportunities that didn’t exist,” Tampa City Council chairperson Alan Clendenin said via the Tampa Bay Times. “And we actually have a team established in the Tampa Bay area, not one that’s threatening to leave. You also don’t have to bend over and take it like the first deal.”

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Threatening to leave a city or state is by far the most effective tool in a team’s arsenal with studies questioning many of the claims about the economic benefits of mega-projects.

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar — have introduced legislation aiming to reduce the chances of a team being able to up sticks.

“The American people are sick and tired of billionaires threatening to move the sports teams they own to different states unless they get hundreds of millions in corporate welfare to build new stadiums,” Sanders said in a press release.

“In my view, professional sports teams should be owned and controlled by the fans who love them, not by the multibillionaire oligarchs who are getting even richer by charging outrageous prices and getting taxpayers to pick up their extravagant costs.

“You shouldn’t have to be wealthy to take your family to a football game. You shouldn’t have to fear that a multibillionaire will move your favorite team to a different city if taxpayers refuse to subsidize it.

“The Home Team Act is a very modest piece of legislation that begins to address this problem. I am proud to support it.”

If the bill passed into law, which is extremely unlikely, owners would be forced to give one year’s notice before moving across state lines or into a new metropolitan area.

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