坦帕市光线队23.6亿美元新球场终获批准：县委员会5比2通过公共资金方案，2029年启用
坦帕湾光线队（Tampa Bay Rays）的新球场计划终获政治层面的最终批准。希尔斯伯勒县委员会10月9日（周五）以5比2投票通过了总额23.6亿美元球场项目的公共资金方案；此前一天，坦帕市议会也以微弱多数批准了该项目。两级政府将合计提供最高8.76亿美元的公共资金，结束了这场绵延约二十年的球场选址拉锯战。
根据最终方案，球队将承担球场建设成本的63%，这一比例高于德州游骑兵的 Globe Life Field 和亚特兰大勇士的 Truist Field 这两座大联盟最新球场中球队的出资比例。新球场选址在希尔斯伯勒学院（Hillsborough College）Dale Mabry 校区，目标年内动工，计划2029赛季启用。新址位于坦帕地区更中心的位置，紧邻坦帕国际机场和海盗队的雷蒙德·詹姆斯体育场（Raymond James Stadium）。球场周边的综合开发将部分借鉴亚特兰大勇士球场旁的 The Battery 街区模式，集零售、住宅、娱乐和公共空间于一体。
这一结局来之不易：光线队为寻找新球场奔波近二十年无果，此前留在圣彼得堡的协议流产，球队所有权也转至帕特里克·扎鲁普斯基（Patrick Zalupski）牵头的财团。正如县委员肯·哈根（Ken Hagan）——立法审批过程中的关键人物——在投票时所说：“我们想让坦帕成为世界级社区吗？你们想站在历史的哪一边？”光线队首席执行官肯·巴比（Ken Babby）表示：“今天，我们整个地区都可以庆祝一个私人融资与综合街区、一个重新焕发活力的希尔斯伯勒学院校园，以及一座确保美国职棒大联盟长久扎根坦帕的新球场的到来。”
与其他几乎所有涉及纳税人支持职业体育场馆的辩论一样，希尔斯伯勒县的审议过程充满争议，包括资助亿万富翁拥有的私人企业的观感问题。最终方案通过让球队承担更多财务责任、覆盖项目超支，才得以过关。
球场问题的解决还将加速大联盟的扩军进程。多年来，大联盟考虑新增球队的计划一直被运动家队和光线队的球场问题拖住；如今运动家队在拉斯维加斯的新球场已在建设中、目标2028年启用，光线队的球场也有了着落。纳什维尔、盐湖城、萨克拉门托、罗利、温哥华、蒙特利尔和墨西哥城等候选城市的热度预计将上升。大联盟总裁罗布·曼弗雷德（Rob Manfred）今年早些时候表示，希望在2029年初任期结束前选定两个新市场；但正式扩军程序很可能要等到联盟与球员工会艰难的劳资谈判解决之后。大联盟上一次扩军还是1998年亚利桑那响尾蛇与坦帕湾光线加入之时。
（来源：Front Office Sports，10月10日报道）
Rays' $2.36 Billion Tampa Ballpark Wins Final Approval; County Votes 5-2 for Public Funding Plan
The Tampa Bay Rays are formally headed to a new, $2.36 billion ballpark after the Hillsborough County Commission approved a public funding plan for the project. The commission's 5-2 vote on Friday followed a narrow approval on Thursday by the City of Tampa council. The two jurisdictions will combine to supply up to $876 million toward the stadium, seemingly ending an oft-twisting saga that involved two decades of fruitless searching for a new stadium.
Under the final deal, the Rays will pay 63% of the ballpark construction costs — a higher percentage than the Rangers and Braves paid respectively for Globe Life Field and Truist Park, MLB's two newest stadiums. Groundbreaking is targeted for later this year at a site at Hillsborough College's Dale Mabry Campus, ahead of a planned ballpark opening in 2029. The site is much more centrally located in the Tampa region, very close to Tampa International Airport and the Buccaneers' Raymond James Stadium. The mixed-use development surrounding the stadium will be inspired in part by The Battery in Atlanta, blending retail, residential, entertainment, and public space.
The approval ends an abandoned deal to stay in St. Petersburg and an ownership shift to a Patrick Zalupski-led group. "I've wondered what I would say if we ever got to the position of being able to discuss and hopefully approve a ballpark agreement," said county commissioner Ken Hagan, a key figure in the legislative approval process. "Do we want Tampa to be a world-class community? What side of history do you want to be on?" Rays CEO Ken Babby said: "Today our entire region can celebrate the coming of a private finance and mixed-use neighborhood, a reinvested Hillsborough College campus, and a new ballpark that secures the long-term future of Major League Baseball here in Tampa."
As with nearly any debate over taxpayer support of stadium projects, the deliberation was fraught with tension, including the optics of supporting a private business owned by a billionaire. Changes in the final deal shifted more financial responsibility to the club, which will also cover cost overruns.
The approvals will likely accelerate MLB's path toward expansion. For years, expansion talk was held up by facility issues with the Athletics and Rays; the A's are now well along in construction for a new Las Vegas ballpark targeted for a 2028 opening. Interest is set to rise around expansion candidates such as Nashville, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Raleigh, Vancouver, Montreal, and Mexico City. Commissioner Rob Manfred said earlier this year he would like to have two new markets selected before his tenure ends in early 2029, though a formal process will almost certainly wait until after the league resolves a difficult labor negotiation with the MLB Players Association. MLB last expanded with the arrival of the Diamondbacks and Rays in 1998.
(Source: Front Office Sports, October 10, 2026)
图片来源：图：光芒队主场Tropicana Field入口（资料图）。摄影：Tampabay721，CC BY-SA 3.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
