The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tampa Bay Rays are hoping to strike stadium deals. And there are only so many taxpayer dollars to go around.
Via Emma Behrmann of the Tampa Business Journal, the Tampa Sports Authority plans to inform both Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa that the renovation to Raymond James Stadium “should be prioritized” over a new stadium for the Rays.
The Bucs want a renovation that will cost roughly $1 billion. The Rays want $976 million from the county and the city to help build a new stadium.
The TSA has concerns, as it should, regarding the available funds for the two major-league teams.
That puts the local NFL and MLB teams in direct competition for a finite number of dollars. Every public dollar that goes to one project becomes one less dollar that can go to the other project.
Obviously, the NFL is king. Although there are far fewer home games (10 vs. 81), having an NFL team generally means more than having an MLB team.
Not that either team has suggested the possibility of relocating. But we’ve seen this movie before. If teams can’t get what they want in their current market, they start looking around for a market that will foot the bill.
Chris Godwin has spent nine seasons in the NFL, all of them with Mike Evans as his teammate. When Evans decided to leave in free agency for the 49ers, Godwin didn’t accept it.
“Honestly, I didn’t believe it,” Godwin told reporters on Tuesday, via Jenna Laine of ESPN. “I mean, there’s a bunch of stuff on the Internet that you can’t really believe, a lot of AI stuff. So I didn’t really believe it. And then I texted [quarterback Baker Mayfield]. I was like, ‘Yo, is this for real?’ And he was like, ‘Sad face [emoji].’”
Evans and Godwin are first and second in franchise history for catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Now, Evans is gone.
“I think it’s part of the game, unfortunately,” Godwin said. “Mike is -- I mean, we all know what Mike has been to this community and this organization. That’s my brother and I wish him the best and his time in San Fran. I’m sure that they know what kind of player that they’re getting.
“I mean, obviously it’s going to be difficult that he’s not here. And I think anytime you’re missing Mike, that’s a tough situation. But fortunately we have a room full of guys that are ready to go.”
Evans, a first-round pick in 2014, left Tampa Bay with credentials that may already be good enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. In San Francisco, Evans gets an opportunity to win his second career Super Bowl.
Assuming the 49ers can compete with the Seahawks, who won Super Bowl LX, and the Rams, who are loading the cannon for a Super Bowl run of their own.
Buccaneers receiver Jalen McMillan played only four games last season after a scary neck injury that not only nearly ended his season but also jeopardized his career. McMillan fractured three vertebrae and had herniated discs after landing on his head in a preseason game.
He caught 12 passes for 178 yards to close out last season.
“I am happy,” McMillan said last week, via Matt Matera of Pewter Report. “Just to be out there and to catch balls from Baker [Mayfield] and just to run on my feet, I feel good. . . . I am definitely taking appreciation for the small things and celebrating small wins and call my mom and dad every day. I am not taking any relationship for granted, so life has been good.
“I had to sit in my bed and wonder, ‘Is my neck going to heal correctly?’ So, as soon as I was given the opportunity to play again, I knew that I could not look back and there was no time to be nervous and no time to be thinking about anything.”
The Bucs made McMillan a third-round pick in 2024, and he made 37 receptions for 461 yards and eight touchdowns in 13 games.
The team needs that McMillan this season with Mike Evans now in San Francisco.
“Jalen’s tough. His mental toughness is unbelievable,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said. “His competitiveness, the way he attacks the ball, the way he fights for every route and tries to get open and wants to be ‘that guy,’ you know, that gives you a lot of confidence that he’ll be doing that in the games.”
With the World Cup starting next month, many of the teams will be playing tuneup games before the competition commences.
In Tampa, England could be playing before an intimate collection of fans.
Per the Telegraph (via Sports Business Journal), the England-New Zealand match to be played on June 6 could have more than 50,000 empty seats at Raymond James Stadium.
So far, only 13,000 tickets have been sold. The cheapest tickets prices are $72.
Here’s an idea: Slash the prices. Make it cheap it get in. If nothing else, it could attract folks who aren’t as interested in soccer as they could be, after attending a match.
England will have another so-called “friendly” on June 10 in Orlando. In the 25,000-seat venue, only 12,000 tickets have been sold.
As more new stadiums are built and existing stadiums are renovated, there will always be a next wave of aging stadiums to be replaced or revamped.
In Tampa, the local NFL team is hoping for a massive overhaul of a stadium that opened in 1998.
Via Colleen Wright of the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Sports Authority President and CEO Eric Hart said he expects the Buccaneers to seek a renovation that will cost between $700 million and $1.3 billion.
The Buccaneers reportedly have floated the notion of footing the bill for one third of the expenses, with the public picking up the rest of the tab.
Complicating the situation is the fact that a new stadium for the MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays will impact the capacity to devote taxpayer money to a renovation of the football stadium. Via Emma Behrmann of the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the baseball venue is expected to include $976 million in public funding.
While the renovation will be pricey, it’s always more expensive to build a new stadium. The real question is the extent to which a major renovation will extend the overall life of the facility. At some point, it will make more sense to just build something new.
That’s the way it will continue to go. As better stadiums are built in other cities, pressure will build on other teams to do the same. It’s a cycle that will continue for as long as the NFL remains the powerhouse product it has become.
Or until enough cities and states refuse to do it, even if (for some) that entails a risk that the franchise will relocate.
