Tariffs on steel and aluminum will raise the stadiums’ price tags.
The cost of building baseball stadiums in Las Vegas and St. Petersburg just got steeper after the United States imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports. Major League Baseball officials want new facilities in Las Vegas and St. Petersburg and there are plans to build stadiums in both cities but there have been problems in getting funding for both stadiums. In Las Vegas, the owner of the franchise John Fisher began his quest to move his business from Oakland to Las Vegas in April 2023. Nevada taxpayers are on the hook for $380 million to help fund the stadium which at last look was going to cost more than $1.5 billion. Fisher has not yet come up with his share of the stadium cost which was growing prior to the imposition of the tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Prior to the tariff imposition, the Tampa Bay Rays’ ownership wanted more public money from St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, Florida politicians to sign off on a deal to build a new St. Petersburg baseball facility and also a village surrounding the ballpark. The initial thought was the new stadium would open in 2028 but now it is 2029. Rays’ owner Stu Sternberg said he would be unable to absorb further cost overruns alone. It is estimated that Rays’ ownership would need to spend more than $150 million more on the stadium than budgeted. Sternberg’s baseball team will play in a minor league baseball park in Tampa after the roof of the Rays’ home ballpark was blown off by Hurricane Milton last October. “We’d like to keep the franchise in Tampa Bay,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “We think the market is big enough and that there is passion for the game. Having said that, it is challenging.” The steel tariff will make the two stadiums more costly.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
