It'll be a game-changer for Bay Area sports.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan tells 970 WFLA News that Rays owner Stuart Sternberg will announce Friday that the team has selected Ybor City as the site for a new stadium.
The announcement is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
The property is 14 acres between Ybor and Channelside. Hagan says it ticks all the boxes of what team owners are looking for in a stadium site.
But Hagan says this is just the beginning of what will be a very challenging effort to raise tens of millions of dollars in corporate investment. Along with Sternberg's annoucement is expected to be the launch of a campaign to raise those corporte committments.
Incidentally, St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman has tweeted that this is the process envisioned to keep the Rays in the Bay Area, but still believes St. Pete is the best location for the team. Kriseman adds however that the city will continue to develop a master plan for the 85-acre Tropicana Field site...without a team.