TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have their hand out again for tax dollars but this time the request is not just about a lucrative sports franchise seeking public funds.
Local leaders are saying the Bucs had no authority to apply for a $1 million annual state subsidy for a proposed $75 million upgrade of Raymond James Stadium. The application, submitted to the state Monday, was made without consulting either Hillsborough County, which owns the stadium, or the Tampa Sports Authority, which manages the complex.
That has upset some local leaders and may have ratcheted up tensions in the already fraught negotiations over stadium renovations between the team and the sports authority.