TAMPA — After calling for it six years now, Hillsborough County Commissioner and baseball fanatic Ken Hagan will finally get to lobby the Tampa Bay Rays to move across the bay.
Rays officials have scheduled a meeting Feb. 5 in downtown Tampa with Hagan and a committee of elected and business leaders in Hillsborough, including Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. The move comes less than two weeks after St. Petersburg City Council granted the team permission to explore new ballpark sites.
Hagan said the meeting will be mostly introductory and fact finding. Among the questions the committee will ask are what capacity stadium the Rays want, should it have a retractable roof, and is a parcel for a stadium big enough or does the team want more for additional development.