TAMPA — In recent weeks, NFL teams such as the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars have revealed plans to renovate their stadiums into sleek new homes.
While more cost-effective than bulldozing and starting over, the financing still includes generous taxpayer handouts with the promise of attracting events beyond football.
Raymond James Stadium, which opened in 1998, is 26 years old. The Georgia Dome in Atlanta was 25 when it was demolished in 2017, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium rose in its place nearby.
The lifespan of a stadium can be 30-50 years or more if well-maintained. More than $160 million was invested in renovations to Raymond James between 2016-2018, most by the Glazer family that owns the Bucs. The Tampa Sports Authority, which is funded by Hillsborough County, contributed $29 million.
The improvements included state-of-the-art video boards, as well as renovations to the East and West clubs, luxury suites, concourse, locker room and team store.
The Bucs have made no public statements regarding a need for further improvements, perhaps not wanting to ignite another contentious public debate like the one that erupted after the Glazers took control in 1995.
But with the lease set to expire in 2028, some local officials are surprised they’ve had no communication from the franchise regarding the future of the stadium.
The prevalent thought is that significant upgrades — at a minimum — are needed to secure the Bucs’ future in Tampa Bay, as well as more Super Bowls or College Football Playoff national title games.
How soon remains anyone’s guess.
“Even after repeated requests from the (Tampa) Sports Authority for information, the Buccaneers have still not provided us with any renovation plans,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, a member of the authority’s board.
City of Tampa spokesperson Adam Smith said the Bucs “haven’t approached the City about anything like that,” adding, “We don’t expect them to.” Asked if the Bucs have approached Tampa Sports Authority with any requests, board member Joe Robinson said, “not to my knowledge.”
Key vote, approaching deadlines
Officially, the Bucs aren’t prepared to comment on the need for a new stadium or major improvements to the current one.
“We have a good partnership with the Tampa Sports Authority and have always worked together to make sure Raymond James Stadium remains an enjoyable destination for all community events,” Bucs chief operating officer Brian Ford told the Times.
The key word there: “remains.”
That’s a pretty strong clue that, much like the Panthers and Jaguars, the Bucs believe renovation is preferred to new construction.
But unlike a generation ago, when the funding for $168.5 million Raymond James Stadium came from a 30-year, half-cent sales tax approved by Hillsborough County voters in 1996, it’s not clear how a new stadium or renovations would be financed.
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Explore all your optionsIn fact, the Community Investment Tax, which would be key to funding any renovation to Raymond James, is set to expire on Nov. 30, 2026. Hillsborough County voters will be asked in a referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot if they want the county to renew the tax, which also funds projects from fire stations to roads, through 2041.
In late June, the Jacksonville City Council approved a $1.4 billion renovation of EverBank Stadium in a 14-1 vote that included a 30-year lease and non-relocation clause.
Around the same time, the Charlotte City Council agreed to a joint $800 million renovation plan to Bank of America Stadium that will keep the Panthers in Charlotte for the next 20 years. Under terms of that plan, the city will pay $650 million toward stadium renovation in return for Panthers owner David Tepper keeping the team in Charlotte through 2045. The team also would pay $150 million up front.
Ford wouldn’t comment on whether discussions on the future of the 69,000-seat stadium on Dale Mabry Highway — the 11th-oldest in the NFL — are being held inside AdventHealth Training Center or in the offices of political leaders in Hillsborough County.
However, any deal locally could include significant changes to the original lease of Raymond James Stadium, which is owned by Hillsborough County and operated by the Tampa Sports Authority. Renovations have to be approved by the Sports Authority board, Tampa City Council and Hillsborough County Commission.
Perhaps few people know as much about building NFL stadiums as Rich McKay, the Falcons’ chief executive officer and former Bucs general manager who was the point man for the organization when Raymond James was constructed.
They’re big, complex projects that require a lot of private and public support and understanding, he said. “They take time. They take a lot of people, and in the end they do a lot of good. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it.”
But the landscape — political and otherwise — has changed since Raymond James opened. The complexity begins with a big decision the Bucs appear to have already made: new construction or renovation?
Remodel or rebuild?
It’s hard to imagine building an NFL stadium from the ground up today for less than $2 billion. Glitzy SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, leads the list at a whopping $5.5 billion when it was ready in 2020. Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta cost $1.5 billion when it opened three years earlier. U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis cost $1.2 billion before it was completed in 2016.
Renovation is a less expensive option for a host of reasons.
In Tampa, the Bucs have the advantage of existing land and infrastructure. If the Glazers wanted to replace Raymond James, they could do it where the old Tampa Stadium was located just south on Dale Mabry. They wouldn’t have to worry about cost overruns for things like infrastructure, which includes water, sewer, the electric grid, analyzing the topography and even environmental studies.
But a new stadium likely will have a bigger footprint than Raymond James, which could require more land and infrastructure to support it.
McKay has been the point man for the construction for two NFL stadiums, Raymond James and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Both were built next to old stadiums, where impact studies had already been done, making those costs negligible. If the Bucs want to build a stadium in, say, Brandon, those would be first-time costs, and they would be expensive.
Another thing to consider is something heard with respect to renovation: a stadium has good bones, or it doesn’t. In general, it refers to the structure of the stadium and the ability to renovate it. One thing espoused by HOK — the design, architecture and engineering firm that built Raymond James — was to not finish the end zones, because they could be utilized and finished at another time.
The Bucs placed temporary seating in the south end zone for two of the three seasons Tom Brady played here, but there is space and opportunity to create more premium seating. That’s what everybody is looking for — a variety of seating options. When Raymond James was constructed, there were essentially two choices: sky suites and club seats.
The “good bones” could also help facilitate something else — a climate-controlled stadium.
Raising the roof
Any discussion about a new or renovated NFL stadium in Tampa Bay would have to include a climate-controlled environment.
It’s not really for football; Tampa Bay fans are a hardy bunch and have grown accustomed to the humidity and frequent showers. But nobody is paying $2 billion for a stadium — or $1.4 billion for a renovation like the one in Jacksonville — for eight or nine games a year.
The need for some kind of climate control is to host all of the other events that make the investment worthwhile.
“If you look at the funding that has been put into (Raymond James) and what we’ve gotten out of it with three Super Bowls, a College Football Playoff national championship, countless major concerts and many other world-class events, Raymond James Stadium has provided the greatest return on investment of any stadium in the world,” Tampa Bay Sports Commission executive director Rob Higgins said.
“Our hometown has a longstanding history of having a Super Bowl-level venue, and if we want to see another Super Bowl in the near future, we need to renovate Raymond James Stadium soon.”
The economic impact of a Super Bowl on a community varies, but estimates range from $300 million to a maximum of $1.3 billion depending on the source. Higgins said the Tampa Bay Sports Commission doesn’t quantify impact in terms of dollars but in hotel-visitor room nights.
The Super Bowls held at Raymond James in 2001 and 2009 generated more than 158,000 visitor room nights. Even Super Bowl 55 in 2021, which included the Bucs and featured a reduced live crowd due to COVID-19 restrictions, generated 64,190 visitor room nights, Higgins said.
The Bucs have explored the issue of covering Raymond James, but it never appeared to be cost effective. A 14-acre shade canopy weighing more than 17,000 tons was erected in one offseason at Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the Miami Dolphins, but presented exceptional challenges.
The Bucs have looked into a similar solution in the past but dismissed it. A renovation likely would have to address the issue again, which obviously would affect the bottom line.
Another consideration if the stadium is covered is to enclose part of it in glass, much as the Vikings did with U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. That would allow for a flood of natural light during the day. But if you do so, you have to consider where the sun hits the stadium at all times. You don’t want to create a greenhouse effect.
The Falcons created space for natural light to cascade in on both sides of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. But too much of a solar load could also cause problems. McKay said that was important when they built Mercedes-Benz and why they angled it to allow natural light to enter on both sides.
Financing a new stadium
Of all the problems facing the renovation of an NFL stadium, none are more vital than how the project will be financed. Moreover, depending on the source of revenue and responsibility for cost overruns, there is the question of who will have authority over the facility.
Shortly after the Glazer family purchased the Bucs, it was understood the franchise could not remain viable if it continued to play at Tampa Stadium.
After two years of construction, Raymond James opened in 1998 for a cost of $168.5 million. It was paid for by a soon-to-sunset 30-year Community Investment Tax, which passed in 1996 with 53% of the vote.
Arriving at such a plan wasn’t easy. In fact, it was filled with combativeness between the club, some politicians and even fans.
Former Tampa Mayor William Poe Sr. filed a lawsuit attempting to stop the sales tax vote, but Hillsborough County Circuit Court Judge James Whittemore threw it out. Bucs owner Malcolm Glazer promised to pay half the cost of the new stadium if fans put down 50,000 deposits on 10–year season ticket commitments. When the drive fell 17,000 deposits short, the offer was withdrawn.
Glazer had the kind of leverage a lot of NFL owners enjoyed at the time: the threat of relocation. In 1995, Baltimore served as the biggest threat; the city had lost the Colts to Indianapolis in 1984 and had plans to build a stadium to attract an NFL team. Surprisingly, that option disappeared when Art Modell decided to move the Cleveland Browns there and call them the Ravens.
The other issue: The city of Tampa had plans to utilize the land next to Tampa Stadium one day. One of those options was constructing a hockey arena for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
According to McKay, then-Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman deserves credit for conceptualizing the construction of the Tampa Convention Center and creating an alternative site in the Channelside district, now home to Amalie Arena. Had the city or Hillsborough County decided to use the land on Dale Mabry for an arena, it may have forced the Bucs to relocate.
McKay says Malcolm Glazer’s insistence that the team remain in Tampa gets overlooked.
“I think that he doesn’t get enough credit in that moment,” McKay said. “He did what he said he was going to do when he bought the football team. He said he would give Tampa every opportunity to get the stadium built, and he did.”
In Atlanta, the Georgia Dome was operated by the Georgia World Congress Center’s board of governors. The projected cost was $1.2 billion (it rose to $1.5 billion). The city agreed to contribute $200 million in stadium bonds, and additional tax revenues from the state added $40 million for parking and other expenses.
The Falcons sold personal seat licenses that generated $273 million. Mercedes-Benz acquired the naming rights valued at $324 million. Sales of sponsorships have reportedly reached $900 million.
The big difference between Raymond James and Mercedes-Benz Stadium is that the Falcons took all the risk for cost overruns and therefore control the use of the stadium and all related revenues.
Who will control the new version of Raymond James will have to be a discussion point between the Bucs, the city, the county and the Tampa Sports Authority. Though the lease is set to expire in 2028, there is always the opportunity to extend it.
The St. Petersburg City Council narrowly approved a deal last week that would build a $1.3 billion stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays as part of a city-redefining $6.5 billion project that includes the 65 acres around it called the Historic Gas Plant District. (It still needs to be approved by the Pinellas County Commission.)
The Rays will contribute $700 million. They also are responsible for all cost overruns on the stadium and infrastructure for the Historic Gas Plant District, as well as all insurance, maintenance and repairs to the stadium. The team will keep all revenue from tickets and concessions, broadcasting and naming rights.
The Rays flirted with building a stadium in Hillsborough, but the idea gained little traction. City and county officials have always known the Bucs will come calling. They’re just surprised it hasn’t happened yet.
Times staff writers Sue Carlton, Joey Knight and Olivia George contributed to this report.
Ripe old Raymond James
Every current NFL stadium and the years they opened. Raymond James Stadium, which opened in 1998, is the 11th-oldest in the NFL. The 10 older stadiums either have been renovated, are in the process of renovation or are being replaced by new stadiums.
Soldier Field (Bears), 1924
Lambeau Field (Packers), 1957
Arrowhead Stadium (Chiefs), 1972
Highmark Stadium (Bills), 1973
Caesars Superdome (Saints), 1975
Hard Rock Stadium (Dolphins), 1987
EverBank Stadium (Jaguars), 1995
Bank of America Stadium (Panthers), 1996
Commanders Field (Commanders), 1997
M&T Bank Stadium (Ravens), 1998
Raymond James Stadium (Bucs), 1998
Nissan Stadium (Titans), 1999
Cleveland Browns Stadium (Browns), 1999
Paycor Stadium (Bengals), 2000
Empower Field at Mile High (Broncos), 2001
Acrisure Stadium (Steelers), 2001
Gillette Stadium (Patriots), 2002
Lumen Field (Seahawks), 2002
Ford Field (Lions), 2002
NRG Stadium (Texans), 2002
Lincoln Financial Field (Eagles), 2003
State Farm Stadium (Cardinals), 2006
Lucas Oil Stadium (Colts), 2008
AT&T Stadium (Cowboys), 2009
MetLife Stadium (Giants/Jets), 2010
Levi’s Stadium (49ers), 2014
U.S. Bank Stadium (Vikings), 2016
Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Falcons), 2017
Allegiant Stadium (Raiders), 2020
SoFi Stadium (Chargers/Rams), 2020
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