Until last week, there had been few new developments in the Rays stadium saga. The City of St. Petersburg had selected the current 80-acres of Tropicana Field for a proposed stadium-office-retail complex — with the new Suntrust Park development in Atlanta as an example — while a Hillsborough site was nowhere to be found.
That changed with the recent surprise announcement that County Commissioner Ken Hagan, who has spearheaded the Rays Stadium search in Hillsborough County, had identified a 14-acre plot on the edge of Ybor City.
With the options narrowed, the Rays could now assess these two sites, and choose which county/city government they would work with to build a replacement for Tropicana Field.