Josh Corson grew up going to Tampa Bay Rays games.
His grandfather was a season ticket holder, and his brother is still a huge fan.
Corson, an English professor at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus, could be teaching inside a new building next to a new Rays stadium in a few years.
There’s a part of him that thinks it’s a cool idea. But mostly, Corson thinks the project is a threat to the campus and its students.
“It poses so many risks,” he said. “My worry is equal for the students and for the faculty and staff, just all the changes that could come.”
Last month, Hillsborough College’s trustees approved a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Rays that lays out the parameters of a potential deal. The project would redevelop the Dale Mabry campus into three main areas — the stadium, a mixed-use district, a new college campus — and common spaces. School leaders and the Rays have touted the project as an undeniable opportunity for students at the Dale Mabry campus, the largest of the college’s five.
Some economists and faculty are concerned that the project’s disruption won’t have much payoff for the college itself. Others think it could modernize the campus and create a better student experience. What’s clear is there are few certainties right now.
Ken Atwater, Hillsborough College’s president, said at a news conference last month that the deal will strengthen the college’s workforce development and internship opportunities. The buildings, which would replace the campus’s aging ones, he said, are an obvious plus.
“Our students will have an opportunity to work with the Rays, and that’s huge,” Greg Celestan, the college’s board chairperson, said at the news conference. “How many schools can say that?”
At the same time, a potential deal would require the campus to operate out of temporary buildings throughout construction. The college is also responsible for the funding and upkeep of its portion of the project, thoughthe state is “looking to help” fund new campus buildings, Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference this week.
Fiske and other faculty members spoke with the Tampa Bay Times in their personal capacities, not as representatives of the college.
“There is a world where, at the end of all this, everyone is happy, and everything happens perfectly. But I teach politics, so I’m skeptical that world exists.”
What students might gain
College leaders said they are working with the Rays to outline opportunities for students to work with the team and in the stadium district.
They haven’t made any final decisions, Celestan said, but internships and workforce development opportunities forged in partnership with the Rays will likely be available for students studying hospitality, culinary arts and exercise science.
Some opportunities will be exclusive for Hillsborough College students, he said.Students will be able to walk across the street and have a chance at working for the Rays and at surroundingrestaurants and hotels, Rays CEO Ken Babby said last month.
The campus is well-known for its humanitiesprograms, whichemploy nearly 100 full-time faculty members — more than the total amount of faculty at some of Hillsborough College’s other campuses. It also has a popular health sciences program; its Patel Allied Health building,which opened in 2019, houses emergency medical services and nursing programs.
The type of internships and jobs matter, said Dennis Coates, an economics professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Students might have close access to jobs selling tickets and refreshments, but they could get a part-time job like that anywhere, he said.
“But working in the front office of a professional sports branch is a good way to get the experience and the connections to maybe work in that industry more generally,” he said.
It would be great to see the campus’s emergency medical services and nursing programs tied to a sports management or sports health degree, English professor Brianne Sardoni said.
There’s a world of opportunities in professional sports, saidBill Sutton, director of the Vinik Sport & Entertainment Management Program at the University of South Florida, from marketing and social media to content creation and sales.
“Those would all be lucrative areas for the Rays, and it’d be great training programs for the students,” he said.
Corson said he thinks only a small segment of students would likely be interested in working with a professional sports team. Even if there’s an opportunity for students to work with the players and learn sports medicine, he said he imagines there will only be a few openings every semester.
“It’s hard to say that it’s not a good thing,” Coates said. “But I’m really skeptical about how significant a benefit it could be.”
Teaching, learning through disruption
The Dale Mabry campus renderings look a lot like modern multistory buildings in downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg, said Sardoni, the English professor.
Demolishing buildings could be the first step in establishing Dale Mabry as an online campus, she said. Many students already take classes online.
“Miami Dade has an online campus, Broward has an online campus,” she said. “It’s a perfect opportunity to make that transition so that we can condense our facilities on-site and cater to what is definitely a need in Tampa Bay.”
English professor StephanieLance said the renderings look great on paper, but she’s unsure what the toll on faculty and students would be during construction.
While bulldozers tear down the buildings, Coates said he believes that biology or chemistry labs can’t easily be moved into trailers for a few years. Sardoni said she thinks faculty should be allowed to teach remotely or from other campuses during construction.
As part of his political science classes, Fiske said he teaches his students that even small barriers can discourage someone from voting. In the same way, he said, small disruptions to the campus might put off students from enrolling.
Disturbances could continue after the development is over, too.
“If you’ve got classes going on, and even if the Rays fans are just normally walking from one side of the campus to the other, and they’re trooping past classrooms, it could be quite disruptive,” Coates said.
According to the memorandum, any construction by the Rays that includes demolishing the college’s buildings “shall be done in a manner so as to minimize interference with HC’s operations and activities.”
Celestan said he understands why faculty might be worried about teaching in temporary spacesand other construction-related disturbances.
“There will be some disruption,” he said. “But at the end of it, if it works as planned, we would have brand-new facilities.”
Lance said she worries about student safety in shared spaces within the stadium project, especially because some students who are dual-enrolled are younger than 18. Sardoni said she hopes the college would establish strong security measures, like enabling building doors to automatically lock.
The college is due for $50 million in renovations, and it’ll be cheaper to upkeep brand-new buildings, Atwater said at a news conference last month.
“The buildings on the Dale Mabry campus, they need an overhaul,” Sardoni said. “I mean, we still have chalkboards in classrooms.”
But, Coates said, the college doesn’t need to agree to a Major League Baseball stadium deal to renovate or replace its buildings.
How the campus could change
The Dale Mabry campus serves thousands of students. Some are the first in their family to go to college, some are working to support their families and some are international students.
The project could attract more affluent students, Corson said, which would change the population Hillsborough College has historically served, including the working class. An MLB stadium with an entertainment district would likely bring an increase in nearby property values.
The college’s tuition hasn’t changed in over a decade, and affordability will continue to be a priority, Atwater said last month. For in-state students, full-time annual tuition and fees cost around $2,500, compared to around $6,400 at the University of South Florida.
With the campus right in the “heartbeat” of Tampa, as English professor Michele Lambert put it, Hillsborough College will be in the spotlight.
The school’sbest marketing is simple, Sardoni said: having locals and Rays fans walking through campus.
If the deal plays on Hillsborough College’s strengths and creates more paths to the workforce, she said, it could turn the school into a powerhouse.
“I think in four years, five years, 10years, 20 years, we’re going tolook back and say, ‘We’re so glad we did this.We put our name on the map even more,’” Lambert said.
Others want to make sure the college’s voice doesn’t get drowned out by the major league team.
The project seems heavily oriented toward what the Rays want, on the timeline they want it, rather than how the college, city or county could benefit, Fiske said. The Rays want a stadium to be ready in three years, and the memorandum gives Hillsborough College and the Rays 180 days to get to a final agreement.
You could never take away from Hillsborough College that they would be the first community college to host a professional baseball stadium, Coates said. But he said he is not sure how valuable that is.
“The thing that I hope people will realize is that the Rays need this more than we do,” Fiske said. “There’s our negotiating power right there. We’re a great college, we’re a great campus as we exist right now.
“We don’t need the Tampa Bay Rays in our backyard.”