TALLAHASSEE, FL – According to a report from OutKick, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is slated to veto a $35 million allotment of taxpayer dollars to a new training facility for the Tampa Bay Rays following the team’s recent broadcasting of a polarizing political stance on mass shootings.
Back in March, the Florida legislature approved for $35 million in taxpayer funds to go toward a new training facility for the Tampa Bay Rays out in Pasco County. This facility would’ve come with the typical bells and whistles: some stadium seating, a clubhouse, and training facilities both inside and outdoors.
At the time of the effort being approved by the state legislature, not everyone in the state was happy, as the concept of using taxpayer dollars to build amenities for multi-million dollar sports teams tend to be controversial in some fiscally conservative circles.
Former State Senator Mike Bennett was among those critical from the outside of the endeavor, saying, “It’s an issue I fought the entire time I was in the legislature, and I’m still against today…If you can afford to pay a pitcher or outfielder 40 or 50 million dollars a year to throw a baseball 90 feet, I think you could probably pay for your own stadium.”
Not to mention, Bennett also pointed out at the time that these investments rarely benefit the average resident of the area, saying, “When you look at a guy who’s fishing for scallops up in Cedar Key and trying to make a living, he cannot even afford to get the ticket to go to some of these programs and yet you want to take his tax money to support it, I have a real problem with that.”
But aside from the preexisting elements that left some Florida residents divided on the issue, it seems as though the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back related to a statement released by the Tampa Bay Rays on May 26th in the wake of the Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings.
The sports team formally announced that they’d be donating $50,000 to Mike Bloomberg’s anti-gun organization Everytown for Gun Safety in light of these recent tragedies.
“The Rays organization stands committed to actionable change and has made a $50,000 commitment to Everytown for Gun Safety’s Support Fund. Everytown is the largest gun violence prevention organization in America. Rather than our usual game coverage on social media tonight, we’ve partnered with Everytown to amplify facts about gun violence in America.”
As promised by the sports team, the Tampa Bay Rays spent the rest of the day on Twitter posting “facts” – often ones devoid of context are arguably misleading – about gun-related incidents. Governor DeSantis is reportedly expected to formally announce his stance on the matter in the coming days.
This piece was written by Gregory Hoyt on June 2, 2022. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com and is used by permission.
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