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Plate I · The Dale Mabry Ballpark
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The Lead · Teams · Tampa Bay
Patrick Zalupski’s group hired Legends Global, formed by Jerry Jones and the Steinbrenner family, to watch its build and help sell naming rights and suites. Hillsborough put the Tampa Sports Authority on the public side. Most Dale Mabry campus classes move to The Nest, demolition is targeted for December, and the bond votes that release public cash are still ahead.
On Sept. 16, Hillsborough commissioners voted 5-2 to have the Tampa Sports Authority oversee the Rays ballpark design; its consultant, Skanska, starts with a $303,370 schematic review paid from the county’s contribution. Two days later the Rays named Legends Global their owner’s representative and put its sales team on naming rights and suites. The no votes came from the same two commissioners as in August: Donna Cameron Cepeda, who lost her Aug. 18 primary, and Joshua Wostal, whose race sits within the margin of error. Bond-vote dates were still unset, and CEO Ken Babby has said not a penny of
city or county money moves until a Community Benefits Agreement is negotiated.
Old Florida Money desk · Thu Oct 1
Sources: WFLA; FOX 13; WUSF; Rays release (MLB.com); Business Observer; Bay News 9; WTSP; Tampa Bay Times; Hillsborough County; Florida Politics; Development and Funding Agreement (PDF hosted by WFLA)
Read the full story
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Plate II · The Capitol Portico
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Money Pulse
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More than $115M into the Donalds PAC
With the campaign, nearly $130M raised and nearly $45M kept through Sept. 18. State filings list Jeff Yass, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and Club for Growth Action Florida among the oversized PAC names.
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About $66.4M for one Manalapan lot, split two ways
Stewart Satter bought the land in 2024 for $27.5M and once marketed it toward a speculative megamansion of about $285M. The neighbors bought it instead.
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$73.14M asked of Tampa and Hillsborough for Raymond James
The Tampa Sports Authority’s FY2027-2028 subsidy request, approved 10-0 and paid from fourth-cent tourist tax. Separately, the Buccaneers have floated paying one-third of a roughly $1B renovation, with the public covering two-thirds.
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$70,000 from Ballard Partners to Crist’s committee
The fourth check, $10,000, is dated Sept. 18 in state filings. Utility- and tech-linked lobbyists and operatives added more than $130,000 (Florida Trib, Aug. 11); Ballard said the check was friendship, not a client errand.
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Jaguars owner Shahid Khan: about $16.5B, Florida’s No. 8 (Forbes estimate)
Forbes estimate, No. 70 overall (Action News Jax). Jeff Bezos leads the state at about $378B, No. 2 overall.
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Ken Griffin’s $10M, dated July 17, inside a nearly $130M Donalds haul
Donalds once said it takes at least $80M to win a Florida governor’s race. Through Sept. 18 his campaign and PAC had raised nearly $130M, against David Jolly’s under $16M.
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Plate III · The Lot Line
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This edition, by desk
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The campaign account is the regulated face; the PAC is the war chest. From the governor’s race to St. Petersburg city hall, the same split decides who can still spend.
Donalds PAC tops $115M: Griffin’s $10M, the Seminole Tribe’s $5.5M, sports betting’s $2.25M
Crist’s St. Pete war chest: about $384K against Welch’s about $53K
Open the Politics desk
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Land assembly is the wealth strategy; the house is the receipt. Larry Ellison’s new lot sits beside the Manalapan compound he bought for about $173M in 2022, and in 2023 he bought eight Boynton Beach homes for his staff.
Ellison and MacNeil split a Manalapan lot for $66.4M, then kept assembling
Open the Houses desk
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Two franchises, one tax well, one watchdog: the Tampa Sports Authority runs Raymond James and now reviews the Rays’ ballpark design. The Rays deal leads this edition; the Buccaneers’ renewal notice is due Jan. 31, 2027.
Ray Jay’s $19.27M seat pick lands as the Bucs float a two-thirds public split
The Lead, above
Open the Teams desk
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Forbes residency is a capital map: count the named Floridians, then find their checks in PAC filings, franchise capital stacks, and ocean-to-lake assemblies.
Bezos is still Florida’s No. 1; Forbes counts about 49 Floridians on its 400
Open the People desk
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Advertisement · Oaktree Reserve
The Weight of a Legacy
A Florida story. A present-day invitation to plan what follows.
The Ringling · Sarasota Bay
Watch the film · 0:30
John Ringling had approximately $300 cash on hand at his death in 1936; this was not his estate’s total value. His home and museum transferred to Florida in 1946 after years of estate administration.
The aerial sequence is an AI-created interpretation, not recorded drone footage or a verified aerial survey. No family or museum endorsement is implied.
Historical source, imagery and transcript
Oaktree Reserve is not a law firm. Legal services are provided separately by Oaktree Reserve Law PLLC.
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About
Old Florida Money is Oaktree Reserve’s public Florida capital brief: the named checks behind houses, teams, races, and public votes across the state.
Plates are painted illustrations, not depictions of the people named in the stories.
St. Petersburg · Est. MMXXV
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