Tampa Bay Rays officials and local lawmakers gathered at Tampa City Hall on Friday afternoon to defend a new memorandum of understanding reached a day earlier, laying out a proposed $2.3 billion stadium deal they say could reshape the area around it. The plan would rely on nearly $976 million in public funding.

At the center of the pitch was a promise of scale. Leaders said the project could generate an estimated $55 million in economic impact, create 12,000 new jobs and draw millions of visitors each year. Rays CEO Ken Babby said the process has been about partnership, and that the deal must be a fair public-private partnership. Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan echoed that message, saying there has been significant give and take on both sides.

The news conference came at a moment when the project is moving from concept to public salesmanship. The memorandum of understanding was agreed to on Thursday and described by Mayor Jane Castor as non-binding, but Friday’s appearance suggested the sides want to build momentum before the language gets turned into the harder work of approvals, financing and public scrutiny. Castor said she would be surprised if any council member voted against it.

Castor argued that large, successful cities have professional sports teams, and said the project could transform the surrounding area much the way Drew Park changed over time. She also pointed to possible expansion for Hillsborough Community College, casting the stadium effort as more than a ballpark plan and more like a broader development push for Tampa.

Hagan, meanwhile, tried to answer the question hanging over any project that depends on public money: what happens to taxpayers if costs go up or revenues fall short. He said taxes will not be raised because of the project and that the county will not put its AAA credit rating at risk. He said the county is among a select few in the nation with triple-A standing from all three major credit agencies and would not jeopardize it.

The friction came into sharper view in remarks from County Commissioner Joshua Wostal, who told Spectrum News on Thursday that the memorandum of understanding is in place but has severe material deficiencies. He also said the Rays have still not made clear how they arrived at the $2.3 billion stadium cost. That criticism underscores the central problem for the deal: the numbers may be public, but the case for them is not settled.

For now, the project is being sold as the largest development in Hillsborough County history, with leaders framing the stadium as an engine for jobs, tourism and neighborhood reinvention. Whether that argument wins over skeptical members of the public and the county will depend on whether the financial details can satisfy the questions that Friday’s celebration did not answer.