ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Homeless, wandering, and plunged into darkness.
That describes the current plight of the Tampa Bay Rays. The roof of their home at Tropicana Field was ripped apart from the devastation of hurricane Milton on Oct. 9, and now queries abound where the first pitch of the 2025 season will be thrown.
Immediately after the storm hit, the Rays cranked their PR campaign and said any information on the status of the ballpark would have to wait. That’s because several parties, the team, insurance adjustors, the city of St. Petersburg, the state of Florida, and Federal agencies all have fingerprints on the recovery effort.
Repairing the roof, if that decision is made, will take time and so will this assessment stage. The Rays are scheduled to open the 2025 season at Tropicana Field with a three-game series against each the Rockies and the Pirates. After an initial inspection of the roof and lack of a drainage system, a declaration was made that Rays will not open the 2025 campaign in this stadium.
Indeed, the quality and cost of repair will currently weigh against simply allowing the team to play elsewhere and await the completion of a $1.3 billion stadium near the current Tropicana Field site. The Rays’ current lease with Tropicana Field expires after the 2027 season and the team is expected to move into their new facility in time for the 2028 season.
Several relocation options have been considered. These include Montreal, potential baseball expansion cities of Nashville and Portland, using the Oakland Coliseum (beginning with the 2025 season, the A’s will play in Sacramento until their new stadium in Las Vegas is completed), and several spring sites in central and on the west coast of Florida.
“We don’t know (where the Rays will play); that’s the short answer,” baseball commission Rob Manfred told John Ourand on his podcast The Varsity. “(The Rays) are in the midst of doing an assessment of exactly what was the damage. The damage was substantial.”
The view of Major League Baseball is that Rays remain in the Tampa Bay area. For that reason, Manfred had an explanation.
“We want to figure out something in Tampa where repairs can be done,” he said. “The easiest thing is to stay in their home market. That is, if they manage that.”
Since entering the American League in 1998, a loyal fan base supported the club. Though seats in the upper level of Tropicana Field have not been sold for several years (the reason is the high cost of operation), the team continues to draw. The capacity is listed at 25,025 and the Rays drew, for the 2024 season, 1,337,739. That’s an average of 16,515 but only Oakland and Miami drew fewer fans.
Then again, Tropicana Field is the only current stadium in the majors which reduces the number of seats available. The A’s did that as well, but their run in Oakland is now history.
With a loyal fan base attending games and scooping up team merchandise, the Rays’ deflection of any Tropicana Field updates continues to deprive their fanbase of a critical timeframe.
Two weeks after the storm caused that damage to the roof, the ABC affiliate in Tampa wanted to know why the Rays had been silent. After a brief statement the day following the hurricane strike, the club has not issued any additional information. This story was done by the news team and not considered a sports story. Therein lies a sense of urgency to expedient information regarding Tropicana Field to the general community.
Immediately, the city of St. Petersburg, who owns the stadium, hired Hennessy/AECOM, an infrastructure consulting firm, to assess the damage. A world-wide company, Hennessy has footprints in the United States with locations in Dallas and Los Angeles. A fundamental question from that ABC story simply asked, “when are we going to get some answers?”
With the lack of information and the Rays groundbreaking for their stadium scheduled in about two months, the silence surrounding Hennessy’s work is troubling. Given the fan base and media coverage in the Tampa Bay region, the notion of accelerating the process of information should be a priority.
Then again, there may be considerable work underway behind closed doors. To the fans, at least, a progress report should be issued in an expedious manner.
