ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rays are on the clock.
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred set in motion this timetable and now requires some type of answer, if not definitive, on the roof situation at Tropicana Field. This is expected by the end of the current calendar year, if not sooner.
During Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9, ferocious winds ripped the roof off the 34-year-old structure and immediately made the Rays homeless.
The roof is constructed of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, which is a polymer, stronger than glass but lighter in weight. The material is designed to withstand a velocity of 115 miles per hour, but the winds of Hurricane Milton exceeded.
Now, the Rays and Major League Baseball are in a “wait and see” situation and offered no information from an original assessment. That was made directly after the storm struck and the Rays issued their only statement since that time. In effect, they said, the club was waiting for assessment of damage to the roof and interior. Until that report is issued, there would be no further comment, they added.
“(The Rays) are still in the damage-assessment mode,” Manfred told ESPN during the 2024 World Series. “They’re trying to figure out how bad the damage is that needs to get gone, and obviously, it was just not the roof.”
One dynamic is certain.
Given damage to the roof and the interior, the Rays will not open their 2025 championship season against the Colorado Rockies in this stadium on March 27. So, begin the speculation where the first pitch may be thrown.
To a rather definitive point, Manfred wants the Rays to remain in the Tampa region. That would include home games in various spring training sites and could range from Lakeland to the east and down the Rays’ training site at Port Charlotte to the south. The issue with each of these facilities is minor league tenants.
Currently, the Florida State League operates throughout the state and that’s with Single-A teams. Sites include Daytona (Tortugas), Jupiter (Hammerheads), Palm Beach (Cardinals), St. Lucie (Mets), Bradenton (Marauders), Clearwater (Threshers), Dunedin (Blue Jays), Ft. Myers (Mighty Mussels, Lakeland (Flying Tigers), and Tampa (Tarpons).
Attempting to fit the Rays into any of these locations would be a logistical nightmare.
Yet, there is one spring training site near Tampa that could be a logical choice. Given Manfred’s assertion Rays remain in the Tampa market, a potential site would be in Sarasota and the spring training site of the Baltimore Orioles. For the Florida State League, the Orioles do not field a team, so the Rays could fit into this facility.
After Hurricane Milton, the city of Sarasota was sensitive to community needs and could be supportive of the Rays’ desire to play home games in Ed Smith Stadium.
Sustaining no damage to the facility, Ed Smith Stadium was built in 1989 and renovated in 2011. The facility had 7,428 permanent seats and, with standing room, the capacity could be brought up to 8,500. Certainly, this is not anywhere close to major league standards. At the same time, the Rays could have the prospect of drawing around 650,000.
To this possibility, Tropicana Field is about 50 miles to the north, and fans, who tend to support the Rays and are not regarded as a “bandwagon” audience, would not be far. The Rays could maintain operations in St. Petersburg and travel down to Sarasota on game days. Displaced from Tropicana Field, already the Rays acquired temporary office space in a building near the ravaged stadium.
Given the dynamics of repairs, a common belief is circulating that the Rays have played their final game in Tropicana Field. Awaiting the construction of their new $1.3 billion stadium near the present Trop site, the Rays would like to move into their new facility to start the 2028 baseball season.
Then again, there is the immediate dilemma of homelessness. For the next three years, the Rays embark on an uncertain journey of wondering about the baseball landscape.
