Major League Baseball is hopeful of finding a temporary home for the Tampa Bay Rays that is accessible to their fans, at least for the start of the 2025 season, if the damage caused by Hurricane Milton hits the Tropicana Field are too important to be repaired in time.
The translucent fiberglass dome covering St. Petersburg Stadium was pulverized by Milton’s gusts, calling into question its immediate lifespan. Several spring training complexes in the Tampa Bay area have been suggested as a temporary home for the Rays, and Major League Commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated he wants that site to be located in the area.
“We hope to be able to find a site for them (in the Tampa Bay area), and would like to have the repairs completed in time for them to return to their regular activities,” Manfred said in a recent episode of the podcast. ‘The Varsity’. The simplest thing would be to stay in the market where the clubs are anchored, if possible,” he added.
The Rays called Tropicana Field home in their first season in 1998, although the stadium was built in 1990. The damage caused by Hurricane Milton occurred a few months after the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County approved a plan to build a new US$1.3 billion stadium on adjacent land, which would open in time for the 2028 season.
The city hired Hennessy/AECOM to complete the damage assessment at Tropicana Field and awarded a contract to another company to remove the last pieces of the stadium’s roof, said St. Petersburg spokeswoman Alizza Punzalan. Randle. The city also submitted a claim to its insurance company, she added.
“We will have more information on next steps once the analyzes are completed and the last pieces of the roof are removed,” Punzalan-Randle said.
Councilwoman Brandi Gabbard said a final report should be available in the first week of November.
“At that point we will have a better idea of what to expect,” Gabbard explained.
Highly unlikely to play in Montreal
So where could the Rays play if the ‘Top’ isn’t available for the 2025 opener?
If the team favors proximity, it could look at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The New York Yankees’ spring complex underwent extensive renovations in 2017, increasing its capacity to more than 11,000 seats. The Philadelphia Phillies complexes in Clearwater or the Toronto Blue Jays complexes in Dunedin could also be considered.
The closest major league stadium to the Rays is LoanDepot Park in Miami, where the Marlins play. More than forty Rays and Marlins meetings are currently scheduled for the same day in 2025. MLB could certainly make some changes, but the ‘Tampa Bay Times’ doubts that this will be optimal.
The Florida daily then mentioned the city of Durham, in North Carolina, where the Rays AAA club plays, or even Raleigh, which wishes to obtain an expansion club, just like Nashville, in Tennessee, and Charlotte, in Carolina. North. These two municipalities are home to AAA clubs and both aspire to move up to the Major Leagues.
Finally the name of Montreal came up in the discussions, recalling the defunct sister city project mentioned by the Rays organization and the Montreal Baseball Group. However, it seems highly unlikely that this possibility will materialize, since the roof and technical ring of the Olympic Stadium are undergoing major renovations — in the order of $870 million CAN — and the playing surface will not be available before 2028.
Could accommodations be made to accommodate the Rays? Are these costs, and the date of 2028, still relevant? A spokesperson confirmed by email to The Canadian Press that the playing surface is not usable “until 2027, inclusive” and that the $870 million bill has not been revised.
Furthermore, it was announced that the new configuration of the Olympic Stadium will only allow events on rectangular surfaces and that a baseball configuration will no longer be possible. By email, the Olympic Park indicated to The Canadian Press that “the new roof does not prevent a baseball configuration” and that when it is completed, “the Olympic Stadium will be open year-round and to all event proposals from the local, national and international promoters. Whether for professional sport, trade fairs or concerts, the Park teams will be open to all interesting proposals in terms of hosting a major event.”
The Rays, for their part, refused to comment on the situation Tuesday and have already mentioned that it will likely be several weeks “before we have a clear idea of the state of Tropicana Field.” They could operate there, in the open, but the ‘Trop’ is not equipped with a drainage system which would be necessary to prevent it from being constantly flooded.
The Expos experienced a similar situation
Other factors to consider include the amount that should be spent to repair a stadium that will be demolished to make way for the new building that will open in a few years.
This is obviously not the first time that a Major Baseball team has been deprived of a permanent home. In 2021, the Blue Jays began the season at their spring complex in Dunedin due to restrictions imposed by the Canadian government during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Jays also played a few games in Buffalo, in the stadium of their AAA school club, before returning to the Rogers Center at the end of the season.
The Montreal Expos, before playing part of their final seasons in Puerto Rico, had to play the last 13 games scheduled at home in 1991 in opposing stadiums due to the fall of a 55 cm concrete beam. tons at the Olympic Stadium.
The Rays’ home opener is scheduled to take place against the Colorado Rockies on March 27, 2025, and Manfred said the major leagues, the team and other partners will find a solution.
“The only thing I can tell you is that they will play next season. We will find a place for them to make it possible,” summarized Manfred in the podcast show.
