Cole Pepper
Will the Tampa Bay Rays remain in Tampa Bay?
The Tampa Bay Rays announced last week that the team will play the 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa because of damage to Tropicana Field sustained during Hurricane Milton. Then, the Tampa Bay Times reported Saturday that delays on the vote for bonds to fund the municipally funded portion of the $1.3 billion stadium could derail the deal entirely.
The deal appeared to be done before Milton tore the roof off of Tropicana Field on Oct. 9. In July, the St. Petersburg City Council approved the Rays’ stadium plan, followed by Pinellas County. Everything seemed to be in place for the new stadium to be built in time for the 2028 season.
Then, the storm hit.
It was estimated that the damage to Tropicana Field could be repaired for about $55 million and that the stadium could be ready in time for the 2026 season, leaving the Rays in need of a home part for 2025.
After considering several options, the Rays settled on Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the home of the Yankees during Spring Training and a Yankees’ minor league team.
Pinellas County Commissioners have delayed a vote on bonds that would go toward the financing of the ballpark and could do so again tomorrow. The Tampa Bay Times reported that team owner Stuart Sternberg viewed the delay as a step in the wrong direction for the new development.
“Last month, the County Commission upended our ballpark agreement by not approving their bonds, as they promised to do,” Sternberg said, according to the Times. “That action sent a clear message that we had lost the county as a partner. The future of baseball in Tampa Bay became less certain after that vote.”
According to the report, the St. Petersburg City Council has growing concerns that repairs to Tropicana Field will be much more expensive than the initial estimate. The Council could balk at paying for repairs beyond a $25 million insurance policy that could start a chain reaction that could lead to the Rays moving to another city, though Sternberg said that relocation was “an unlikely conclusion.”
Part of the pushback from local politicians was fueled by the Rays’ decision to use Steinbrenner Field instead of Clearwater’s BayCare Ballpark, where the Philadelphia Phillies hold Spring Training and a Phillies minor league team calls home. BayCare Ballpark’s capacity (8,500, with 1,500 being grass berm seating) is smaller than Steinbrenner Field (11,026) which would hamper the Rays’ ticket revenue while playing in the stadium.
John Romano, a sports columnist from the Tampa Bay Times, told WUSF radio that, in his opinion, “Major League Baseball in (the) Tampa Bay Area is at greater risk today than it’s ever been.”
