Because the Rays proceed to cope with the lasting affect of damages to Tropicana Area throughout Hurricane Milton, proprietor Stu Sternberg introduced that his membership will now not be shifting ahead with the earlier tentative plans to assemble a brand new ballpark in St. Petersburg. The workforce launched an announcement addressing the difficulty, via Gabe Lacques of USA As we speak.
“As all of us recuperate from impacts of the hurricanes, we’re extremely grateful for the assist from our followers and the broader Tampa Bay neighborhood. …After cautious deliberation, we have now concluded that we can’t transfer ahead with the brand new ballpark and growth venture at this second. A collection of occasions starting in October that nobody may have anticipated led to this tough determination.
Our dedication to the vitality and success of the Rays group is unwavering. We proceed to concentrate on discovering a ballpark answer that serves the most effective pursuits of our area, Main League Baseball and our group. The Metropolis of St. Petersburg is at the moment advancing plans to revive Tropicana Area for the 2026 season. We’re grateful for his or her efforts and are excited to return to our house discipline subsequent spring.”
Final summer season, the Rays reached a tentative
agreement to assemble a brand new $1.3 billion stadium — half of a bigger $6.5 billion redevelopment venture within the historic Gasoline Plant District website close to the prevailing Tropicana Area. The closed-roof, 30,000-seat stadium was set to open in 2028, and the event plan had been agreed upon by the Rays, Pinellas County and the Metropolis of St. Petersburg. The town council and county fee nonetheless wanted to log out on the plan, and varied benchmarks wanted to be hit alongside the best way to make sure the stadium plans would stay on monitor.
Mom nature, in fact, had different intentions. Hurricane Milton wrought immense harm on Tropicana Area, leaving the Rays with no place to play for at the least the 2025 season whereas they evaluated the price of repairing Tropicana Area’s shredded roof. The Yankees agreed to permit the Rays to host their house video games at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Area — house of the workforce’s Class-A affiliate — for the upcoming 2025 marketing campaign. That plan stays in place.
Even a short-term transfer to a location exterior of Pinellas County rankled some on the county fee, nevertheless. The time wanted to type out logistical nightmare stemming from the hurricane damages, coupled with November election cycles that modified the composition of the boards set to approve the required bonds to maneuver ahead with the venture, led to delays in what was already a tightly scheduled growth plan for the brand new facility. These delays additionally finally led to a contentious back-and-forth between the Rays (Sternberg and president Matt Silverman) and Pinellas County that has performed out over the offseason. Sternberg acknowledged in November that relocation was a possible outcome in mild of renewed squabbles with native authorities.
The abandonment of the plan for the 2028 stadium and surrounding growth comes in opposition to the newer backdrop of reported pressure from not solely different house owners but additionally MLB commissioner Rob Manfred for Sternberg to promote the franchise. Evan Drellich of The Athletic wrote over the weekend that Main League Baseball hopes to maintain the Rays in Florida, with a concentrate on both remaining in St. Petersburg or developing a brand new facility in Ybor Metropolis close to downtown Tampa — a location the Rays have beforehand explored. Orlando has additionally been talked about instead, per Drellich.
At this juncture, the workforce’s focus is clearly on returning to Tropicana Area for the 2026 marketing campaign. That appears a short-term answer, at greatest, nevertheless. The Rays’ lease at their longtime house solely runs by way of the 2027 season. The now-scrapped building of their new Gasoline Plant District house was set to dovetail with the expiration of their lease at Tropicana Area. Each Drellich and ESPN’s Jeff Passan have reported that there are potential patrons lining up within the occasion the franchise is put up on the market, however Sternberg has up to now made clear that he doesn’t intend to promote the membership.
“If it was (on the market), individuals would comprehend it,” Sternberg advised Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Occasions in February. “I’ve all the time been, and I’ll proceed to be, fairly clear about our intentions. And fairly — not fairly — however very sincere about them. And I’ve been.”
