Despite missing out on the playoffs for the first time since 2018, the Tampa Bay Rays have found a way into the October baseball discussion.
The team's obsolete home, Tropicana Field, suffered heavy damage as Hurricane Milton blew through Florida this week. The fiberglass-blend roof of the stadium, which claimed to be "hurricane-proof" when the facility opened in 1990, was torn apart. Without the roof, the stadium's interior — not built to withstand water — was subjected to heavy water damage.
According to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, the Rays organization said it will take "weeks" to fully assess the damage, with cost estimates likely to hit several million dollars.
Tampa Bay is scheduled to open the 2025 season on March 27 against the Colorado Rockies, giving the organization and city just over five months to rebuild and repair the park. Dan Rorabaugh of USA Today pondered where the Rays could play if Tropicana Field can't be made ready in time.
But with a new stadium agreed upon between the team, the city of St. Petersburg (where the Rays actually play), and Pinellas County, could the parties decide that repairing "The Trop" isn't worth the money and effort?
Construction on the new stadium, to be located in St. Petersburg's "Gas Plant District," is scheduled for this January. The planned $1.3 billion ballpark is slated to be ready for Opening Day 2028.
Given how much a new ballpark will cost, the parties involved may decide that it simply is not worth it to spend millions of dollars to rebuild a stadium that the Rays will only play in for a few more seasons.
The Tampa/St. Pete metro area is currently decimated from the wrath brought by Hurricane Milton, so it may not be a No. 1 priority to repair an outmoded stadium. It also must be noted that the damage suffered may put a January date to begin construction on a new park in jeopardy as well.
That said, it could be agreed that the team could find "a lifeboat" to play in until its new ballpark is ready. There are several options, and while none are ideal, they make more sense than pouring money into a structure that will be without a major tenant by the decade's end.
The Rays organization owns the team's spring training home in Port Charlotte, Fla. Charlotte Sports Park avoided heavy damage, according to Noah Furtado of The Athletic, and could serve as a short- or long-term temporary home for the ballclub.
Charlotte Sports Park is three years older than Tropicana Field but has had several upgrades over the years. It currently seats less than 8,000 fans, but with an open area behind the outfield wall, temporary stands could be built to boost capacity closer to what ESPN reports as the Rays 2024 average attendance of 16,515.
Another potential venue is Tampa's Steinbrenner Field, which has hosted Spring Training for the New York Yankees since it opened in 1996. Also home to minor league Tampa Tarpons games, it is a closer option to the Rays' current home and seats 11,026. Steinbrenner Field also avoided heavy storm damage.
The closest option to where the Rays have played since their 1998 MLB debut is Tampa's Al Lang Stadium, which is just a short walk from Tropicana Field. The oldest of Tampa Bay's realistic options, the stadium opened in 1947 as a minor league and spring training ballpark.
It was converted into a soccer stadium for the minor-league Tampa Bay Rowdies in 2011. However, the original ballpark fan stands remain behind what used to be home plate, and the stadium currently seats 7,227. Like Charlotte Sports Park, temporary renovations may be required to make the stadium temporarily MLB-fit.
According to a 2019 Fox Sports report, the Rays once considered moving to Al Lang Stadium during the team's decades-long battle with civic officials for a new ballpark. The team owns both the stadium and the Rowdies, making any renovation/scheduling headaches far less daunting.
There are more far-fetched temporary relocation notions, none of which are ideal. Options such as former MLB stadiums in Oakland and Montreal don't keep the Rays anywhere near their light-showing Tampa/St. Pete fanbase.
The former home of the Miami Marlins, Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Field) is home to the Miami Dolphins and Hurricanes football teams. The stands now covering much of the facility's former left field remain retractable, but moving there would require the approval of Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
It is also less than ideal for two of MLB's least-watched ballclubs — the Rays and Marlins — to be playing in the same city.
There is precedence for an MLB team to call a minor-league structure home temporarily. The Oakland Athletics will embark on a similar situation in Sacramento for the next several seasons, as the team's new home in Las Vegas will not be ready until 2028.
The Toronto Blue Jays were also forced to play in minor-league ballparks in Buffalo, as well as Dunedin, Fla., during the COVID pandemic.
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