Tampa Bay Rays DONE at Tropicana Field after damage?

39 comments

1. I could see them temporarily playing at Miami field for 2 years. Also months of rains due to heavy rains that happen in Fla in November

2. Thanks!

3. With this it makes me curious to know if the Rays ownership could use this a rationale to relocate to another part of the country since relocation seems to be popular in regards to ownership.

4. Brodie I'm not joking the Oakland Rays?

5. I wonder if the Trop has to be covered? What if they just completed the removal started by the hurricane, and made it an open-air field?

6. Montréal Rays!!

7. Not gonna happen. You can't run down to the hardware store and pick up a new roof…Move to Montreal…

8. The new playing field they just put in for the 2024 season also may have to get replace.

9. Go to MTL until at least the All Star Break

10. There’s no possible way that the Trop doesn’t have insurance, it’ll be covered fully. Don’t think the rays have enough time to relocate before next season, unless they wanna play in a minor league field like the A’s and I don’t think they wanna do that

11. FWIW, the Rays play in St. Pete, not Tampa. So, it's not a question of whether they have played their last game in Tampa — they never played there in the first place. Beyond that, the Rays made the new stadium deal official on Wednesday, signing all the important documents with the City of St. Pete, so regardless if the team "has the money to fund the private financing portion" or not, that's a moot point given that all the legal documents are signed.

12. It'll really be interesting to see how Raley Field pans out along with the other Tropicana Field in Vegas pans out!!!

13. Please don't relocate the rays away from Tampa. I want to keep the only Milwaukee Tampa rivalry in sports.

14. Could another option be just removing the roof all together? Probably easier said then done, but could be a consideration.

15. If they need to I think Steinbrenner makes the most sense for all the reasons you listed. But I think Champs Stadium isn’t a bad idea either. I’m sure theirs a lot of Rays fans in Orlando who would love to be able to see their team play at Disney World

16. If I were a betting man, I'd say Orlando is the most realistic option if they can't fix the Trop's roof. They play a few lame duck seasons over there, as they demolish, and then build new on the site of the Trop.

17. Rays should play @ the Coliseum so A's fans can still see the A's play in Oaktown & boo Fisher some more

18. If you were an insurance company, would you offer hurricane insurance in Florida? I sure wouldn’t.

19. Wouldn’t be suprised if they play at Disney and just get the new stadium going

20. Left off San Juan PR as an option. Unlikely, but regular season games have been played there.

21. So they can't play in Kissimmee because it's an hour and a half away but playing in Oakland is OK? The last time I checked Florida and California are more than an hour and a half away from each other.

22. Since the 2025 MLB schedule is already set in stone, both the A's and Rays should suspend operations after that season until their respective new ballparks are built, and temporarily realign the league. I'm all but certain that MLB doesn't want two of its clubs playing in Triple-A parks long term, given that the NHL ran out of patience with the Arizona Coyotes playing at Mullett Arena.

    Also, MLB should consider opening the expansion process ASAP, especially if neither the A's or Rays' future ballpark plans get further derailed.

23. I wonder if this could affect the plans for the new stadium as well? I imagine that no one wants to have the future liability of fixing the new stadium in case of another disaster on their hands.

24. MLB is not meant for Florida. I attended a game at the Trop, it was a depressing place

25. If the place is truly unplayable come opening day, I wonder if they'd play regular season games at their spring training facility in Port Charlotte, like the Blue Jays did in Dunedin in 2020. It would be the reverse of 2023 spring training, when they played Grapefruit League games at Tropicana when their Port Charlotte facility got smacked by Ian.

26. Remember, insurance is an oxymoron. It doesn't.

27. I'm a fan of the Ray's and live nearby and this was hard to see, and I don't know what's going to happen. Everyone makes fun of the stadium and that's ok. But in South Florida for 80 games you need a dome, you need rain protection, you need a/c. The owner doesn't have the money to repair the stadium let alone come up with his share of the new stadium costs ($750 mil) He will need to fire sale the team is my prediction, and the new owners will take the team somewhere else unfortunately. Charlotte or Nashville

28. One other factor not considered is the Rays are now also one of those “Ballyless” teams so they have to figure out their tv market. and lost revenue on top of this major disaster. If I had to guess I’d say Montreal is where they’d go. This city wants baseball back real bad so will do what it takes to get Olympic Stadium ready, a full MLB sized stadium, and a much easier to make tv deal.

29. Will the Orlando rumors begin anew?

    Unless local/county/state government agencies waive/speed up construction permits(will governor Ron DeSantis step in?)that have to be approved, that stadium isn't going to be ready in five months

30. Did a quick google on converting $18.3M USD in 2010 to today's dollars and it looks like approximately $26M USD today.

31. God is telling them to relocate.

32. My guess is that, worst case scenario, they play the 2025 season away from Tampa Bay, but they have time to fix it up before then. My guess is that insurance will cover it enough to make it affordable to fix the roof and play games in there. The Rays may get some help from the local and state governments to repair the Trop in exchange for a greater team contribution to the new stadium.

33. Honestly, the Yankees spring training facility across from Buccaneers NFL stadium is the best option for playing games and was the BEST option for permanent stadium and entertainment district. Back in the day, that area on Dale Mabry was popping. You had Tampa Stadium, Tampa Bay Mall, next door, dive bars, titty bars (Mons Venus) restaurants, and car dealershis. 😊

34. They’ll fix the Trop and play there again. If it’s not done in time, I see the Rays bouncing around the early part of next season between their spring training facility in Port Charlotte, Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, and the ESPN field in Orlando. If it goes late into the season, they’ll play in Miami when the Marlins aren’t home.

35. You suggested Steinbrenner Field, but surely that's had some damage too. Just a question of how much.

36. I am still hoping the rains can get it fixed before opening day, if not go to the Yankees spring training home

37. I wouldn't count out the 2 stadiums.. yeah the schedules are set, but if you used both… how many times are both teams playing at home at the same time.. plus as the Jets/Giants show in NJ.. you can stagger the times a bit… team A @ 1pm and team B at 7pm… They do day/night DH's all the time for rainouts at other parks… Though if only for a week or two, Steinbrenner is probably best… though it does host an A ball team so it's not fully available.. (though fo A ball… there are back lots that can be played on).

38. They should have moved to East Rutherford before Giants Stadium was torn down.MLB would have established a fund to indemnify the Yankees and the Mets.MSG,in need of summer programming,would have built them a new stadium.
    I said this in 2009.

39. Maybe time to reconsider the idea of playing some games in Montreal?
    The Ex-Ray’s ride again!