ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Major League Baseball wants to find a 2025 home for the Tampa Bay Rays by Christmas.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said both the major and minor league schedules could be altered to create room for the Rays, whose Tropicana Field was damaged by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9.
The translucent fiberglass dome at the ballpark in St. Petersburg was shredded by Milton's winds, leaving its immediate future in doubt.
"We can make it work in a minor league park,” Manfred said. ”There’s probably some flexibility in terms of what we do with the big league schedule.”
Several minor league ballparks are in the Tampa Bay area, including the spring training homes of the Phillies, Blue Jays, Yankees, Pirates and Tigers.
The Rays have played at Tropicana Field since their inaugural 1998 season, although the building was constructed in 1990. The hurricane damage comes a few months after the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County approved a new $1.3 billion ballpark in an adjacent location that would open in the 2028 season, part of a much larger downtown revitalization project.
The city has hired the Hennessy/AECOM firm to do a complete analysis of the Tropicana Field damage and contracted with another company to remove the remaining roof material, said St. Petersburg spokeswoman Alizza Punzalan-Randle. The city has also filed a claim with its insurance carrier, she said.
“We need to listen to the voice of the people, right?”
Last summer, the Florida Department of Environment Protection considered adding amenities like golf courses, pickleball courts, and hotels to state parks across the state. After public outcry, the plans were shelved, but the fight isn't over for some Florida residents.
