A planned $1.3 billion stadium to keep the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg is no longer happening. Owner Stu Sternberg announced Thursday that the team “cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this moment,” citing “a series of events beginning in October that no one could have anticipated.”
That “series of events … no one could have anticipated” was Hurricane Milton, which destroyed the Tropicana Field roof and damaged other parts of the stadium. The Rays claimed they could not afford delays to the new stadium project, which led to political infighting. The team faced a March 31 deadline to prove that they could come up with their $700 million obligation toward the costs.
“Our commitment to the vitality and success of the Rays organization is unwavering,” Sternberg said in a statement. “We continue to focus on finding a ballpark solution that serves the best interests of our region, Major League Baseball and our organization.”
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The Rays will play the 2025 season in Tampa at George M. Steinbrenner Field, spring training home of the New York Yankees. Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner has previously said the arrangement is a one-year solution, not a long-term answer. GMS Field is a minor-league facility with no roof, meaning the Rays will deal with the Florida rain and humidity all summer.
Sternberg said the intention is to restore the Trop for the 2026 season and the City of St. Petersburg is currently advancing plans to do so. What happens long-term is unclear. Commissioner Rob Manfred and several owners are reportedly pressuring Sternberg to sell the Rays. He has owned the team since 2005.
“As for the future of baseball in our city — if in the coming months a new owner, who demonstrates a commitment to honoring their agreements and our community priorities, emerges — we will consider a partnership to keep baseball in St. Pete,” St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch told the Tampa Bay Times. “But we will not put our city’s progress on hold as we await a collaborative and community-focused baseball partner.”
Approval for a new 30,000-seat facility in St. Petersburg (essentially on the other side of the Tropicana Field parking lot) was granted last July. The project was set to include a new ballpark district with commercial and residential space around the stadium. The Rays have been seeking a new stadium for more than a decade now.
The Rays went 80-82 last season, their first losing season since 2017. They joined MLB as an expansion team in 1998. The Trop first opened in 1990 and is MLB’s seventh-oldest stadium.
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