Tampa Bay Rays’ Damaged Ballpark Roof Casts Spotlight on Stadium Financing

Investing the capital necessary to replace the roof atop 25,000-seat Tropicana Field is not as simple as a routine double play given the short time frame of the Rays’ use of the stadium, which historically had among professional baseball’s lowest attendance numbers.

Unfortunately, utilizing the stadium without a roof isn’t feasible due to a lack of drainage infrastructure in the aging stadium built in a wet region of the country. And, while there have not yet been any cost estimates, fixing the current stadium would depend on how fast the Rays want to get the job done.

In the meantime, the Rays are exploring possible temporary locations to play at least some of the early games of the 2025 season, including spring training facilities in Florida including the New York Yankees complex in Tampa and Philadelphia Phillies ballpark in nearby Clearwater. 

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said during an Oct. 20 episode of “The Varsity Podcast” that the league hopes to find a regional option in the Tampa area. The City of St. Petersburg, which is funding part of the new ballpark, hired infrastructure consulting firm AECOM to conduct an analysis of the Tropicana Field damage to help determine how to proceed.

John Boyd Jr., principal at corporate site consulting firm the boyd company in Boca Raton, Fla., said the Rays’ spring training stadium, Charlotte Sports Park, roughly 85 miles south of St. Petersburg in Port Charlotte, would be a viable temporary option given the site’s proximity and potential for growth. The stadium seats only 7,670 but has room for expansion. The Rays averaged 16,515 fans for the 2024 season, so the team would take a financial hit in the short term.

“If the engineering inspections indicate a longer repair time, maybe investing in temporary and expanded seating will be more feasible,” Boyd said. “The proximity to the current fan base and the fact that it is already home to Rays operations may make up for the smaller capacity.”

Boyd also suggested that the Rays consider options outside of Florida as a way to grow the team’s brand, perhaps in potential MLB expansion cities such as Nashville, Charlotte, N.C., and San Antonio. He said another appealing option is Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was the part-time home of the Montreal Expos before the franchise moved to the nation’s capital to become the Washington Nationals. 

“It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really do something a bit different, consistent with the global brand of baseball and the global brand of Tampa and the Rays organization,” said Boyd, noting that there are many flights from Tampa to San Juan with no passports required. “This is a chance to do something in a global market with minimal risk.” 

The timeline for repairs also presents a challenge to Rays stakeholders. An aggressive schedule would increase material and labor costs. While no estimates have been disclosed for fixing the roof, Boyd noted that construction projects have taken longer to complete in the Southeast due to the region’s large-scale population growth and uncertain weather.

The most recent weather-related roof incident to impact a major professional sports team prior to this year involved a deflated roof at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis in December 2010. That forced the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings to find alternative sites for the team’s final two home games. The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission (now known as the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority) approved an estimated $18.3 million restoration plan for the roof in February 2011 with expectations that insurance would cover most of it, and the Vikings played three more seasons under the dome. 

If the Rays opt for a temporary home and decide to reconstruct their current venue, they would join a growing list of other professional teams that have gone a similar route.

The New Orleans Saints faced their own stadium headwind when Hurricane Katrina severely damaged the Louisiana Superdome in August 2005, forcing the NFL franchise to play home games at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge as well as in San Antonio.

The Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes in the National Hockey League) were forced to play in nearby Springfield, Mass., for parts of three seasons when the roof of the Hartford Civic Center collapsed during a January 1978 snowstorm. The New York Yankees played two seasons of home games at New York Mets shrine Shea Stadium in 1974 and 1975 while the original Yankee Stadium underwent major renovations.

And the Oakland Athletics, which announced a relocation to Las Vegas last year, will begin a three-season stay in Sacramento, Calif., while its new stadium in Sin City gets built. 

While the Rays’ current stadium situation is a bit off the base path, Barry A. Burton, the chief administrative officer for Florida’s Pinellas County, said the Rays’ future 30,000-seat stadium should be a home run for St. Petersburg over the long term. The county’s biggest city has already seen major economic growth in recent years with many new multifamily properties sprouting up.  

The planned ballpark is part of a revitalization project led by real estate investment manager Hines as master developer that includes plans for a hotel, a concert venue, a Black history museum, affordable housing, offices and retail. Pinella County is financing a portion of the stadium project through a tourist development tax. 

“There was a lot of thought that went into how to do something unique and bring something to Downtown St. Pete beyond the big residential projects that we’re seeing go up everywhere down there,” Burton said. “This really is a game-changer.”