By now, most of you have likely heard the terrible news that Tropicana Field has been severely damaged from the high winds over southwest Florida, caused by Hurricane Milton.
It’s a heartbreaking and terrible situation, and it could have been much worse. Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tropicana Field would be used as a 10,000-person base camp for debris cleanup operations and first responders. This is not new: the Trop had been used for this purpose before. But Hurricane Milton crushed those plans when it ripped the roof right off, sending debris down onto the field as well as outside the arena.
Fortunately no one was injured inside the Trop. You can see some of the staging areas set up for relief workers in these overhead shots:
I don’t often ask you to click on videos, but the true depth of the damage to the park is best seen this way. The first video is a 360° view and is about a minute and twenty seconds. The second is much shorter at just 12 seconds.
Now that the sun is up, here’s a 360-degree view of the damage Hurricane Milton caused to Tropicana Field’s roof and the inside of the ballpark. Absolutely heartbreaking 💔 pic.twitter.com/ZCtPHv6rE9
— Ryan Bass (@Ry_Bass) October 10, 2024
Holy shit Tropicana field… the whole damn roof is gone. pic.twitter.com/Dnl46ALr20
— DaddyDimmuTV (@DaddyDimmuTv) October 10, 2024
Just awful.
The Rays are just starting the initial process of assessing the damage to Tropicana Field from Hurricane Milton, most notably the shredding of the roof.
“During the past couple weeks, our beloved city, region and state have been impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. We are devastated by the damage incurred by so many,” the team said in a statement. “Our priority is supporting our community and our staff. We are fortunate and grateful that no one was hurt by the damage to our ballpark. … We ask for your patience at this time, and we encourage those who can to donate to organizations in our community that are assisting those directly impacted by these storms.”
The bad news is the roof is basically destroyed. It was constructed with “6 acres of translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass” and supported by cables connected by struts, and built to withstand winds of up to 115 mph, per the team — remained intact Thursday, with remnants seen on the field.
The good news is preliminary investigations show no other “obvious” structural damage to the structure. Cleanup and a full structural investigation will take weeks to months, and during that time the team will face some tough decisions as to where they will play baseball in 2025 — the team is slated to open the season at home on March 27th, with a six-game homestand against the Rockies and Pirates.
The best and first option, of course, would be for the structure to be sound, and a new replacement roof added in time for the 2025 season. But that would likely be expensive. But a new Rays stadium is planned to be built adjacent to the Tropicana Field site and be ready for the 2028 season, with groundbreaking only a few months away. Would the team want to invest in a replacement roof for a field that might only be used for three more seasons?
Assuming option one is not viable (either because the building is too damaged or because the Rays don’t want to invest in what may only be a three-year roof), there are other options. One of which is finding a temporary home. There are nearby minor league facilities, as well as college stadia that might be available. The seating capacity would be far less at any of these venues — although the Rays ranked 28th in attendance in 2024, with a 23,203 average. Still, pretty much anywhere they might seek to have as a temporary home would likely not seat that many fans (at least not without expanding seating capacity). Playing in a minor league facility wouldn’t be unprecedented — the Blue Jays played at their Dunedin facility during the COVID season of 2020. However, there were no fans in attendance so their location was of less financial importance.
Another option is to try to speed up the new stadium project. I’m not an engineer, so I have no idea how much more quickly a new stadium could be constructed than is already planned, but maybe it would be possible that it could open in time for the 2027 season, making the decision to repair the Trop — if that’s possible — less of a concern. The A’s are already going to be vagabonds until their new stadium in Las Vegas opens, and while they’re “certain” to play in Sacremento in 2025, (and are expected to for 2026 and 2027), they won’t be in an MLB park for three seasons (their new ballpark in Vegas is scheduled to open in 2028). Would MLB want two teams without a true home ballpark for the next three years?
One kinda (almost literally) out of left field thought … now hear me out … if the building is deemed structurally sound, and the team doesn’t want to replace the roof … might it be possible to convert the building to an open air stadium?
I understand why the original building had a roof and I am familiar with the weather in the region. In fact long before the Rays were born, Tampa city officials tried to lure a MLB team, and decided that a stadium with a fixed permanent dome was necessary for a prospective major league team to be viable in the area, due to its hot, humid summers and frequent thunderstorms. But the Yankees train in Tampa in the Spring, and the Class A Tampa Tarpons use it for their season, and they play in an open air park. Granted it’s not the same as an MLB team playing a full season in the sun, but it is possible.
Obviously it’s too early to even speculate what will happen until the engineers complete their damage assessments, but I’m sure the Rays are already discussing the possibilities.
What are your thoughts? Are there any options I haven’t explored? Of the options, especially if the roof can’t or won’t be repaired, which do you think the Rays should pursue?
Fire away.
since it was built as a fully enclosed indoor stadium I assume it doesn’t have much in the way of infrastructure for drainage on the field or in the stands. So any time you get rain it’s just going to pool up until it dries up. Not sure putting that in would be any cheaper than just redoing the roof at this point.
Yeah, there is no drainage for the field. Otherwise I would say remove the remaining fabric and leave the structural part in place.
I hadn’t event thought of that. My first instinct was just go open-air, but you’re right. That may not be feasible. I guess they have time to put drainage in, but would it be up to other outdoor stadiums’ standards? Given the destruction of the surrounding area, it’s relatively low on the importance scale of where a team plays games, but there are vendors in and around the stadium that rely on in-season income as well. Just a horrible situation. My guess is they’ll put a new roof on that meets hurricane standards but maybe isn’t as “pretty” given the timetable.
“Just awful”
Such dramatics over the roof of a stadium damaged by a storm that ruined people’s actual homes and lives.
There were people IN the stadium when this happened. They could have been seriously hurt. “Just Awful” is justified.
Agreed.
Agreed with Dave. The hyperbole used in these extreme weather events is often out of touch.
Someone always has it worse. Anyone who tries to play the game or relative calamity will always lose. The damage to this facility was in fact terrible. That doesn’t make the damage or injury or death experienced by anyone else not terrible or less terrible. An acquaintance of mine has lost their Tampa-area home, though thankfully the family was able to evacuate and is safe. Still, it’s a calamity whose effects will ripple through family fortunes for decades to come. Terrible. And the destruction wrought to the Trop is still also terrible. Both are true.
Thanks Scotty. You put into words what I was thinking. Yes, the destruction wrought by both Helene and Milton was awful, especially for Florida, but many other areas as well. I’m well aware of the suffering of those affected by these things (I was engaged to a Winter Haven resident in 2004, when Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne all ravaged the State, and while my own home suffered no structural damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2011, that devastated the area. My mom’s home did have some falling tree damage.) But the point of the post wasn’t to compare peoples’ plights — I merely wanted to explore what happened specifically to the Trop, and to ponder what the Rays options might be going forward.
You are not wrong that damage to a roof of a stadium is essentially inconsequential in light of the lives lost, and homes destroyed. However, I would ask that you please try to develop a greater understanding of what has occurred. The Trop was was serving as a staging area for crews who will be assisting in the recovery efforts. Without it as a place to stay, their task is now even more daunting. This stadium also supports many jobs in the area — if it cannot reopen, that will put additional long-term stress on the people who live in the area.
Everything that has occurred a result of these storms is awful. To flippantly claim it is being dramatic and/or hyperbolic to say as much shows an extreme lack of empathy for the greater tragedy. Please, do better.
This is a website about uniforms and sports related things. Hence the focus on the stadium. Pretty cut and dry. There are plenty of other places to take in the personal stories.
Makes sense to just play in the stadium without a roof if structurally sound. How is this different than playing in a minor league park? And just play at night during the hot summer months. I think they’d need to get an exception for the “get-away” day games, before teams go to the next opponent.
There are no lights. They are all part of the roof structure.
There’s no drainage on the field, since it was built with a roof.
Making it open air would add another “what now” scenario.
The light are all on the roof structure.
A) Leave the existing structure, and have the roof skeleton (least costly)
B) Pay to install brand new lighting (would this even be less expensive than a new roof?
C) Play all day games in the hellish humidity and heat.
I would go with A. Theres no other indoor stadium nearby. If they could work out deals with other clubs, the Yankees and Phillies have very nice ballbarks in the area for minor league games. But to stay in their home, with a new unique look would be cool. As long as the lights are rated for out-door use, which is another issue to look into.
I didnt even think of the drainage issue someone else mentioned. So open air really isnt possible. It rains damn near every day in summer.
And, with the infill on the newer turfs, using a large vacuum to suck up water would not be possible. I remember some of the cookie cutter stadiums with the original Astro-turf used those to help get the turf dry enough for play years ago.
The Blue Jays played in Buffalo in 2020 (they split the 2021 season between Dunedin, Buffalo and Toronto.)
The Blue Jays did have crowds in attendance at their minor league facility during regular season games in 2020.
The roof of the Trop will be covered by insurance. The team will likely have a new roof made and installed for the 2025 season.
Wouldn’t a roof replacement be covered by insurance, even if it’s only temporary? Besides Rays baseball, there are many additional events held here year-round that would seem to require a roof.
If not, I’d love to see this converted into an open air stadium. If they played Major League Baseball outdoors in Miami for 20 years, and in Arlington, Texas for almost 50, outdoor ball in Tampa might be a pleasant change.
Wouldn’t it be a shocker if St. Pete had an outdoor ballpark and people actually showed up (as opposed to half of the supposed 23,000 who come disguised as empty seats most games) and those in attendance actually enjoyed their evening in the fresh air?
Move to Buffalo or one of the 100s of other AAA parks. It might actually help the Ray’s attendance and gauge future relocation or expansion teams.
Unless they somehow find a way to play their games at the Trop, there are options but each comes with its own issues.
Playing all games on the road which would be difficult for the players and their families. Oakland is available but it’s across the country from their fanbase, would mean increased travel for their AL East competitors, and the stadium itself has issues. A closer non-MLB city would be New Orleans but I don’t know what kind of issues playing in the Superdome presents. A closer MLB stadium solution could be a combination of Atlanta and Miami but there would be scheduling conflicts to address. Among MiLB stadiums, three come to mind: Tampa, Jacksonville or Durham (home of their Triple-A team, the Durham Bulls). Scheduling would also have to addressed plus those stadiums only have capacities of around 10-11K. Durham would also be interesting because of the push for MLB baseball in NC.
Actually with the second round of upgrades to the Superdome after Katrina (in 2011), the capability to convert the stadium to a baseball configuration was removed. So unless they want to play in Alex Box Stadium or the former Zephyr Field (which is not in Major League shape), both of which only have 10,000-11,000 seats, the Rays aren’t temporarily relocating to Louisiana.
Correct.
I’m sure the Rays owners are doing cartwheels over this. Now they get to push the “urgent need” for building that new billion-dollar (taxpayer-funded) stadium.
It has already been approved and the article above stated, ground breaking is a couple of months away.
Play in a minor league stadium in the area. They probably can’t even fill a smaller stadium, but at least it would look less embarrassing on TV.
Rays should split their 2025 home games between Oakland, Montreal, Portland and Nashville to decide which two cities deserve an expansion team.
The Oakland Rays until the roof is fixed!
Probably would draw more fans there than at The Trop LOL
A stadium without a team for a team without a stadium
I think they should play at Steinbrenner in Tampa until the new stadium opens. It seats 11,000, so big enough for most Rays home crowds (sad to say). There’s no reason to keep using the Trop at this point after they’ve approved the $1 billion or whatever.
This could be a good short term solution…there was an article in WSJ yesterday about people paying a premium for Northwestern football to see them play in their unique temporary home while their new stadium is under construction.
Also, if there’s an issue beyond 2025 the Rays should be slotted into any overseas games, and a handful of games in Puerto Rico (similar to what the Expos
Weren’t they looking to play games in Olympic Stadium a few years ago? Investigate that potential outcome and spend a season or two as the Montreal Ex-Rays.
Unfortunately, Olympic Stadium in Montreal is currently being renovated and isn’t available for a few years.
This is good news. Hopefully it will shut down the “Move to Montreal…” nonsense.
After Katrina destroyed the Superdome roof, I thought it was foolish when I heard the Trop was going to be used as a staging area. The areas ravaged by Milton have larger concerns than where the Rays will play. Local, state and federal funding and resources should be directed to repair the damage that all residents benefit from. There are plenty of alternate sites in FL the team can play in from football stadiums to relocating to Miami to share the Marlins park until the new Rays stadium opens. The billionaire Rays owner will be fine no matter where they play.
Didn’t even think about Miami. Heck, the Yankees and Mets shared Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium II was being constructed. So, it can be done.
And in the ’75 season, they were also the home to the Jets and Giants although because of baseball, neither team played any home games, preseason or regular, there until after the Mets and Yankees seasons were over.
And as a result of that the Giants, being the last one of the four to sign up to play at Shea, were required to play a couple of Saturday games. Those would be the last games in NFL history to not be televised at all.
As far as speeding up the new stadium construction, isn’t there a lot ‘more important’ construction projects that now need to happen because of damage in the area?
The Trop and the Colisseum are often listed as the two worst stadiums in MLB, so move to Oakland temporarily. It would be a lateral move. They would probably have huge attendance there.
That would be a total logistical nightmare. Not even remotely a reasonable idea.
Architect here, there are major issues to consider in regards to playing at Tropicana Field again
Issues with leaving the roof off –
1, As previously mentioned, the stadium likely doesn’t have adequate drainage in the stands to handle weather events, and additionally, the field itself likely doesn’t have an adequate drainage system to handle playing outside in the elements. Any rainstorm could potentially cause a 2-3 day weather delay
2, The lighting system was designed to illuminate an indoor space. Think about putting a table lamp from your living room in your backyard. The entire lighting system would need to be revamped
3, The stadium is undoubtedly fitted with fixtures and equipment designed to be placed indoors. Several years ago the Buccaneers had to replace the seats in their stadium because they were value engineered to not have UV protection, and they were fading pink and cracking in the sunlight. Now imagine that, but with just about everything inside the stadium
4, Structurally, the exterior walls likely benefitted from the taughtness of the roof against shear forces. Not having the roof in place likely compromises, to some level, the exterior walls of the stadium. Think about a cardboard box, when the flaps are left open, with flaps out, it can be twisted and manipulated easily, when you interfold the flaps together, the box is significantly more rigid.
5, Everywhere indoors is banking on the stadium being climate controlled, now, with uncertainty of Florida humidity, and an air conditioning system that was never designed to work outside in the elements, you run the very high risk of condensation on the concourses, making it very slippery, and mold conditions just about everywhere
In all seriousness, the roof probably has a crazy lead time, and the team will likely have to pay a fortune to get it expedited and in place before the season, or at any time during the year, all the while the interior is facing damage from exposure to the elements.
Steinbrenner Field has only 12 luxury suites, Tropicana field has 57. The team would be taking an absolute bath financially, when they are trying to finance a new stadium.
An outside the box idea, short of relocating to a city like San Antonio, or Montreal temporarily…The overall width of the playing field at Raymond James Stadium is 270′. With homeplate in a corner of the stadium, a short outfield of 250′, with a high net as a wall, could be a possibility…or put home plate on the goal line and orient the field like the Polo Grounds
Thank you for an intelligent perspective on the engineering.
The Alamodome is able to convert to baseball. Just with a very shallow right field if I remember correctly.
The owner of the Alamo dome, called those baseball games a “fun experiment”, but also made it quite clear, that he had no interest in hosting any more baseball games in the Alamo dome.
I read an article by the original company that installed the roof. One thing no one is mentioning is that roof is 34 years old and had a life of 25 years. It is not surprising this happened and the Rays should not be given a pass for not updating the roof nearly a decade ago.
I would tend to think that converting it to a full time open air stadium would also be pretty costly. There is going to be more involved than just tidying up the roof area to an open air configuration.
Not ideal, but perhaps playing in the Phillies spring training park would be their best option, seats 10,000.
Move to Oakland or Montreal, the locals have other things on their minds like rebuilding their homes and lives and most of them did not care much for the team anyway. Suggested name change: Oakland Sparrows or Montreal Monarchs. It has been fun (Devil) Rays, but it is time to move on. And as much as I loved that sleeve Devil Ray logo, it is time to get rid of those boring TB hats as well.
Oakland rA’s.
There’s got to be a way to better format the letters than what I did, but, boy would that be funny!
Just add a little bit of extra fabric to the R, and become the Oakland Bays
Oakland Oaks.
Just play in the Buccaneers stadium. Or see if the fans in Oakland will support a good team.
As the days and weeks progress, I think they are going to find much more damage than anticipated. Nothing in that stadium is designed for the elements, including the scoreboards and electrical system. The odds are pretty good that the last game at the Trop has already happened.
As far as building the new Trop on an accelerated schedule, there would be no problem with the physical construction, but would government red tape and bank financing move at an accelerated pace as well? Doubtful.
As for where the Rays can play in the meantime, why not Oakland? Yes the travel would be a nightmare, but if the Braves and Falcons could be “Western” division teams for 25+ years, the Rays can suck it up for 3 or less. Plus, I would love to see Manfred’s face when the Oakland Rays outdraw the Sacramento Vagabonds…
I doubt that just playing without a roof is a viable option at the Trop. Many of us have homes with both an indoor living room and some kind of outdoor deck or porch or balcony. The construction of the indoor space differs significantly from the construction of the outdoor space, and for good reason. Taking the roof off the living room for even a few weeks would likely render it a total loss, uninhabitable, with repair requiring stripping down the studs and refinishing every surface.
The Tarpons’ stadium seats only about 11,000, but if the 28 other teams in the league could help the Rays defray storm losses, that would probably be viable for a season or two. OR MLB could revisit the option of having the Rays play elsewhere to gauge potential expansion interest. Montreal? Nashville? As long as the Rays are not themselves flirting with relocation, a season or two playing a lot of games away from home probably won’t have any lasting negative effect on the home fan base.
Move games to other stadiums (Miami. Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, Gainesville, Orlando, etc use the proceeds from gates and a previously determined donation amount to help with relief for people in the Tampa St Pete. MLB stills hauls in cash and those in need get money and hope directed their way.
Montreal has a ready-made crappy dome where the Rays would feel right at home. At the very least they could host Red Sox and Yankees games there. The crowd would be highly in favor of the vising teams I’m sure, but the Rays must be used to that.
The fact that I am a Red Sox fan who lives two hours from Montreal may or may not indicate a bias here. But I think it’s worth a look.
Montreal already has a ready-made crappy dome that would feel right at home for the Rays. Maybe they could schedule games vs. the Yankees and Red Sox there. You’d get more fans of the visiting team I’m sure, but that’s nothing new for this team, and butts in the seat are butts in the seat. The fact that I live in Vermont two hours away from Montreal in no way indicates a bias here.
Just for comparison, after the Metrodome’s roof collapsed in Dec 2010, the roof was replaced by July 2011 at an estimated cost of $18 million, for a stadium that was eventually demolished in 2014. So, at least in that case it was determined to be feasible to replace the roof for just a few more years of use. I’m sure there are major differences between Tropicana Field and the Metrodome beyond the obvious that one is a rigid structure and the other was air supported, but it does give a ballpark figure of what it might take to get a roof replaced.
Excellent observations and point, but $18 million back in 2011 is just over $25 million today, based upon inflation.
They should just move around: Oakland, Vegas, Orlando, Miami, Nashville, Charlotte, and Jax
The roof will be in place by Opening Day 2025. The building has insurance, I’m sure.
There is A LOT more to go into it than “just get a new roof”!!!!
I don’t think there’s a giant spool of roof fabric lying on a shelf somewhere just ready to go.
Brand synergy: give tropicana field the same treatment tropicana hotel got a few days ago.
There are nine high quality Spring Training stadiums all of which are about 2 hours or so from Tampa. They should just barnstorm the Gulf Coast this summer and play as many night games as possible. Keep them in the state and try to expand their brand leading up to the new stadium.
Would it be possible to host games at Raymond James? I think it’s football (and soccer)-only, so there’s probably no moveable seats like there are/were at (I Still Call It) Joe Robbie in Miami. I guess you put the infield in one end zone the old Cleveland Stadium, and we could have 3-ish years of Polo Grounds-esque left field and right field lines. And having a pirate ship in the batter’s eye or behind the backstop would be sweet from a purely fan service perspective.
We can’t assume that the minor league stadiums in the Tampa area are in good shape. The Pirates’ spring training stadium in Bradenton suffered a lot of damage (repairable, but it’s damage nonetheless.)
But none of those stadiums are designed to be indoor stadiums and have to have a roof installed.
My thought is move them up to Montreal or Nashville. Give Montreal a second chance or see how well Nashville can draw.
I think the Rays are done there.
I know I’m a horrible person, but the first thing I thought of when I saw the damage to Tropicana Field was the 30 Rock joke about the Superdome during hurricane Katrina.
Jenna:…And as I mentioned, we were both pretty torn up about hurricane Katrina.
Dennis: What those people were doing to the Superdome…
That, and Jack calling it “rainstorm Katrina.”
Thank you, I’ll see my way out.
They may have to relocate to South Florida and share the Marlins’ park with the Marlins, like the Yankees sharing Shea with the Mets in ’74 and ’75. If that’s logistically and legally possible.
Two words: Olympic Stadium
At least until they can fix the roof or until the new stadium is built. It’s been floated before and I believe Montreal fans would really love it/go for it. Better than playing in a minor league park anyway.
So a few things that noone is talking about- if I remember correctly, the parent ownership for the Rays also owns the old Rays spring training stadium (Al Lang Field) which is just a few streets over and can host around 10,000. It may need some updating having not been MLB used for over 15 years but it was recently used for soccer. They can also move to Orlando temporarily and use Wide World of Sports like they did years ago. It has only been a couple of years since the Braves left it. They can stay regionally local without relying on another team’s facilities.
I worked on a refinancing on the Trop (all public record)
The original bondholders on the stadium debt required a roof replacement fund (I believe $10M or so).
The original roof had a 20 year warranty. It had one panel repaired but at 35+ years the old roof was mostly original did a great job.
Couple of things on that.
The County own the building but roof replacement falls under the City’s responsibility under the Lease ( ie the Use Agreement with the Rays) I believe.
The requirement to keep a roof replacement fund available would have expired when the Bonds paid off in 2016. So did the City keep such a fund? Check their audited financial statements to see. Also, it’s likely the expense in 2024 inflation dollars exceeds that amount anyway.
The County/city would have insurance but subject to deductibles and other insurance claims against the policy limit.
Lots of questions. Few answers.
Montreal isn’t an option since Olympic Stadium is currently being renovated and won’t be ready for a few years.
However, another former Expos home could be an option; Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.