With most of the Tropicana Field roof shredded by Hurricane Milton, the Tampa Bay Rays and Major League Baseball must address the team’s short-term and long-term needs for home play just five months before the 2025 regular season starts.
Hurricane Milton was hailed as potentially one of the most devastating Florida storms in recent years, with communities ranging from Orlando to the north, Fort Myers to the south and Miami/Palm Beach to the east prepping for major damage. And while there was significant impact from Milton and its 120-mph winds, ranging from flooding and power outages to wind damage, the damage was less extensive than anticipated. That anticipation was felt in the baseball world, where player and coaches were sent home early and ballparks pressed into action as emergency facilities and staging areas for cleanup efforts.
The most significant damage encountered in the baseball world came not to spring-training facilities but to Tropicana Field, as 120-mph winds tore Teflon-coated fiberglass panels from the facility’s roof. The Rays are not set to play at the Trop until March 27—though a traditional March 25 exhibition tune-up at the Trop had not been announced—and the Rays are investigating options before announcing a game plan. An assessment may take weeks. In other words, don’t expect a quick decision.
Specifically, Hurricane Milton tore off most of the six acres of Teflon-coated fiberglass panels comprising the Tropicana Field roof. The panels and 180 miles of cables make up what the Rays call the world’s largest cable-supported roof—an impressive engineering feet, especially for a ballpark built in 1990, even if you’re not a fan of indoor baseball. The roof was designed to withstand hurricane-level winds of 115 mph, and while Hurricane Milton had diminished after reaching landfall—downgraded to a Category 1 storm by the time it reached much of Florida—it certainly had the power to wreak havoc on the Trop.
Hurricane #Milton has caused significant damage throughout our Florida service area, with damage to power equipment likely to be widespread. Expect an extended damage assessment period as our crews will have to navigate difficult terrain once conditions are safe to do so. pic.twitter.com/cC40A8X28a
— Duke Energy (@DukeEnergy) October 10, 2024
The first step for the Rays and MLB is to catalog the physical state of the facility; it initially appeared to be in good shape apart from the roof, though water and structural damage aren’t always readily apparent. Next will come the cleanup of the ballpark; as you can see from the photo above (courtesy of the St. Petersburgh Police), a lot of trash and roof fragments are strewn throughout the ballpark.
The Rays are slated to move to a new ballpark for the 2028 MLB season, located in a redevelopment of the Tropicana Field area. (The hurricane won’t impact that facility; a groundbreaking is expected in coming weeks.) If the Rays and the city, as expected, move forward with a repair of the roof, the team can’t play at the Trop while those repairs are being made, meaning at the least a temporary home will be needed. (No, the Trop can’t be used without a roof for one simple reason: the field level lacks any drainage capabilities, so the inevitable Florida afternoon rains will cause plenty of problems.)
This is where things get interesting. One option is for the team to keep playing past spring training at Charlotte Sports Park (above), the team’s spring home in Port Charlotte, into the regular season. That complex, as you’ll recall, was hit by Hurricane Ian and closed for spring training 2023 to address water-damage repairs, and right now the team and Charlotte County—the ballpark’s owner—are evaluating any potential damage from Hurricane Milton. Charlotte Sport Park is not particularly close to Tampa—it’s 80 miles from Tropicana Field to Charlotte Sports Park, 94 miles from downtown Tampa to Charlotte Sports Park—and Charlotte Sports Park is a small and not very expandable facility (unless you want to tear down the outfield Boardwalk and throw some bleachers in the left-field allegator pond), with a total capacity of 7,000.
Also sure to be part of the discussions: ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando’s Disney World (above). The team shifted spring-training operations there in 2023 after Hurricane Ian-related water damage forced the temporary closure of Charlotte Sports Park. Also, the team played two 2007 and 2008 series at The Stadium (the ballpark’s current moniker, formerly Cracker Jack Stadium and Champion Stadium). According to Disney, the double-decked facility sports 9,500 seats, four suites, other open-air suites and group spaces, and plenty of berm space, with a total capacity closer to 11,000. It also features a raft of parking and the kind of support facilities needed by an MLB team. It’s also marginally closer to Tampa Bay, a straight shot down I-4: 68 miles from downtown Tampa to WWoS, 90 miles from the Trop to WWoS. And, of course, it opens the entire Orlando area as a potential fan base.
But let’s play what-if and consider things more on a long-term basis: What if the Trop roof can’t be fixed expeditiously or affordably? That means the team needs a home between March 27, 2025 and the launch of the 2028 season (at the earliest). We saw what happened with the Athletics, with the team ownership deciding to play out of an MiLB ballpark in Sacramento until a new Las Vegas ballpark opens. We also saw the Toronto Blue Jays play at Dunedin’s TD Ballpark and Buffalo’s Sahlen Field (above) until COVID travel restrictions were lifted. So there’s precedent for the team playing in an MiLB ballpark on a multi-year basis. And we don’t see the team moving out of the Tampa/Orlando area. Despite some past flirtations with Montreal, it’s hard to see a full-time shift to Olympic Stadium over several seasons (though, admittedly, we’d love to see a series or two north of the border!).
The Trop was the Florida baseball facility most damaged by Hurricane Milton. The hardest-hit spring-training facility, it seems, was Bradenton’s LECOM Park, spring home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The outfield fence was torn down by the heavy winds, as was the mesh shade awning sitting above the left-field bleachers. At nearby Pirate City, an outfield fence and batter’s eye was taken down by the heavy winds. Nothing, it seems, that can’t be addressed by February. We review all the spring-training facilities impacted by the storm at Spring Training Online.