Imagine owning a sports franchise worth $1.25 billion. You’ve worked for years on a new ballpark plan, finally proposing redevelopment everyone likes. One hurricane and one election later, and suddenly your current home is trashed and the future home is in doubt. Welcome to the joys of owning the Tampa Bay Rays.
Even before the first pitch of spring training 2025 and less than a month from the formal end of the 2024 season, the future of the Tampa Bay Rays is in serious doubt. As we’ve documented, Hurricane Milton ripped the roof from Tropicana Field, forcing the Rays to move to Steinbrenner Field for the 2025 season.
The assumption all along was that the team could move back to a repaired Tropicana Field for the 2026 season while focusing on development of a new adjoining ballpark and the Historic Gas Plant District. The Tampa Bay Rays and Hines would lead the development, with the Rays promising $700 million toward the new ballpark, with Pinellas County issuing $312.5 million in bonds and St. Petersburg issuing $287.5 million in bonds. Agreements were reached, commitments were made, plans were made.
Then it all collapsed.
St. Petersburg went through the unusual step of first approving and then canceling a $26.5-million plan to repair the roof and address other facility issues caused by Hurricane Milton. Whether this would be enough was questioned by many, but it would have allowed prep on Tropicana Field repairs to begin or a 2026 return. The repairs, by the way, are mandated by the Rays’ lease for the ballpark.
But after the Rays ownership expressed some doubt on the viability for a St. Petersburg ballpark, the city not only delayed a vote on bonding for the Historic Gas Plant District (more on that in a minute) but then withdrew approval of the Tropicana Field repairs. In essence, the city and the Rays could tear up the remainder of the Tropicana Field lease, with St. Pete cutting a settlement check to the team. From the Tampa Bay Times:
But following the decision to delay deciding on the bonds and talk of the stadium deal being in peril, [Councillor Brandi] Gabbard said that with “even greater uncertainty” about the team’s future in St. Petersburg she wanted to reconsider the Trop vote. “I’m not quite ready to put $22 million towards something with an entity we may never have a deal with again,” she said.
[Rays president Brian Auld], who attended the meeting and answered questions, said after the first vote that the Rays are skeptical about the planned repairs being completed on time, which would be more problematic for the team than not making the repairs at all. That’s because the Rays would have to prepare for the additional contingency of the park not being ready by making arrangements for an alternate home, which would require more costs and resources.
“I would say that the challenge of being ready for 2026 is enormous. … “ Auld said. “If I was confident the Trop could be ready by 2026, I would be strongly in favor of improving it.’’
This doesn’t mean all talk of repairs are dead; the issue will be negotiated in December. One big factor is how much insurance and FEMA money is available for repairs. In the end, it may be cheaper for the city to let the Rays walk and tear down the Trop, especially with the future of the team in Tampa Bay in doubt.
Put into context, we have reached the finger-pointing stage of the process: the Tampa Bay Rays halted work on the new ballpark and the surrounding Historic Gas Plant District, saying that the project didn’t make economic sense. With construction costs potentially rising and the team’s revenue expectations weakened, Rays management says they can’t make a new $1.3-billion Rays ballpark and $6-million-plus Historic Gas Plant District work.
But neither body moved forward with approving bonds. Pinellas County officials—perhaps a little salty that the Rays are playing temporarily in Hillsborough County and not at a Pinellas County ballpark like BayCare Ballpark or TD Ballpark—asked the Rays to state their intentions on the Historic Gas Plant District and new ballpark.
By Sunday.
Peters told the Tampa Bay Times she worked on the letter over the past few days with Assistant County Attorney Don Crowell. Due to Florida’s public meeting laws, Peters cannot communicate with other commissioners regarding items that would go before the board. She said she and County Administrator Barry Burton “talked extensively” about what was in the letter.
“They’re doing a lot of verbal statements and no one really knows what the true intent of those statements are,” Peters said, referring to the Rays. “If (team officials) put in writing they want out of the contract, the deal’s dead. It’s not dead on our side or on the city’s side.”
Following the letter’s release, four other commissioners — forming a decisive majority — said they agreed with Peters’ ultimatum.
Now, we’re not going to do a deep dive into the politics of Pinellas County (it’s Florida, after all!), but suffice it to say the incoming commission is not a fan of the new ballpark. Two new commissioners swung the margin from a pro-ballpark lineup to an anti-ballpark majority. Is it all over but the shouting?
While we’re not a fan of discussing potential team moves—after all, MLB teams rarely move and Commissioner Rob Manfred, to his credit, does work to exhaust every local remedy to keep a team in its current market—we’re now at the point where the Rays are surely reviewing alternatives to keeping the team in Tampa Bay. We’re not sure Tampa Bay is the worst MLB market out there and a new Rays ballpark could potentially revive the team’s bottom line. But it’s not necessarily a great market, either.
So the three bodies will continue to talk. Meanwhile, the Rays and MLB will need to consider what a post-Trop future looks like. We have been hearing that MLB doesn’t want to see the team playing more than a single season at Steinbrenner Field, which means that if the Trop is not available, it means the potential move of the team from Tampa Bay. That opens the door for Montreal and Nashville interests to step forward to either buy the team outright or brought on as investors. (Yes, investors will likely determine a potential new home for the franchise, not the availability of a minor-league home.) You thought things were unsettled a month ago? They’re even more topsy-turvy now.