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. (more…)
Hurricane Milton not only tore the roof off Tropicana Field: It upended all planning for a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark, potentially killing a St. Pete facility, and forcing the team to play the 2025 season at the minor-league Steinbrenner Field. (more…)
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. (more…)
With Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida, the baseball world is sending home players and staffers and hunkering down for one of the most severe storms to ever slam the state. (more…)
As we approach the 2024 MLB season, we’re taking a different approach to our ballpark coverage. We begin with American League East ballparks, as Natty Boh returns to Oriole Park, Fenway Park adds Irish nachos, the Yankees add a slew of offerings from celebrity chefs, and Tropicana Field sees a revamped turf field. (more…)
The Tampa Bay Rays unveiled a financing plan for a new St. Petersburg ballpark to replace Tropicana Field, with the facility serving as the centerpiece of a $6-billion development. (more…)
The Tampa Bay Rays and developer Hines announced a deal with the City of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County for a 86-acre redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant site, complete with a $1.3-billion new Rays ballpark that commits the team to the market for 30 years. (more…)
New Tampa Bay Rays ballpark talks with both Hillsborough County and St. Petersburg appear to be intensifying, with both sides apparently buying into the concepts floated by the MLB team. (more…)
We’re not entirely sure if there are deeper meanings here, but so far this year the Tampa Bay Rays are the surprise team in baseball, posting the best record on the field and enjoying a 28 percent boost at the box office. (more…)
After revising RFP requirements for Tropicana Field redevelopment in August, the city of St. Petersburg received four proposals from developers, including a pitch from the Tampa Bay Rays and developer Hines. (more…)
A bidding process to redevelop the 86-acre Tropicana Field site has been scrapped by St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, with the intention of reopening the bidding to include a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark. (more…)
If you’ve been reading our stories on the Tampa Bay Rays ballpark drama, you’ve seen we’ve been noting how the stars are aligning for a new-facility push. And so it begins during the 2021 MLB playoffs. (more…)
St. Petersburg has received eight proposals for a development of the 86-acre Tropicana Field site, as the city looks at the future of a downtown gateway with or without Tampa Bay Rays baseball. (more…)
