Professional sports teams all too often rely on taxpayers to provide their stadiums.
That puts them at the mercy of a local government.
And a Florida sports team could be on the move after they got this rejection from the city council.
Tampa Bay Rays stadium deal up in the air after Hurricane Milton
Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Tampa Bay Rays are facing an uncertain future after their stadium was damaged in Hurricane Milton.
Wind from Milton that reached 100 miles per hour ripped the roof off of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida where the Rays call home.
The #Rays released photos of the damage inside Tropicana Field in the days following Hurricane Milton, and it’s catastrophic. pic.twitter.com/wmfccwjT1i
— Ryan Bass (@Ry_Bass) November 18, 2024
The stadium needed about $55 million worth of repairs to restore it.
Fixing Tropicana Field would result in the Rays spending the 2025 MLB season at a temporary stadium.
The team was scheduled to move into a new $1.3 billion stadium for the 2028 season paid for by the city of St. Petersburg.
Now the team’s future is up in the air after the St. Petersburg City Council reversed itself on paying for the repairs to Tropicana Field’s roof.
The City Council initially agreed to pay for the $23.7 million for the repairs and then reversed itself on a second vote.
Repairs to Tropicana Field will not be completed until 2026 so the team is spending next year playing at Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankee’s spring training stadium in Tampa.
The Rays agreed to pay $15 million to the Yankees for the use of their stadium next season.
St. Petersburg City Council also did not vote to authorize the bonds that would have been used to pay for the Rays’ new $1.3 billion stadium.
At least one city council member was salty over what the team was paying to play at Steinbrenner Field next season compared to what they would pay for the new stadium.
“I’m reading that the Rays will pay the Yankees $15 million to play over in Tampa, but they’re only paying the county $1 million a year if we build a new stadium,” District 3 Commissioner Vince Nowicki said during Tuesday’s meeting. “I mean how does that make you feel like, as a negotiator, like a fair deal, if they’re ready, willing and able to pay $15 million for a year, but yet pay the county a million dollars a year? I mean, to me, that’s like a bad deal, right?”
Rays face further chaos about its future
If repairs happen to Tropicana Field that could put the 2026 season for the Rays in jeopardy because of the delay in paying for them by the St. Petersburg City Council.
The city and the Rays must find a solution for paying for the repairs.
“I can’t say I’m confident about anything,” Rays co-president Brian Auld said about its stadium situation.
The new stadium in the Historic Gas Plant District of St. Petersburg could be delayed until 2029 if it ever gets built.
Rays leadership accused St. Petersburg of breaking its agreement with the team and announced they were backing out of the new stadium deal.
“The county’s failure to finalize the bonds last month ended the ability for a 2028 delivery of the ballpark. As we have made clear at every step of this process, a 2029 ballpark delivery would result in significantly higher costs that we are not able to absorb alone,” the Rays said in a statement.
The Tampa Bay Rays are facing an uncertain future with the questions growing about the team’s stadium situation.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
