Rays' home can't be fixed in time for '25 season
The city of St. Petersburg said damage from Hurricane Milton to Tropicana Field can be fixed for $55.7M but the stadium won't be ready until the 2026 season.www.espn.com
Oh God... St. Pete is gonna cheapskate out of this aren't they?
The city does have an insurance claim for the damage and repairs, but it includes a $22 million deductible and probably would cover only part of the overall costs. That means taxpayer dollars would have to be used.
That’s a ton of money for a stadium that will be in use for only 2-3 more seasons.
But this is not a simple decision to either spend or save for the St. Petersburg City Council. The Rays and the city have a use agreement that, for more than 25 years, was so ironclad that the Rays were tethered to an unattractive ballpark with an underwhelming history of attendance.
And now, in the final years of that use agreement, the dynamics have completely turned. The agreement says it is the city’s responsibility to provide the team with an MLB-quality stadium, and St. Pete could face significant monetary damages if it chooses not to repair the Trop.
In other words, the city could be on the hook for a lot of money either way.
So does the council want to spend money to fix Tropicana Field and keep an MLB team in town, or does it want to hand that money over to the Rays as they potentially pack their bags and relocate to Nashville or some other ambitious market?
Since the stadium is named after Steinbrenner, the possibility of selling some short term naming rights for the stadium now exists as well, which would create some revenue.The Yankees will receive about $15 million in revenue for hosting the Rays, a person familiar with the arrangement told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because that detail was not announced. The money won’t come from Tampa Bay but from other sources, such as insurance.