1:07pm: Main League Baseball issued the next assertion within the wake of the Rays’ announcement:
“Main League Baseball stays dedicated to discovering a everlasting residence for the Membership within the Tampa Bay area for his or her followers and the local people. Commissioner Manfred understands the frustration of the St. Petersburg group from as we speak’s announcement, however he’ll proceed to work with elected officers, group leaders, and Rays officers to safe the membership’s future within the Tampa Bay area.”
10:58am: Because the Rays proceed to take care of the lasting impression of damages to Tropicana Subject throughout Hurricane Milton, proprietor Stu Sternberg introduced this morning that his membership will not be transferring ahead with the earlier tentative plans to assemble a brand new ballpark in St. Petersburg. The workforce’s assertion reads as follows:
“As all of us get better from impacts of the hurricanes, we’re extremely grateful for the help from our followers and the broader Tampa Bay group. … After cautious deliberation, we’ve got concluded that we can not transfer ahead with the brand new ballpark and improvement venture at this second. A collection of occasions starting in October that nobody may have anticipated led to this troublesome choice.
Our dedication to the vitality and success of the Rays group is unwavering. We proceed to give attention to discovering a ballpark resolution that serves the most effective pursuits of our area, Main League Baseball and our group. The Metropolis of St. Petersburg is presently advancing plans to revive Tropicana Subject for the 2026 season. We’re grateful for his or her efforts and are excited to return to our residence subject subsequent spring.”
Final summer time, the Rays reached a tentative settlement to assemble a brand new $1.3 billion stadium — half of a bigger $6.5 billion redevelopment venture within the historic Fuel Plant District website close to the prevailing Tropicana Subject. The closed-roof, 30,000-seat stadium was set to open in 2028, and the event plan had been agreed upon by the Rays, Pinellas County and the Metropolis of St. Petersburg. The town council and county fee nonetheless wanted to log off on the plan, and varied benchmarks wanted to be hit alongside the way in which to make sure the stadium plans would stay on monitor.
Mom nature, after all, had different intentions. Hurricane Milton wrought immense injury on Tropicana Subject, leaving the Rays with out a place to play for at the very least the 2025 season whereas they evaluated the price of repairing Tropicana Subject’s shredded roof. The Yankees agreed to permit the Rays to host their residence video games at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Subject — residence of the workforce’s Class-A affiliate — for the upcoming 2025 marketing campaign. That plan stays in place.
Even a short-term transfer to a location exterior of Pinellas County rankled some on the county fee, nonetheless. The time wanted to kind out logistical nightmare stemming from the hurricane damages, coupled with November election cycles that modified the composition of the boards set to approve the mandatory bonds to maneuver ahead with the venture, led to delays in what was already a tightly scheduled improvement plan for the brand new facility. These delays additionally finally led to a contentious back-and-forth between the Rays (Sternberg and president Matt Silverman) and Pinellas County that has performed out over the offseason. Sternberg acknowledged again in November that relocation was a potential consequence in gentle of renewed squabbles with native authorities.
The abandonment of the exiting plan for the 2028 stadium and surrounding improvement comes towards the newer backdrop of reported strain from not solely different house owners but in addition MLB commissioner Rob Manfred for Sternberg to promote the franchise. Evan Drellich of The Athletic wrote over the weekend that Main League Baseball hopes to maintain the Rays in Florida, with a give attention to both remaining in St. Petersburg or developing a brand new facility in Ybor Metropolis close to downtown Tampa — a location the Rays have beforehand explored. Orlando has additionally been talked about instead, per Drellich.
At this juncture, the workforce’s focus is clearly on returning to Tropicana Subject for the 2026 marketing campaign. That appears a short-term resolution, at finest, nonetheless. The Rays’ lease at their longtime residence solely runs by the 2027 season. The now-scrapped development of their new Fuel Plant District residence was set to dovetail with the expiration of their lease at Tropicana Subject. Each Drellich and ESPN’s Jeff Passan have reported inside the previous week that there are potential consumers lining up within the occasion the franchise is put up on the market, however Sternberg has prior to now made clear that he doesn’t intend to promote the membership.
“If it was (on the market), folks would realize it,” Sternberg instructed Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Instances final month. “I’ve all the time been, and I’ll proceed to be, fairly clear about our intentions. And fairly — not fairly — however very trustworthy about them. And I’ve been.”
