Tampa Bay Rays appear “certain” they won’t be able to play at Tropicana Field in early 2025

According to Marc Topkin of Tampabay.com, the Tampa Bay Rays appear to be “certain” that they will not be able to play at Tropicana Field to begin 2025. The question going forward will be whether the team will be able to play at Tropicana Field at all next year — or for the next three until they move into their new building in 2028.

This is all a result of the damage Tropicana Field sustained last week during Hurricane Milton. The fiberglass roof was almost completely torn off and there was also damage to the interior of the park. It will take weeks to fully assess the damage and determine the best path forward.

According to Topkin:

The only thing that seems certain is that the team will not be able to open the 2025 Major League Baseball season at home on March 27 as scheduled.

Where the Rays will play, how long they will be relocated for and what repairs, other than a new, custom-made roof, will be needed to return to Tropicana Field — pending the scheduled opening of their new stadium on an adjacent site in 2028 — are among the myriad things that they don’t know. But I hope we can deal with it in the coming weeks.

With the Rays moving to a new stadium in 2028, the matter becomes even more complicated. The city of St. Petersburg – and the Rays – may not want to spend the huge millions to repair the building since the Rays are moving elsewhere soon. If the Rays need a new home in the short or long term, there are options we’ve discussed here.

These include the team’s spring training home in Port Charlotte or the Yankees’ spring training home in Tampa. They could also temporarily relocate to Durham (home of their Triple-A stadium) or play in Nashville or Charlotte, two markets that were looking to showcase themselves as potential major league cities.

Topkin even mentions the idea of ​​Montreal, which the Rays had already approached with the idea of ​​a “split season” a few years ago.

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