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If you remember back in 1994, the Kingdome in Seattle the roof tiles started falling down a few hours before a Mariners game & had to cancel that game. The Mariners had to play their home games on the road for the last few weeks of the 1994 season. I believe they played at their opponent’s home ballpark. That was the very first indication that the Mariners needed a new home ballpark or the owners would move the team.
There was some talk that the M's could have played their remaining home games at BC Place in Vancouver that year, but the players union nixed the idea because it was uncertain if a baseball layout there would have met the standards of the MLB.
As I'm living in Québec and following the local news, Olympic Stadium is in the process of having its roof being fixed (again) with every bit of baseball related facilities being removed. So it will not be baseball ready and by the looks of it, it will never be.
Given that the actual turnout is more like 5,000 a game because most Rays fans don't live on that side of town, I think they could benefit from moving to Steinbrenner as you mentioned. If they stay put, I'd like to see them convert the Trop into an outdoor stadium for the time being considering they aren't spending too long there anyway. Saves on money and I think everyone wins. If the typical Florida rainstorms truly were an issue for MLB, there wouldn't be minor league baseball teams located in tropical Florida. Not only that but the Florida Marlins played with no roof for years. Weather is not a factor with regards to Tropicana Field being a dome.
The Rays playing 90 minutes away from St. Pete in Kissimmee is actually as positive and gives easier access to more people haha. They may actually have fans show up to games!
They’ll fix the Trop and play there again. If it’s not done in time, I see the Rays bouncing around the early part of next season between their spring training facility in Port Charlotte, Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, and the ESPN field in Orlando. If it goes late into the season, they’ll play in Miami when the Marlins aren’t home.
I'm a fan of the Ray's and live nearby and this was hard to see, and I don't know what's going to happen. Everyone makes fun of the stadium and that's ok. But in South Florida for 80 games you need a dome, you need rain protection, you need a/c. The owner doesn't have the money to repair the stadium let alone come up with his share of the new stadium costs ($750 mil) He will need to fire sale the team is my prediction, and the new owners will take the team somewhere else unfortunately. Charlotte or Nashville
They go that route, don't rule out SLC. Public funding and a site have all ready been secured, and the As where recently looking at playing in the new triple A stadium Big League Utah built. I do think it's more likely ownership finds a way to keep them in Florida somewhere
It’s amazing how after the wave of new ballparks/arenas so many pro teams are finding themselves playing in such goofy places today like the athletics, coyotes, rays etc
Exactly. Insurance companies have increased premiums by a lot. That assumes a Florida resident can get that insurance. It's also a certainty that an insurer will find any way possible to not pay out.
@@CarlCrispIsn’t that what those companies are doing now? They got their money, now they’re folding up shop leaving people stuck with sticks & stones. This could be the start of an exodus out of that section of Florida.
Honestly, the Yankees spring training facility across from Buccaneers NFL stadium is the best option for playing future games and was the BEST option for Ray's permanent stadium and entertainment district. Back in the day, that area on Dale Mabry was popping. You had Tampa Stadium, Tampa Bay Mall, next door, dive bars, titty bars (Mons Venus) restaurants, airport nearby, and car dealershis. 😊
Its a tough question for me as a Rays fan. I think we have no choice but to repair it. These temporary options will not work. We MUST have a roof or we wont play a single home game in June July and August because every game will get rained out. If it's not ready, play at Disney but the trop MUST be done by June. What ever they do, DO NOT play in Montreal at all (would be a PR nightmare after the owner tried to make us share the team with them), and DO NOT play in Oakland beyond maybe 1 homestand
With this it makes me curious to know if the Rays ownership could use this a rationale to relocate to another part of the country since relocation seems to be popular in regards to ownership.
If the Rays can’t figure out this situation my guess is that they play at either Steinbrenner field in Tampa or the ESPN complex in Disney going to Montreal or Oakland temporarily while the new stadium is being built would be insanely stupid
Minneapolis rebuilt the canopy roof of the metrodome in the offseason. The Georgia Dome also had a partial destructuon of the roof due to a tornado. They replaced it. No reason for this to be complicated.
This is not the problem that is being portrayed in the video. I do not know why Tropicana field has always gotten bad publicity from the day that Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater was considered to be a location for an MLB franchise.
There's one possibility that, while unlikely, you neglected to mention: the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina. The stadium was expressly built to be brought up to MLB-level capacity during one off-season, and to serve as the temporary home of a relocated MLB franchise. With the Carolina Mudcats A-level franchise moving from the territory, Tampa will have an exclusive option to the territory thanks to their operational agreements with their AAA-level affiliate, the Durham Bulls. If for whatever reason they can't find a local solution that passes muster? They'd have the option of playing in Durham, indefinitely.
If I were a betting man, I'd say Orlando is the most realistic option if they can't fix the Trop's roof. They play a few lame duck seasons over there, as they demolish, and then build new on the site of the Trop.
If they need to I think Steinbrenner makes the most sense for all the reasons you listed. But I think Champs Stadium isn’t a bad idea either. I’m sure theirs a lot of Rays fans in Orlando who would love to be able to see their team play at Disney World
Steinbrenner Field hosts the Tampa Tarpons of the Florida State League and the Gulf Coast Yankees of the Florida Complex League, so it would actually be three teams sharing the facility if the Rays move in there, although the Gulf Coast Yankees season only runs from May to July. If the Rays move in, move the minor league Yankees to USF's stadium, and let the Tarpons play day games at Steinbrenner while the Rays play at night. I'm sure the Savannah Bananas have sold out or were close to being sold out - the only other venue of comparable capacity in the area would be Raymond James Stadium. One of the lines will be limited to about 250-260 feet.
I wrote a longer reply on another comment saying this but it won't happen because Québecers don't care about baseball. It would be the smallest market in terms of fans and it would take a great team to build up baseball culture here. Fact is 80% of sports fans here are hockey fans, then basketball is second most popular, then football, then by far the least popular is baseball.
FWIW, the Rays play in St. Pete, not Tampa. So, it's not a question of whether they have played their last game in Tampa - they never played there in the first place. Beyond that, the Rays made the new stadium deal official on Wednesday, signing all the important documents with the City of St. Pete, so regardless if the team "has the money to fund the private financing portion" or not, that's a moot point given that all the legal documents are signed.
If the place is truly unplayable come opening day, I wonder if they'd play regular season games at their spring training facility in Port Charlotte, like the Blue Jays did in Dunedin in 2020. It would be the reverse of 2023 spring training, when they played Grapefruit League games at Tropicana when their Port Charlotte facility got smacked by Ian.
Capacity wouldn't be much... but it's also the Rays. If anyone could get away with playing regular season games in a ballpark of less than 10k, it's them
Maybe the Rays can play over at Nashville on a temporary field at Vanderbilt, while they can get more funding for a new stadium at Nashville for the next 3+ years.
I wouldn't count out the 2 stadiums.. yeah the schedules are set, but if you used both... how many times are both teams playing at home at the same time.. plus as the Jets/Giants show in NJ.. you can stagger the times a bit... team A @ 1pm and team B at 7pm... They do day/night DH's all the time for rainouts at other parks... Though if only for a week or two, Steinbrenner is probably best... though it does host an A ball team so it's not fully available.. (though fo A ball... there are back lots that can be played on).
Here is a question that people have not asked. Can the city, state or county force the Ray's to fix the roof? The lease states the Ray's are responsible for cost overruns, but what if the Ray's don't want to fix the roof? In regards to the Metrodome, the Twins were the 3rd tenant, behind the Vikings and even the Gophers. The college team had game day priority over the Twins, which on at least one occasion, resulted in a Twins game being suspended, so they could get things ready for a college football game.
I wonder if this could affect the plans for the new stadium as well? I imagine that no one wants to have the future liability of fixing the new stadium in case of another disaster on their hands.
Too bad the Rays old spring training home at Al Lang Stadium in Downtown St. Pete has been converted to soccer. That could have worked, it’s right down the street .
So they can't play in Kissimmee because it's an hour and a half away but playing in Oakland is OK? The last time I checked Florida and California are more than an hour and a half away from each other.
All the attention so far seems focused on the roof repairs, but how is the interior? I’m assuming that the interior of the Trop (chairs, electronics, etc) isn’t water resistant and it must have taken on quite a bit of rain too
Utah local and I love the ballpark and even love the idea of temporarily hosting big league ball but that's a long-ass way from Tampa and a completely different climate. If you've spent any time in Florida you know that indoors or out, the air is thicker and the ball just doesn't travel the same. Like at all.
There’s no possible way that the Trop doesn’t have insurance, it’ll be covered fully. Don’t think the rays have enough time to relocate before next season, unless they wanna play in a minor league field like the A’s and I don’t think they wanna do that
My guess is that, worst case scenario, they play the 2025 season away from Tampa Bay, but they have time to fix it up before then. My guess is that insurance will cover it enough to make it affordable to fix the roof and play games in there. The Rays may get some help from the local and state governments to repair the Trop in exchange for a greater team contribution to the new stadium.
One other factor not considered is the Rays are now also one of those “Ballyless” teams so they have to figure out their tv market. and lost revenue on top of this major disaster. If I had to guess I’d say Montreal is where they’d go. This city wants baseball back real bad so will do what it takes to get Olympic Stadium ready, a full MLB sized stadium, and a much easier to make tv deal.
This is just an idea for a solution, so please don't crucify me for putting it out there. But if the repairs take longer than expected would sharing the Marlins home at the other end of the state be an option? Or would the Rays look elsewhere for a temporary home? Or just start on the road for the first portion of next years schedule?
If it’s a simple fix and the money doesn’t get too messed up, Steinbrenner Field is an obvious short-term solution. If it’s going to be a full season or more, the Rays may as well abandon the future stadium plan and move. Not inconceivable the owners could come in and trump Fisher in Vegas and force MLB to confront the Sacramento problem. Also, not convinced that Miami or Atlanta are non-starters, teams fly charter so it’s a matter of resolving a few date conflicts and could use Steinbrenner, WWS, San Juan, Montreal, Charlotte, Nashville, Buffalo as single-series special sites. All comes down to the Rays’ commitment to St. Pete long term.
It’s not like the building collapsed! The fabric roof blew off in shreds. They could easily install a new one before next Spring if they wanted to. The only question is if the Rays ownership can somehow use this to threaten to leave and therefore extort the St. Pete taxpayers in some way.
Here some ideas crazy or not have the Rays play at either the Oakland Coliseum or Parc Olympic in Montreal until they get a new park built in Tampa Bay. Either way baseball has to make a decision for the Rays to play in a MLB park and not a minor league park and quick for the interim. Enough already with the minor league parks for big leaguers.
Everyone is writing this. Won't happen because of baseball's lack of popularity in Québec with it being by far the least popular sport. Every time a player from Québec gets called up several articles get written about it because that's how rare it is.
@somerandomguy5977 Baseball can work in Montreal, the Expos died because of rotten ownership (Jeffrey Loria was owner, and we saw what he did in Miami when he owned that team)
No one cares about baseball in Québec to the point where if a player from Québec makes it to the major leagues several articles get written about them. I wish it was different but hockey rules being by far the most popular sport here. Basketball is the second most popular, people don't care about football like Americans do, having it be #3 by far. Then multiply that distance by 100 and you have the popularity of baseball here. If Canada gets another team it will be the English part and if MLB is foolish enough to move a team to Montréal they will realize it was a mistake. For baseball to become relevant where it is irrelevant it would take a very good team that is successful for a long time. You can't stick a Pirates like team in the smallest market and hope for success.
Will the Orlando rumors begin anew? Unless local/county/state government agencies waive/speed up construction permits(will governor Ron DeSantis step in?)that have to be approved, that stadium isn't going to be ready in five months
Doubt it. The 2025 schedule is already been set and there would be overlapping home games between both teams. More likely if they stay in Florida they play in Orlando or Tampa Metro at a spring training field.
Since the 2025 MLB schedule is already set in stone, both the A's and Rays should suspend operations after that season until their respective new ballparks are built, and temporarily realign the league. I'm all but certain that MLB doesn't want two of its clubs playing in Triple-A parks long term, given that the NHL ran out of patience with the Arizona Coyotes playing at Mullett Arena. Also, MLB should consider opening the expansion process ASAP, especially if neither the A's or Rays' future ballpark plans get further derailed.
Florida is great for baseball. The Trop is way out of the way the Rays have great TV numbers and the Marlins have been run like shit for decades. You really think if they had a good team, paid players and didn't suck that a team based in Miami would be this unpopular?
I don't see them repairing the Trop...at least not to its former state. Tampa's already leaving, and the stadium already was arguably the worst in MLB. The catwalk. The weird feeling that ballgames are being played in an oversized tent. That cringe-inducing horn that they honk after every dinger. It just needs to go.
There is probably a clause in print so fine you need the Hubble Telescope to read it, that insurance will not pay any claim filed on a day of the week that ends in the letter Y.
@@davidlafleche1142It was the Braves' Spring Training facility until recently. Wide World of Sports is separate from the parks, it is designed primarily to draw youth teams in for tournaments who would generate demand for Disney-owned hotels. ESPN uses the arena at that site for Multi-Team Events for college basketball.
A better headline would have been, “Is Tampa Rays done in MLB?” Contract the Marlins and Rays. As a Phillies fan, I’m tired of big markets like mine paying 50 million a year to these teams in revenue sharing, and they continue to trade any great player nearing Free Agency.
They should have moved to East Rutherford before Giants Stadium was torn down.MLB would have established a fund to indemnify the Yankees and the Mets.MSG,in need of summer programming,would have built them a new stadium. I said this in 2009.
Hopefully, the insurance + any capital the rays have will be spent on a new stadium. Oh who am I kidding. They probably pocket the money and move to Vegas and still keep the name
The black business group should buy the rays.Move them to oakland let them play in the colosseum for a few years while they build the howard terminal and then change the name to the oakland oaks
You have to take those numbers into consideration. 16 thousand fans a game isn't bad for the Rays. They also do very well with TV ratings. Their low attendance has to do with poor location. It was been proven year after year that most Rays fans in Tampa Bay would rather watch from their home, bar or friend's place than drive an hour into traffic both ways.
The Metrodome was also at the end of it's life and they replaced the roof. I think the new stadium is stupid because location was the biggest issue with The Trop so they are building a new ballpark near the The Trop. If The Trop was in Tampa, not St. Petersburg, they would have significantly better attendance. Their attendance has also gone up in recent years. I'd say rebuild the roof and get your head out of your ass and build a new stadium in Tampa.
