St. Petersburg officials are in no rush to repair the dome.
These are difficult days if you are a fan of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays franchise. Last summer, it appeared that the Rays’ franchise owners and local politicians were on the same page and were about ready to proceed with getting all the documents signed and freeing up hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars with the intent of building a stadium-village on a parcel of land that presently houses the St. Petersburg stadium where Rays’ home games are played. But Hurricane Milton hit Florida’s west coast on October 9th and blew the roof off of the St. Petersburg stadium. At the same time, Rays’ ownership and local politicians had not yet signed off on the stadium-village plan.
Rays’ ownership decided to stay in the market and signed a deal to play in the New York Yankees’ spring training minor league facility in Tampa for 2025 after the roof blew off. The Rays’ ownership is not happy with the financial terms of the stadium-village and has not signed a deal to start construction of the new St. Petersburg stadium. Rays’ owners and St. Petersburg area politicians are still haggling over the cost with Rays’ ownership saying it needs more public money for the project. But there is now another problem. St. Petersburg City Administrator Rob Gerdes has told Rays’ ownership in a letter that the city of St. Petersburg is under no obligation to repair the stadium in time for opening day 2026. Rays’ ownership wants to play in the St. Petersburg stadium until the proposed stadium is completed. On December 30th, 2024, Rays’ president Matt Silverman wrote a letter to the city and said the business wants to return to the facility. It will cost at least $50 million to fix the roof but the stadium is scheduled to close after the 2027 season. The saga continues with the two sides butting heads.
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