Photo: Getty Images
The Tampa Bay Rays will be forced to play their home games away from Tropicana Field during the 2025 MLB season as it continues to undergo repairs stemming from Hurricane Milton, according to the damage assessment report sent to St. Petersburg City Council members obtained by the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday (November 12).
The report estimates that repairs to Tropicana Field will run through 2026 and cost $39 million, as well as an additional $16 million in costs including "design, permitting, insurance, inspection, staffing and construction contingencies," the Tampa Bay Times reported. Replacing the Trop's roof alone is estimated to account for $23.6 million in costs.
Getty Images shared several photos of Tropicana Field on October 10, which showed the stadium's roof torn open in the daylight. The translucent, teflon-coated fiber glass roof was blown off as Hurricane Milton hit the western coast of Florida as a Category 3 storm.
Several videos shared online showed Hurricane Milton tearing off the stadium's roof on the night of October 9.
Tropicana Field, which initially opened as the Florida Suncoast Dome in 1990, has served as the home of the Tampa Bay Rays since their MLB expansion season in 1998. Several MLB spring training stadiums are located in and near the metro Tampa and St. Petersburg areas, while the Rays could also consider their own spring training facility in Port Charlotte located approximately 90 minutes from Tropicana Field.
The Rays are also set to build a new ballpark in the Downtown St. Petersburg area by the 2028 season.