ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — Repairing Tropicana Field could be an option, but with a new stadium coming by 2028, officials must decide if it's worth the cost.
The Rays have been silent on where they might play next season and beyond.
“I assume that MLB officials and Rays officials are freaking out about as much as you would expect they would," said Neil DeMause.
I talked with DeMause, who runs a website called Field of Schemes. He also co-authored a book by the same name and follows stadium sagas nationwide.
He says his guess at the leading candidates is Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, where the Yankees have Spring Training, and Wide World Of Sports at Disney.
“Neither is anything close to ideal, and either would have lots of scheduling issues.”
Along with Tampa and Orlando, there are minor league stadiums in Dunedin, Lakeland, and Bradenton.
And there is Al Lang Stadium, where the Rowdies play.
But it suffered damage during Hurricane Milton as well.
“You obviously want to be as close as you can to Tampa Bay so that your season ticket holders say hey I want to be refunded because I can’t drive to Jacksonville or something. At the same time, you want a decent capacity. You don’t want something that holds 3000 seats. And you want something that has some major league-ready facilities.”
The Oakland A’s are in a similar situation.
While they wait for their new stadium to be built in Las Vegas, the team will play in a minor league stadium in Sacramento for the time being.
Just after the storm, the Rays said they were "assessing the true condition of Tropicana Field."
In a statement Wednesday, the Rays said that they are "continuing to assess the extent of the damage to Tropicana Field caused by Hurricane Milton, a process that is expected to take several weeks."
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he hopes the Rays stay in the Tampa Bay market, but DeMause says he doesn’t think anything is completely off the board.
“I would put my money on one of the minor league facilities in the Tampa Bay Area but I wouldn’t put a lot of money on it.”
Opening Day is 155 days away.
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