The Tampa Bay Rays aren’t going far to play their home games in 2025 as Tropicana Field undergoes hurricane repairs – though they will be inhabiting the longtime spring home of their division rivals.
The Rays announced Thursday that they will play their 2025 games at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field, the spring-training home of the New York Yankees with a capacity of around 11,000 fans.
For the first and perhaps only time in their history, the Rays will play home games in Tampa proper, having occupied St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field since their inaugural season of 1998. And they have received preliminary approval to build a new stadium next to the Trop in time for the 2028 season.
But after Hurricane Milton did significant damage to Tropicana Field – most notably shredding its roof, a crucial blow for a facility with no drainage system – the Rays needed a place to play in 2025. The team and Pinellas County estimated earlier this week it would cost $55 million for repairs – for the 2026 season.
In Steinbrenner Field, the Rays get a relatively major league-ready facility with more capacity than most spring training homes, while remaining in their home area. They will have to battle the elements – searing heat and humidity as early as late April, and thunderstorms throughout the summer – as they bunk with the Yankees’ Class A Tampa Tarpons minor league squad.
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But as stopgaps go, it could be worse.
‘We deeply appreciate that the Yankees have graciously allowed us to play at Steinbrenner Field for the 2025 season,’’ Rays Principal Owner Stuart Sternberg said in a prepared statement. ‘The hurricane damage to Tropicana Field has forced us to take some extraordinary steps, just as Hurricanes Helene and Milton have forced thousands of families and businesses in our community to adapt to new circumstances as we all recover and rebuild.’’
Remarkably, two major league teams will play in minor league facilities in 2025, one due to natural disasters, the other a creation of ownership. The Athletics will play the first of at least three seasons at a Class AAA ballpark in West Sacramento, with a capacity of close to 14,000, as they attempt to build a new stadium in Las Vegas.
The Rays considered several in-state options, with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred loosely hoping for a December resolution to their temporary home. The Atlanta Braves’ former spring complex at Walt Disney World near Orlando was a viable option, and the logistically-troubling notion of playing some home games at Miami’s loanDepot park was mulled.
Yet Steinbrenner Field continues to renovate and modernize and will certainly get a nice touch-up to create a regular-season, major league experience for both the Rays, opposing teams and fans.
The Yankees have trained in Tampa since 1996 and also had multiple spring-training stints in St. Petersburg. They first decamped to Florida for spring training in 1919.
And Tampa has been the Yankees’ de facto southern headquarters for decades; an area high school is named after late owner George Steinbrenner.
‘We are happy to extend our hand to the Rays and their fans by providing a Major League-quality facility for them to utilize this season,’ said chairman Hal Steinbrenner. “Both the Yankees organization and my family have deep roots in the Tampa Bay region, and we understand how meaningful it is for Rays players, employees and fans to have their 2025 home games take place within 30 minutes of Tropicana Field.
‘In times like these, rivalry and competition take a back seat to doing what’s right for our community — which is continuing to help families and businesses rebound from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.’
As Milton made its way through the Tampa Bay area and onward to wreak havoc in North Carolina, the shredded Tropicana Field roof became a symbol of the hurricane’s damage. The disaster may also complicate funding for the Rays’ new stadium, as votes to initiate bonds for $600 million in public funds from Pinellas County and St. Petersburg were delayed last month, and the political complexion of both municipalities has since changed with last week’s election.
The new Rays stadium is slated to be the $1.3 billion centerpiece of the Gas Plant District redevelopment in St. Petersburg.
This story has been updated with new information
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