For those of you who thought that the Tampa Bay Rays getting a new stadium was a done deal, well… not quite yet.
This week the Rays released updated designs of their proposed new stadium for St. Petersburg to replace their current home, Tropicana Field. And, as always, ballpark designs always look great. But the story isn’t the design. Even as far along in this current new stadium process as we are, the real story is that it’s still not a done deal.
On May 10th, St. Petersburg officials said they wanted more time to review the ballpark plans, and decided to delay a meeting about it. Which then pushed a vote on the project to a later date – as early as July, but who knows if that will happen. Which means that a new ballpark in St. Petersburg, protected for 2028, is still not a thing.
You know the story. Tropicana Field (originally the Florida Suncoast Dome) was built in 1990, pretty much for the purpose of luring the Chicago White Sox to relocate to the Tampa Bay area. When that failed, the people of St. Petersburg had a dome… with no tenant. There were subsequent misses when the Tampa/St. Pete area lost out on its expansion bid to the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies, followed by relocation flirtations with the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners.
But in 1995 the Rays were awarded to the Tampa market, and they started play in 1998.
So now, the Trop is 34 years old, and is MLB’s eighth oldest ballpark by age. The ballparks that were built before it are grouped into four categories: historic (Fenway, Wrigley, Dodger Stadium), renovated (Rogers Centre), in discussion of being replaced (Kauffman, Angel Stadium), or in the process of being turned into a temporary Halloween pop up store (Oakland Coliseum). And we know that the Trop is not Fenway, Wrigley, or Dodger Stadium.
Which means the writing is on the wall.
There’s no question that the Trop is not one of MLB’s better ballparks. There are many who rank it as the worst ballpark in the league (they are, of course, wrong: that is definitively the Oakland Coliseum). And there’s no arguing that a new stadium is probably necessary for the Rays to be successful.
And yet here’s the reality. We know the Trop well, and can tell you that the Rays have done more to create a good experience in that building than other teams with far more resources have done to improve their own ballparks. And they’ve put a quality team on the field, with winning records for six years running.
But the fans don’t come. They have not averaged more than 20,000 fans per game since 2010. If it’s the location (St. Petersburg), nothing will change about that if they build a new stadium on the exact same site. And it’s not team performance – like we said, that’s been good.
So it’s the ballpark? Ok… I guess we’ll believe you. But we’re not completely sold. The Blue Jays have been playing in the less than modern Rogers Centre (recently renovated) for quite some time, but if you take out the two Covid years, the Blue Jays have averaged more than 28,000 fans in nine of the last 10 years.
So what’s next? Who knows. But something is going to break sooner rather than later. MLB wants to expand, but they can’t do so while there are still franchises that need the threat of relocation as a bargaining chip for a new ballpark. At some point the owners will just move an existing team (while adding on a massive relocation fee), and then reset the field for expansion. With Nashville talking to the White Sox, and Montreal, Charlotte, Salt Lake City, and Portland seemingly always in the mix, the clock may be ticking on the Tampa/St. Pete experiment.
For you, it means that there’s at least three more seasons after this one before a new ballpark will be completed in Tampa… unless they relocate before that. So if you want to see the Trop (which we think you should), we’d suggest getting it on your travel agenda in the next year or two. Need some pointers? Check out our Insider Guide to Tropicana Field.
