After what seems like several lifetimes of the Tampa Bay Rays trying to get a new stadium, the St. Pete City Council signed off on a new stadium deal this week, ensuring that the Rays will be staying in the Tampa/St. Pete area for the next 30 years.
The details:
- Location: same place as the current Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg
- It will be a domed stadium, of course – Tampa isn’t getting any cooler or less rainy during the summer.
- The capacity will be around 30,000, far smaller than the 43,000 capacity of Tropicana Field (where the upper deck is almost always closed, so it hasn’t really operated at 43,000).
- Expected opening: 2028 season
That last point is the one to pay attention to: with 2024 already being ⅔ over, most fans will have three full seasons to visit the Trop. According to multiple sources, the team will continue to play there until the new stadium is completed.
So, if you haven’t been to the Trop yet, and you want to go to see your team there, you’re on the clock. Of course with the new schedule matrix, all American League teams will play at the Trop every year, so if you’re an AL team follower, you’ve got at least three seasons to make that trip happen. Plus the Miami Marlins will be there each year as part of their annual intraleague series.
But if your team is in the NL, then you’ll have fewer opportunities.
The following teams will be scheduled to play at Tampa in 2025 and 2027:
- Atlanta Braves
- Colorado Rockies
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Milwaukee Brewers
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- St. Louis Cardinals
The following teams will only play at Tampa in 2026:
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Chicago Cubs
- Cincinnati Reds
- New York Mets
- San Francisco
- San Diego Padres
- Washington Nationals
With the 2025 schedule being announced this week, if you’ve got the Trop on your hit list, you might want to grab a refundable hotel reservation just in case if your team is heading to Tampa next year. You never know if the schedule will work for you in future years, so if 2025 looks like a possibility, we say you should try to make it happen.
And on that note, yes, we do think that visiting the Trop is something you should do. Yes, it’s an outdated ballpark, but there are plenty of reasons to go check it out if you’ve never seen it. Take a look at our Insider Guide to Tropicana Field for everything you need to know about seeing baseball in St. Pete.
