The quest spanning two decades to find a new residence for the Tampa Bay Rays has drawn to a close due to a favorable vote on stadium-approval by authorities in Pinellas County.
In the later hours of Tuesday, the county’s commission granted approval by a vote of 5 to 2 to allocate $312.5 million towards the development of a 30,000-seat fixed-roof stadium as part of a broader initiative to rejuvenate St. Petersburg’s Historic Gas Plant District. The final vote on the allocation of funds for district redevelopment was also successful.
The Rays, said to be investing $700 million, have set their sights on unveiling the $1.4 billion venue by the commencement of the 2028 MLB season. Their existing lease for Tropicana Field, which will be demolished once the new stadium is operational, expires after the 2027 season.
“Today marks a significant milestone for our franchise, our supporters, and the whole Tampa Bay area—the Rays are firmly rooted in St. Petersburg,” stated Stuart Sternberg, principal owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, in a press release. “We eagerly anticipate the creation of the finest neighborhood ballpark in Major League Baseball.”
The decision by the county arrives almost a fortnight following the narrow approval by the St. Petersburg City Council to allot $287.5 million for stadium construction and infrastructure, with $130 million allocated for road and sewer construction.
The Gas Plant Stadium, currently dubbed the project, will be erected adjacent to Tropicana Field and is envisioned as the focal point of the Historic Gas Plant District. Once a domain primarily inhabited by an African American community before being razed to clear space for “The Trop,” the Historic Gas Plant District is scheduled to encompass residential units (including housing for seniors), a 750-room hotel, 1.5 million square feet of office space, a library, a structure for either childcare or preschool services, and a museum.
While the elected commissioners of Pinellas County did not scrutinize the deal as intensely as the St. Petersburg City Council, the approval vote was not a surefire success. As per a report by the Tampa Bay Times on July 25, two commissioners (both Republicans) raised significant queries that necessitated answers. Dave Eggers expressed apprehension about St. Petersburg selling the land to the Rays below market value, and whether the county had sufficient funds to fortify its beaches against future hurricanes. Chris Latvala pondered whether Rays owner Stuart Sternberg would attempt to divest the team, the developmental rights for the stadium, or both following the approval of stadium funding.
Emerged as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998, the franchise has called Tropicana Field its sole home throughout its existence. The stadium was inaugurated in 1990 as the Florida Suncoast Dome in a bid to entice other MLB franchises. The Chicago White Sox were the initial team courted to relocate to central Florida, but officials from Illinois and Chicago opted to finance the construction of the “new” Comiskey Park (now Guaranteed Rate Field), which opened in 1991.
In 1992, investors from the Tampa area acquired the San Francisco Giants with intentions to move them south before the move was prevented by other National League team owners, including the late Wayne Huizenga, who owned Miami’s NL expansion team, the Florida Marlins, that debuted in 1993.
The city’s NHL franchise, the Tampa Bay Lightning, spent its second and third seasons at the stadium, which was renamed the “ThunderDome” and revamped for hockey, until the present-day Amalie Arena was unveiled in 1996.
Since “The Trop” is situated in St. Petersburg rather than Tampa proper, a persistent criticism of the stadium has been its distance from the majority of Rays fans and the absence of feasible mass transit options that could render the journey from Tampa worthwhile. The discontent towards Tropicana Field doesn’t end there, with the dreary interior, the slanted roof, and the renowned catwalks that redefined certain home runs as ground-rule doubles solidifying the stadium’s reputation as one of the most subpar ballparks in MLB.
Various attempts to develop a substitute for “The Trop” were met with setbacks, notably the Ybor City endeavor in Tampa that encountered insufficiency in crucial governmental endorsements in 2018. In 2022, MLB discarded the widely criticized “Sister City” proposal by the Rays, where the team would have divided its home matches between St. Petersburg and Montreal, marking baseball’s return to the Canadian city since the relocation of the Expos to Washington, D.C., in 2006.
The Gas Plant Stadium will feature contemporary facilities akin to nearly every other MLB venue and improved sightlines due to the reduced seating capacity of 15,000 compared to “The Trop.” Tropicana Field, which debuted with over 45,000 seats, currently has an official capacity of 25,025 seats after the Rays closed off its upper decks.
Regarding the team’s performance on the field, despite being 3.5 games behind for a wild card spot in the American League prior to their Tuesday night game, the Rays have been gearing up for sell-offs in preparation for the 6 p.m. Eastern trade deadline in MLB. With a total revenue of $280 million in 2023, the Rays rank 28th in the MLB franchise valuations by Sportico at $1.33 billion.
(This story has been updated in the first two paragraphs to provide clarity that the Tuesday afternoon vote pertained to stadium funding, with a decision on broader redevelopment district funding following later in the day. It has also been supplemented with a statement from the Rays owner.)
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