This story was excerpted from Adam Berry's Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
TAMPA, Fla. -- Less than five months ago, the Rays’ stadium situation seemed to be settled, and their future as clear as can be. They would play out their use agreement at Tropicana Field for three more seasons while building a new $1.3 billion ballpark in St. Petersburg that would be ready for the 2028 season and decades to come.
Then Hurricane Milton ripped through the Tampa Bay area in early October, rendering the Trop unplayable and leading to all manner of uncertainty about the Rays’ future.
While the Rays’ front office has been busy trying to build a competitive roster for next season and beyond, the defining story of Tampa Bay’s offseason has played out in city council and county commission chambers. As we approach the end of the year and enter a (hopefully) restful, peaceful break for the holidays, let’s take a step back and look at where the Rays’ stadium situations stand.
The immediate future
This much we know: The Rays will play their home games next season at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the Spring Training home of the Yankees and Florida State League home of the Single-A Tampa Tarpons.
The Yankees will have Steinbrenner Field to themselves for Spring Training, and then the Rays will move in until the end of the season. (The Tarpons will play their home games next year on Field 2 within the complex, with the Rays responsible for costs related to improving that adjacent field.) The Rays will do everything they can to make the ballpark their own, with a team-branded atmosphere aided by their scoreboard and game presentation staff, and their season opener was pushed back a day (to March 28) to accommodate those efforts.
The Rays will use the home clubhouse and the Yankees’ workout and training facilities, including those in the newly constructed player and baseball operations building adjacent to the stadium, with a few exceptions for proprietary/licensed Yankees equipment. By all accounts, the recent upgrades have made it a first-rate facility for players and staff -- and not just by Spring Training standards.
Weather could be a factor during the summer, although the Rays are set to play 35 of 51 games on the road in July and August. Field dimensions will be unchanged, so the club is hoping its hitters (especially lefties) will benefit from a right-field porch built just like the one at Yankee Stadium.
What about the Trop?
A report released in November laid out the extent of the damage to Tropicana Field and the potential cost and timeline for repairs. Last month, team president Brian Auld said he doubted the ballpark could be repaired that quickly or at that cost, which would have done little to ease the Rays’ uncertainty heading into 2026. The St. Petersburg City Council then reversed course on a vote to commit roughly $23.7 million to replace the damaged roof.
Last week, the council approved spending $1.7 million to prepare designs to repair the Trop, according to the Tampa Bay Times, a contractually obligated bit of business that must take place within three months of the ballpark being damaged.
The Rays’ use agreement with St. Petersburg was set to end after the 2027 season, but it is paused and extended a year for every year Tropicana Field is deemed unplayable. Auld said last month that the team was working to negotiate a settlement with the city, which owns the ballpark. For now, it’s uncertain when (or if) the Rays will return to their former home.
So, where will they play in 2026?
It’s not yet clear where the Rays will play after next year. Every reference to their relocation to Steinbrenner Field has been limited to the 2025 season.
What’s happening with the new ballpark?
The planned home in a $6.5 billion Historic Gas Plant District was approved by the city and Pinellas County earlier this year. The city council voted earlier this month to approve bonds to fund the city’s $287.5 million contributions. After two delays, the Pinellas County Commission also voted Tuesday to approve the county’s $312.5 million investment.
But the Rays said in November that the county’s initial delay “ended the ability for a 2028 delivery of the ballpark,” as they suspended work on the project and informed their partners their “agreement had not been honored by the county,” resulting in higher costs they say they cannot afford as the party solely responsible for the remaining $700 million plus all cost overruns.
The Rays must fulfill certain requirements by March 31 to keep the agreement in effect. Team president Matt Silverman called for further negotiations after the county’s bond vote on Tuesday night, indicating that the club doesn’t view this as a done deal.
“As we have made clear, the county's delay has caused the ballpark's completion to slide into 2029. As a result, the cost of the project has increased significantly, and we cannot absorb this increase alone,” Silverman said. “When the county and city wish to engage, we remain ready to solve this funding gap together.”