The Tampa Bay Rays will play their 2025 dwelling video games at Steinbrenner Area, the group introduced Thursday. Steinbrenner Area is the spring coaching dwelling of the New York Yankees, in addition to the host of the Yankees’ A-ball affiliate Tampa Tarpons. It is also, notably, situated in Tampa, Florida — Tropicana Area, broken by Hurricane Milton, is situated in St. Petersburg.
“We deeply recognize that the Yankees have graciously allowed us to play at Steinbrenner Area for the 2025 season,” Rays proprietor Stuart Sternberg mentioned in a press release. “The hurricane harm to Tropicana Area has compelled us to take some extraordinary steps, simply as Hurricanes Helene and Milton have compelled hundreds of households and companies in our neighborhood to adapt to new circumstances as all of us recuperate and rebuild.”
Listed below are three issues to learn about this growth, together with what it may imply for the Trop’s future and the Tarpons.
1. What’s notable about Steinbrenner Area?
Apart from the Yankees affiliation? Steinbrenner Area is situated subsequent to Raymond James Stadium, dwelling to the NFL’s Buccaneers. Moreover, its dimensions are an identical to Yankee Stadium, making it friendlier for left-handed batters.
In case you had been questioning, Steinbrenner Area holds a capability of 11,000 followers. The Rays, for comparability, averaged simply over 16,500 paid tickets per dwelling recreation in the course of the 2024 season.
2. Will Tropicana Area be repaired?
A current St. Petersburg Metropolis Council report established that Tropicana Area’s dome roof, shredded by excessive winds throughout Hurricane Milton, may be repaired in time to reopen for the 2026 season.
Nevertheless, such repairs will price greater than $55 million for what would quantity to 2 years of play earlier than the Rays relocate to their new stadium for the 2028 season.
As such, it is an open query as as to whether or not it is sensible to restore the Trop in any respect.
3. What occurs to the Tarpons?
That is to be decided.
Minor League Baseball introduced its schedules for the 2025 season again in August. On the time, nobody knew that the Tarpons could be sharing a house with the Rays. As such, you’ll be able to make sure that the schedules overlap. (The identical will not be true for the Athletics and the River Cats in Sacramento, since that association was recognized properly earlier than the schedules had been finalized.)
It stands to motive that the Rays will get precedence at Steinbrenner Area since they’re the major-league group. It additionally stands to motive that MLB and MiLB will not need each groups enjoying dwelling video games on the identical days in order to protect the standard of the enjoying floor.
If we’re spitballing right here, probably the most believable answer has the Tarpons enjoying their dwelling video games at close by fields that do not function a scheduling battle. Provided that that is Florida we’re speaking about, there could be no scarcity of close by potential venues for them to choose and select from.
