The two-decade saga of finding a new home for the Tampa Bay Rays has concluded thanks to a stadium-approval vote from officials in Pinellas County.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the county’s commission voted 5 to 2 in favor of committing $312.5 million towards the construction for a 30,000-seat fixed-roof stadium as part of a wider effort to redevelop St. Petersburg’s Historic Gas Plant District. A final vote on approving district redevelopment dollars also passed.
The Rays, who will reportedly commit $700 million, plan to open the doors of the $1.4 billion venue by Opening Day of the 2028 MLB season. Their current lease for Tropicana Field, which will be torn down after the new stadium opens, expires after the 2027 season.
“This is quite a momentous day for our franchise, our fans and the entire Tampa Bay region—the Rays are here to stay in St. Petersburg,’’ Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said in press release. ‘’We look forward to building the best neighborhood ballpark in Major League Baseball.”
The county vote comes nearly two weeks after the St. Petersburg City Council narrowly approved $287.5 million toward stadium construction and infrastructure, with $130 million earmarked for building roads and sewers.
The Gas Plant Stadium, as the project is currently named, will be built next to Tropicana Field and is billed as the centerpiece of the Historic Gas Plant District. Once home to a predominantly African American community before it was razed to make way for “The Trop,” the Historic Gas Plant District is set to have residential units (including senior housing), a 750-room hotel, 1.5 million square feet of office space, a library, a building for either daycare or preschool, and a museum.
Although the elected commissioners of Pinellas County were not as critical of the deal as the St. Petersburg City Council, the approval vote wasn’t sure to be a grand slam. According to a July 25 story in the Tampa Bay Times, two commissioners (both Republicans) had significant questions that needed answers. Dave Eggers was concerned about St. Petersburg selling the land to the Rays below market value, and whether the county had enough money to support its beaches against future hurricanes. Chris Latvala wondered if Rays owner Stuart Sternberg would try to sell the team, developmental rights for the stadium or both upon approval of the stadium’s funding.
Born as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998, the franchise has played in Tropicana Field for its entire existence. The stadium opened in 1990 as the Florida Suncoast Dome in hopes of luring other MLB franchises. The Chicago White Sox were the first team recruited to move to central Florida, but Illinois and Chicago officials agreed to pay for the construction of the “new” Comiskey Park (now Guaranteed Rate Field), which opened in 1991.
In 1992, Tampa-area investors purchased the San Francisco Giants with the intention of moving them south until the relocation was blocked by other National League team owners, including the late Wayne Huizenga, who owned Miami’s NL expansion franchise, the Florida Marlins, that began play in 1993.
The city’s NHL team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, spent their second and third seasons at the stadium, which was renamed the “ThunderDome” and reconfigured for hockey, until what is now Amalie Arena opened in 1996.
Because “The Trop” is in St. Petersburg and not Tampa proper, one of the most consistent critiques of the ballpark is that it’s located too far from most Rays fans, and it lacks viable mass transportation options that could make the trip across the Bay from Tampa worthwhile. Dislike for Tropicana Field doesn’t end there, as the drab interior, the slanted roof and the infamous catwalks that turned certain home runs into ground-rule doubles have cemented the stadium’s legacy as one of the worst ballparks in MLB.
There had been several false starts in developing a replacement for “The Trop,” most notably the Ybor City project in Tampa that fell short of crucial government votes in 2018. In 2022, MLB rejected the Rays’ widely reviled “Sister City” plan, where the team would have split its home schedule between St. Petersburg and Montreal, bringing baseball back to the Canadian city for the first time since the Expos moved to Washington, D.C., in 2006.
The Gas Plant Stadium will have modern amenities comparable to nearly every other MLB stadium and better sightlines thanks to having 15,000 fewer seats than “The Trop.” Tropicana Field, which opened with over 45,000 seats, has an official capacity of 25,025 seats after the Rays closed its upper decks.
As for the actual team on the field, despite sitting 3.5 games out of a wild card spot in the American League prior to their Tuesday night game, the Rays have been in sell mode in advance of MLB’s 6 p.m. Eastern trade deadline. Drawing $280 million in total revenue in 2023, the Rays rank 28th in Sportico’s MLB franchise valuations at $1.33 billion.
(This story has been updated in the first two paragraphs to clarify that the Tuesday afternoon vote was for stadium funding, with a vote on the greater redevelopment district funding taking place later in the day. It has also been updated with a statement from the Rays owner.)
