The last month has been a whirlwind for the Tampa Bay Rays, and it could end up leading to the end of baseball in the Tampa area as we know it.
Just a month ago, Tropicana Field was badly damaged in Hurricane Milton, rendering it unplayable for the 2025 season and possibly beyond. Just this week, the Rays announced they would play in the Yankees' spring training facility, George M. Steinbrenner Field, for 2025.
That announcement helped temper some questions about the Rays future while the team and local government try to figure out whether or not to fix Tropicana Field for play in the 2026 and 2027 seasons. The team is supposed to open up a new building in 2028.
However, based on new reporting from the Tampa Bay Times, the stadium deal could now end up falling through, making the Rays a candidate for permanent relocation yet again in the very near future.
In the hurricane's wake, October bond votes scheduled by the City Council ($287.5 million) and County Commission ($312.5 million) were postponed for a month. The timeline was already tight for a planned groundbreaking in early 2025, and the bond votes were supposed to go hand-in-hand with requirements the Rays have been working toward. The team needed to have its $700 million financing plan in place, secure a $100 million loan from Major League Baseball and have 50% of the design documents completed, among other things. It was a cascading series of benchmarks with virtually no wiggle room.
The issue was exacerbated when the delays took the council and commission beyond the Nov. 5 election that altered the makeup of both entities. Now, it's not simply a delay on bonds but a reexamination of the deal itself, led by commissioners Chris Latvala and Dave Eggers. What was once a 5-2 vote in favor of the redevelopment project by the commission is now potentially a 4-3 vote against it.
With regards to the election point: Some of the political figures who supported the deal are no longer in power. Some who campaigned against it have won and now have a seat at the table as discussions continue.
If the Rays are unable to secure the new ballpark, and if the local government is also unwilling to fix up Tropicana Field, then the Rays have almost no choice but to relocate. If they do, the usual suspects of Montreal, Nashville, Portland and Charlotte will be mentioned as possible homes.
We will continue to monitor this story as more information comes out.