The Tampa Bay Rays will be relocating to play at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida for the 2025 Major League Baseball season. The field is the spring training grounds for the New York Yankees, but the Rays will use it due to Hurricane Milton’s 100-mile-per-hour wind that had destroyed the Tropicana Field, where they usually train.
The aftermath of Hurricane Milton left the Tropicana Field with $55.7 million worth of repairs, meaning it won’t be open until 2026. After looking for other places to play the 2025 season, the Rays paid the Yankees $15 million to play in their Single-A field at Steinbrenner Field, making their division rivals the highest on the Rays payroll.
The Rays installed their tarped roof over their stadium in 1990, making it their first time playing an outdoors home game in more than 34 years. “The Teflon fabric’s service life is approximately 25 years,” David Campbell, a Geiger Engineering principal, said in an interview with The Athletic.
He continued to mention that the fabric is old. Similar things had happened to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome which took five months to repair.
While this doesn’t change the home for either team during spring training, the Yankees will remain at their spring training facility and the Rays will stay in Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Florida and will move into the Yankees facility before opening day. While the Yankees visit their spring training facility twice a year, once in April and once in August, this will not interfere with the team during their stay.
While the Yankees’ logo and colors are very prominent throughout the facility, the Rays will have to renovate the appearance of Steinbrenner Field which is the home for the Rays and their fan base. While the Steinbrenner Field can seat a maximum of 11,000 fans, the Rays get to stay in Tampa and they will not worry about fan attendance because it is possible to sell out the stadium. The apparel store will also be transformed, now selling Ray’s merchandise. “You always try to make the best of a challenging situation,” Tampa Bay Rays President Matthew Silverman told the Tampa Bay Times. “And they are doing a great job at handling this current situation.”
While the Rays organization fully expects the fans to show full support no matter where they are located, they believe fans will be happy with the temporary change.
