Replacement of the roof for Tropicana Field, the battered home of the Tampa Bay Rays, will go on as planned. The St. Petersburg City Council voted 7 to 1 to move forward with its $22.5 million commitment to replace the roof, destroyed by Hurricane Milton in October.
The latest vote, which was delayed a week, comes as the Rays are playing their 2025 MLB season at Steinbrenner Field in nearby Tampa, with designs to return to the Trop in 2026. The city owns Tropicana Field and is legally obligated to fund any repairs, according to its lease with the team, which expires in 2028.
The roof was the sole focus of Thursday’s vote. The city will vote on replacing the stadium’s audio and visual equipment, lighting and other items damaged by Milton later this year at a date to be determined. No financing will be committed to repairing the Rays’ team offices.
Rays president Brian Auld said in a statement that he is happy with the vote’s result.
City council member Brandi Gabbard raised concerns over a unilateral 10% tariff on American imports imposed by the Trump administration. On Wednesday, the city’s architect Raul Quintana explained to local media that materials for the fiberglass roof come from Germany and are assembled in China before being delivered stateside. The county set aside $100,000 in relation to the tariffs.
Replacing the roof is even more crucial after the Rays chose not to move forward with its financial commitment to a new $1.3 billion fixed-roof stadium for the planned Historic Gas Plant District. The team’s plans for a new stadium are on hold indefinitely, with the Rays expected to return to Tropicana for the remainder of their lease.
The team was supposed to show financial and design readiness for a new facility to St. Pete by March 31 to unlock the city’s $287.5 million contribution to the stadium’s construction and infrastructure. In December, Pinellas County commissioners approved a separate $312.5 million in bonds toward the proposed stadium.
Yet on March 13, the team announced that it was not going to move forward with the stadium “at this moment,” but was “currently advancing plans to restore Tropicana Field for the 2026 season.”
According to the Tampa Bay Times, council member Corey Givens Jr. (who voted yes in Thursday’s vote), said that while he didn’t know the reason for the delay, he believed the roof vote was pushed back after the previous March 31 deadline. After that day, the team would be judged in default on its agreements with the city and county.
A walk through the Trop last weekend revealed the lingering damage. Rays manager Kevin Cash reflected on the stadium’s conditions in the months since Milton. “At first, it looked odd without the roof on it,” Cash said. “Over time it’s kind of gotten worse. They’ve done a lot of work inside. The clubhouse initially was OK. But with the weather and successive storms, more water has crept in there.”
(This story has been updated after comment by Brian Auld.)
