The Tampa Bay Rays announced Thursday that they will not move forward on construction of a new ballpark in St. Petersburg, Fla., following a months-long saga regarding public funding for the venue.
“After careful deliberation, we have concluded we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this moment,” Rays owner Stuart Sternberg said in a statement posted on social media. “A series of events beginning in October that no one could have anticipated led to this difficult decision.”
Sternberg went on to say that the organization still hopes to play the 2026 season at Tropicana Field and will continue to look for a “ballpark solution that serves the best interests of our region, Major League Baseball, and our organization.”
Hurricane Milton tore the roof off Tropicana Field on Oct. 10, which left the Rays without a home stadium. It also forced the Pinellas County Commissioners to delay a vote on approving funding for a $1.3 billion stadium that had been approved in July of 2024.
The County Commissioners and the City of St. Petersburg eventually voted to approve the bonds in December. The Rays, however, indicated that the delay had created cost overruns. The team is responsible for those, and they said that made the price of construction prohibitive.
A damage assessment report conducted in November found that repairs to Tropicana Field would cost roughly $55.7 million, with a projected completion timeline in the weeks prior to the start of the 2026 season.
In a letter to St. Petersburg administrator Rob Gerdes on Jan. 6, Rays president Matt Silverman urged that construction be completed by the beginning of the 2026 season. Gerdes responded on Jan. 15, stating that they will work to repair the Trop but couldn’t guarantee a set deadline for completion.
The timing of the announcement comes just weeks before a March 31 deadline to meet several obligations that would push forward the stadium deal. The Rays were on the hook to contribute $700 million to the project overall.
“It’s not a question of whether we have the funds. We do,” Silverman told The Athletic earlier this month. “The question is whether it’s a good use of those funds to commit us and MLB to this ballpark for the next 30 years.”
The Athletic reported last week that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and several owners were pressuring Sternberg to sell the team and that several potential buyers were interested.
The Rays had long been indicating that this decision was likely through public statements regarding their frustrations at the delayed votes.
St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth Welch said in a statement Thursday that he and the city had seen this coming.
“While the decision of Tampa Bay Rays ownership to terminate the agreements for a new stadium and new development is a major disappointment, it is not unexpected,” he said. “The city intends to honor our current commitment to repair Tropicana Field in accordance with the current use agreement.
“As for the future of baseball in our city — if in the coming months a new owner, who demonstrates a commitment to honoring their agreements and our community priorities, emerges — we will consider a partnership to keep baseball in St. Pete. But we will not put our city’s progress on hold as we await a collaborative and community-focused baseball partner.”
For now, the Rays will play their 2025 season at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees. Their future home, however, both in the short and long term, remains unclear.
The Athletic‘s Evan Drellich contributed reporting.
(Photo: Paul Hennessy / LightRocket via Getty Images)