Tropicana Field Field repairs, but when can Tampa Bay Rays get in again?

Last October, Hurricane Milton destroyed the roof of the Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, and sent the Tampa Bay rays to temporary quarters for the 2025 season. It was also part of a chain of events that led to the task of plans for a new stadium for the rays and the likelihood of the team.

But news should offer the rays a certain stability because everything else is found.

The mayor of St. Petersburg, Ken Welch, announced that the crews are working hard on a repair of 59 million US dollars at the stadium.

“Repair progress is in full swing in Tropicana Field,” wrote Welch on Facebook on Thursday. “My team and I visited the repairs of the roof nearby. The first of 24 roof panels will be installed this week.

“At this pace we are on the right track to complete the panel installation by the end of December.”

This moves closer to the rays on the 2026 season in Tropicana Field, their home since its expansion year 1998.

With Tropicana Field Field this season, the rays play on George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring home of the New York Yankees.

Almost since he was purchased in 2004, owner Stu Sternberg had tried to secure a new home for the rays. Several options went through, but in September 2023 the club and the officials announced a public-private partnership for the construction of a stadium of $ 1.3 billion as part of the revival of the historical gas plant district of St. Petersburg.

However, the future of the club has been in the river since autumn. Sternberg claimed that the delays caused by the hurricane had changed its stadium time bar and increased its costs. He withdrawn from the plans at the beginning of this year.

According to reports, Sternberg also has an agreement on the sale of the team and leaves all stadium decisions for a new property.

The rays are to return to a revised Tropicana field in 2026 with a three-year rental agreement.