The city council in St. Petersburg, Fla., voted Thursday to replace the roof of Tropicana Field, which was destroyed in October by Hurricane Milton.
St. Petersburg owns the ballpark and is contractually obligated to provide the Tampa Bay Rays with a playable home. The new Teflon-coated fiberglass roof will cost the city $22.5 million.
The council voted 7-1 in favor of the project.
“I’d much rather be spending that money on hurricane recovery and helping residents in our most affected neighborhoods,” council member Brandi Gabbard told the Tampa Bay Times, “but this is our obligation.”
The Rays are expected to return to the indoor facility for the 2026 season.
The damages to Tropicana Field came amid a longstanding tussle between Rays ownership and local government over the future of the club in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays wanted to build a new ballpark that would cost $1.3 billion, and local officials had approved the sale of bonds to pay for their share, but the Rays could not move forward because of the project’s shifted timeline and cost overruns.
The Rays are playing the 2025 season in George M. Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the American East rival New York Yankees.
