The Tampa Bay Rays have announced that they will play their 2025 home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the home of the Yankees’ spring training facility. But, just as the Rays take two steps forward, they may also be taking one back. While damage is assessed at Tropicana Field, important bonds and voting dates for the team’s new stadium have been delayed. Now, after election day, the same city and county officials who voted in favor of allocating funds for a new stadium are no longer in power. The shifting council seats could pose trouble for the Rays.
According to Sports Illustrated, the Rays’ decision to play at Steinbrenner Field “helped temper some questions about the Rays future while the team and local government try to figure out whether or not to fix Tropicana Field for play in the 2026 and 2027 seasons. The team is supposed to open up a new building in 2028.”
The votes needed to decide the fate of these facilities were delayed in the wake of Hurricane Helene and Milton. Originally, the City Council and County Commission were going to submit the bond votes and the Rays required funding documents at the same time, a tight timeline from the start considering the team’s desired 2025 groundbreaking.
Delays in voting extended so far that the election on Nov. 5 has come and gone. Now, some of the city and county leaders who voted in favor of a deal are no longer in their positions. On the flip side, those who campaigned against the stadium deal have won seats at the table.
If these newly elected and re-elected leaders undo the deal that so many thought was written in stone, the Rays will be up for relocation. According to Sports Illustrated, “the usual suspects of Montreal, Nashville, Portland and Charlotte will be mentioned as possible homes.”
