The hurricanes took their shot at Tropicana Field.
Insurance woes, mold issues and ambivalence from the Rays’ former ownership group threatened to sabotage the old ballpark, too. For a while, it seemed as if the Trop’s future was facing hurdles from every direction.
Then came an earthquake in Russia. And an ice storm in Dallas.
“That was not on our bingo card,” said Catherine Corcoran, St. Petersburg’s capital improvement project manager.
Those natural disasters caused nearly two weeks’ worth of delays in getting new roof panels delivered last summer and necessary clubhouse fixtures earlier this month, but the city — thankfully — had built a 20-day cushion into the construction schedule for weather-related problems.
And now, seven weeks from the home opener against the Cubs, the Trop is looking as good as new.
Or, at least as close to new as a 36-year-old stadium built on the cheap in the 1980s can look.
“I don’t know that I would say brand new, but it’s going to look refreshed,” said Beth Herendeen, managing director of city development administration. “The floor in the seating bowl has been painted, all the stairwells have been painted, the concourse floor will be painted. So, a lot of it is going to look similar but refreshed.”
What changes might fans notice on April 6?
• The jumbo video screen in right-centerfield will be expanded.
• The suites and luxury seating areas behind home plate have been upgraded, and new premium seating has been added to the first few rows on either side of the dugouts.
• Safety netting, per MLB, will now stretch all the way down the foul lines in both right and leftfield.
• The Porch concession area behind the batter’s eye in centerfield is being refigured.
• There will be new video panels on the façade of the party deck in leftfield.
“We’re just really excited, and I really can’t express how grateful we are for all of the contractors and tradespeople and everyone who has come together to make this happen,” Herendeen said. “It’s been a giant effort from a lot of people.”
At the height of construction, there were about 350 workers on the site daily. They’re now down to about 225 people working a normal day shift.
Herendeen said the job is expected to come in at, or a little under, the $59.7 million approved by the City Council. The city is getting $10.8 million in insurance, at least $16.5 million from FEMA and is hopeful of receiving $2.75 million from the state. That would be approximately half the total cost.
The Rays are also spending an unspecified amount to repair their offices (which are also expected to be completed by opening day) and to fund the upgrades to the premium seating areas and video boards.
At this point, most of the major repairs have been completed. The shredded roof was replaced in December, drywall was installed after the roof went up, the artificial turf was recently put down, the lighting and sound system have been restored and just need to be fine-tuned, and the mold problems from rainwater have been remediated.
As of now, much of the remaining work appears to be cosmetic, although the repairs of the clubhouse and umpire’s room are still ongoing because the Dallas ice storms prevented needed fixtures from being shipped. (The roof panels were similarly delayed by 10 days by the earthquake in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula that triggered the Krasheninnikov volcano, causing a massive plume of ash in the air that kept the panels from being flown on their journey from China to Alaska to Florida.)
The city has set March 27 for its completion date, although it’s likely there will be last-minute fixes right up until the April 6 opener. The concourses still need some cleaning and painting, and the Rays are going to be bringing in their vendors to get all of the concession areas back in working order.
For those wondering about the alternately colored panels on the roof? The darker panels were the last ones installed and are expected to be bleached white by the sun in the coming weeks, so the roof will soon have a uniformed appearance.
While the supply problems in Russia and Dallas caused some heartburn, city officials recognize they were fortunate that Tampa Bay did not have any severe storms in 2025 that could have caused more damage and thrown the schedule in disarray.
“For fans coming in, it will be nostalgically familiar,” Herendeen said. “It won’t look tremendously different. It’ll be nice and fresh and clean, and they won’t really see any remnants of the hurricane.”
John Romano can be reached at jromano@tampabay.com. Follow @romano_tbtimes.
• • •
Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.
Every weekday, tune into our Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast to hear reporter Rick Stroud break down the biggest stories in Tampa Bay sports.
Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on X and Facebook.
