TAMPA (CelebrityAccess) — The Tampa Bay Rays are close to sharing the details on a new long-term home after reportedly securing a deal for a new stadium in St. Petersburg.
According to the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin, the new stadium will be built near their current home at St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field and the new facility is expected to be ready for use by 2028.
The new stadium will feature a capacity of around 30,000 seated fans and cost $1.2 billion dollars to build, Topkin reported. Financing will come in part from the team, who will pay for at least half of the total construction cost while the taxpayers of the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County will pay the rest.
The team’s current home, Tropicana Field, first opened in 1990 and was initially known as the Florida Suncoast Dome. In recent years, the stadium has drawn criticism for its distance from downtown St. Petersburg, as well as for design choices, including the use of catwalks that limit some sightlines in the stadium.
The Rays have consistently seen some of the lowest attendance figures in baseball with an average of about 21,000 fans per game, the fourth lowest in the league, according to data compiled by ESPN. The team had been eyeing a potential move to Montreal with plans to split their season between Tampa and their new Canadian home in hopes of improving attendance figures, but MLB nixed that plan in 2022.
The Rays’ 30-year lease with their current stadium, Tropicana Field, is set to end in 2027.
