St. Pete City Council unanimously approves $5 million for Tropicana Field repairs

St. Pete City Council unanimously approves $5 million for Tropicana Field repairs

FOX 13's Evan Axelbank reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Pete councilors unanimously approved $5 million for Tropicana Field repairs, and said the project was currently tracking to meet its expected budget. 

"I wish I could say I look forward to seeing you again, but boy, this is expensive," said councilor Gina Driscoll.

Big picture view:

Councilors heard from city staff that while the project is still on budget, $5 million of the predicted $56 million needed to be approved today, but promised work was already well underway.

"They've removed all the damaged materials, damaged ceiling tiles, carpet, drywall," said Beth Herendeen, the manager of special projects for the city. "They've built containment systems, protection systems. They've tarped. Tarped seating, they monitor everything."

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Now, they need just under $2 million for daily rain removal by dozens of contractors and for 5,000 ceiling tiles, $2.5 million to fix damaged walls and just under $1,000,000 to secure the building.

"It wasn't my choice, but I see that we're together as a city to do this, so I'm there today," said St. Pete Councilor Richie Floyd.

The main problem is that the roof is not going to be installed until December, which means six months of continually mitigating damage from rain. 

Officials believe it can all be done in time for the Rays to play home games there early in the 2026 season.

Even though the Rays must again decide where to build a new ballpark, under the Trop lease, the city has to make a good-faith effort to give the Rays a place to play.

What they're saying:

"Anyone who's ever bought an older house, you don't know until you get in to it exactly what you have to do," said Driscoll.

The other question mark is what hurricane season will bring. 

Any damage from a new storm would make it almost inconceivable that they could get the ballpark done, adding questions of cost and also of baseball: Where would the Rays play at the beginning of 2026, if not for their old, roofless barn?

"We are tracking everything that we've estimated so far," said city engineer Brejesh Prayman. "We're tracking below what the costs have come in so far, so we are trending in the right path."

What's next:

City Council approved nearly $23 million for the new roof in April, part of the $56 million price tag to fix the stadium. Prep work on the thicker roof is scheduled for mid-June, with installation in August. The hope is to have the roof done by the end of the year.

Crews have to wait until the roof is finished, though, to start most of the other repairs, like installing new turf and fixing the audio and visual pieces in the Trop. 

On Wednesday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said he’s optimistic that the Trop is still on track to reopen either on Opening Day next year, or "very shortly thereafter." A lot of it depends on this hurricane season, he said. Manfred said his fingers were crossed. 

At the April meeting, several council members expressed a lack of trust in the team’s ownership after the Rays pulled the plug on the new stadium deal earlier this year. They also had concerns about the repairs’ steep price tag, and said they’d rather spend the money on people in the community still recovering from the storms. Council members noted, though, they’re legally obligated to fix the Trop.

Due to the missed season at the Trop, the lease now extends until the end of 2028. Insurance will cover some of the repair costs, and the city is hoping FEMA will reimburse them for some of the costs too.

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