St. Pete officials tell Rays there's no deadline to finish Tropicana Field repairs
St. Pete to Rays: Not required to fix trop by 2026
FOX 13's Evan Axelbank reports on a letter from St. Pete City Administrator Rob Gerdes to Rays President Matt Silverman. In it, Gerdes says that while the city is legally obligated to fix the damage to Tropicana Field from Hurricane Milton, the contract between the city and the Rays doesn’t give them a deadline to complete the repairs.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Rays' stadium saga just took another turn.
In a letter addressed to Rays President Matt Silverman, St. Pete City Administrator Rob Gerdes stated that while the city is legally obligated to fix the damage to Tropicana Field from Hurricane Milton, the contract between the city and the Rays doesn’t give them a deadline to complete the repairs.
For every year Tropicana Field can’t be used, the contract is extended one year. Gerdes writes that it could extend past the 2028 season, when the team initially said its new $1.3 billion stadium would be ready.
Silverman wrote in a letter to the city in December that the team supports and expects the repairs to be done by Opening Day of the 2026 season. He said if not, it could cause massive logistical and revenue challenges.
Gerdes’ letter, dated Jan. 15, is in response to Silverman’s.
"We are empathetic to the challenges your organization must face because of the damage to Tropicana Field by Hurricane Milton," Gerdes wrote.
The Rays had previously suggested, though, that it didn’t want the city to make the repairs. St. Pete City Council did end up approving the money at the end of the year to start fixing the damage. Those repairs will cost about $56 million. The city is hoping for FEMA and insurance reimbursements, and has a $22 million deductible.
What they're saying:
"We have an agreement in place with the Rays to fix the Trop, and we've got to do that to the best of our ability," said Gerdes.
Gerdes argues, however, that "the use agreement requires the city to diligently pursue repairs to the Trop, but it does not establish a deadline for completing them."
The city council member did maintain "that doesn't change the mindset, at least from my perspective of, listen, we've got an agreement."
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Gerdes continued, saying, "We've got to hold ourselves to that agreement, and that's what we'll continue to do."
City and county officials also approved bonds for the new stadium at the end of last year. Shortly after allotting millions for the new stadium, though, the Rays said the cost of the project had "increased significantly, and we cannot absorb this increase alone."
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What's next:
The team blames increased costs on the two-month delay in bond approvals. Officials say that was due to back-to-back hurricanes. The Rays said it forced their contractors to stop work completely.

The roof of Tropicana Field destroyed after Hurricane Milton tore it off with strong winds.
The team will play its 2025 season in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring training facility. Gerdes also writes in his letter that the city is "optimistic" that the Rays will continue to play in St. Pete after that, and they’ll "move forward together through our mutual working group, which includes Major League Baseball."
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County and city officials also gave the Rays a March 31 deadline to meet specific criteria to get the bonds, including proving it has the money for its portion of the new stadium.
What the Ray's are saying
The other side:
The Rays declined to comment on the letter but now must add whether it's possible to use either of the Pinellas Co. spring training parks—the Phillies' in Clearwater, the Blue Jays' in Dunedin, or some other option they haven't yet made public.
"I don't know how to be more clear," Rays President Brian Auld said in November, "we have a very challenging future ahead of us. If I was confident that the Trop could be ready by 2026, I would be strongly in favor of improving it."
Why missing the deadline matters
Big picture view:
The Trop's lease would extend for each year they can’t play in it, meaning the original expiration date of 2027 would become 2029.
"When it comes to rebuilding the old stadium, it is just how obviously wasteful it is to put so much money into something that's going to be used for so little time," said St. Pete city councilor Richie Floyd. "My preference would be for us to negotiate some other kind of settlement."
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