MLB team ‘aggressively pursue’ $2.3bn forever home as fans welcome landmark return

The Tampa Bay Rays are finally returning to Tropicana Field.

Monday will mark the first time in 18 months that the MLB team has been able to take their home field in St. Petersburg.

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In October 2024, Hurricane Milton tore through the Trop, and left the roof in tatters.

The Rays were forced to move out amid that severe damage, and George M. Steinbrenner Field played host to the team for the 2025 season.

As Tampa Bay played at the spring training home of the New York Yankees, which features the club’s iconic logo on seats around the 11,000-capacity ballpark, it was all hands on deck to repair the Trop for 2026.

Now, nine games into the new campaign, and the Rays can finally return home.

Rays return to Tropicana Field for home opener

The fiberglass dome, turf, sound system, lighting, and more has been replaced ahead of Monday’s ballgame against the Chicago Cubs.

St. Petersburg has spent close to $60 million on refurbishment and modernization work, to what is widely ridiculed as one of baseball’s worst stadiums.

The Rays, though, aren’t worried about what anybody else thinks.

“I think guys are excited, and rightfully so,” manager Kevin Cash said, ahead of a return home.

“Our organization has worked incredibly hard and the city and the county, to get it back up to speed. I briefly walked through there, couldn’t be more impressed with the way it looks, and excited to see our fans.

“I think our guys are going to appreciate just having our fans in the building, cheering us on for our opening day.”

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Tampa Bay Rays

For the 20th consecutive year, the Rays have sold out their home opener, and 25,000 fans are expected to back the team as they look to pick up their fifth win of the early season.

But as Tampa Bay celebrate their return to Tropicana Field, their new owners are ‘aggressively pursuing’ a new $2.3 billion stadium.

Rays ‘aggressively pursuing’ forever home despite return to the Trop

An ownership group led by Florida-based business executive Patrick Zalupski took over the club in September 2025, and has made finding a ‘forever home’ the main priority.

The team recently released conceptual renderings for a proposed new ballpark and mixed-use district at the Hillsborough College Dale Mabry campus in Tampa.

That site is around 20 miles northeast of the Trop, and is across the street from Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Ahead of a return to St. Petersburg Monday, The Athletic reported that the Rays have a lease at their current home through 2028, but want a new ballpark to be fully operational by Opening Day, 2029.

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The team has proposed paying half of the $2.3bn stadium cost, and hope the other half will come from public funds. However, that $1.15bn would be the largest public ask for a baseball stadium, and one of the largest across any sport in the US.

It’s also suggested the Rays’ private investment would be the second-most for any MLB project, and that they would cover any costs that go beyond the initial 50/50 split.

The team see the proposed new stadium as the centerpiece of a massive, mixed-use complex that could become a hub of both sports and entertainment in Tampa.

“From a player perspective, I think the Trop will be a very welcome return home,” Rays CEO Ken Babby said, per The Athletic’s report.

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“But it is not a long-term home.

“It will be great to be back in there, it will be special for our fans and great for our team.

“But we are focused on our forever home.”

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