ST. PETERSBURG, FL (CelebrityAccess) — Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, suffered extensive damage from high winds brought by Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a dangerous Category 3 storm.
Pictures and videos shared on social media revealed that the high winds tore away much of the stadium’s dome cloth roof, exposing the playing field and seating areas to the storm. However, the extent of the internal damage to the stadium was not immediately clear.
In a statement released by the team on Thursday, they said:
“During the past couple of weeks, our beloved city, region, and state have been impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. We are devastated by the damage suffered by so many.
Our priority is supporting our community and our staff. We are fortunate and grateful that no one was injured by the damage to our ballpark last night. Over the coming days and weeks, we expect to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field. In the meantime, we are working with law enforcement to secure the building.
We ask for your patience at this time, and we encourage those who can to donate to organizations in our community that are assisting those directly impacted by these storms.”
According to the Tampa Bay Times, only a few panels of the roof, made of Teflon-coated fiberglass and built to withstand winds of up to 115 mph, survived the stadium’s encounter with Milton.
Crews of state contractors and Duke Energy personnel, originally tasked with storm recovery at the stadium, were redeployed ahead of the hurricane when its severity became evident.
“As it became clear that something of that magnitude was going to be in close proximity, they redeployed them out of Tropicana,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference in Tallahassee. “There were no state assets in Tropicana Field, and I believe Duke also removed all their assets as well.”
In July, the Tampa Bay Rays, who manage the stadium, received approval from Pinellas County for the construction of a new 30,000-seat fixed-roof stadium. The new stadium will be part of St. Petersburg’s redevelopment of the city’s historic Gas Plant District. The County Commission committed $312.5 million to the development, which is expected to cost at least $1.6 billion.
