MLB commish on Rays' stadium issues: 'It is challenging'

Saying he would like to keep the Tampa Bay Rays in their current market for the long haul, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged that the status of the team's damaged stadium makes things "challenging."

The domed roof of Tropicana Field in St. Peterburg, Fla., was torn apart by Hurricane Milton in October. With no set estimate on when the repairs will be made, or how it all will be financed, the Rays are set to play home games in a spring-training ballpark in Tampa for the 2025 season.

"We'd like to keep the franchise in Tampa Bay," Manfred told the Tampa Bay Times this week. "We think the market is big enough and that there is passion for the game. Having said that, it is challenging."

Cost overruns on repairs are estimated to be between $150 and $200 million. And the fix is so extensive that some estimates suggest the ballpark won't reopen until 2029 after a bond proposal designed to help fund repairs was delayed until December.

Rays owner Stuart Sternberg told the Times in a separate report that the team would be unable to absorb further cost overruns alone.

The issue has sparked speculation that Sternberg might put the team up for sale, a move that would put the club's future in the Tampa area in jeopardy.

"If it was (for sale), people would know it," Sternberg said. "I've always been, and I will continue to be, pretty transparent about our intentions. And not pretty, but very honest about them. And I have been."

The Rays are set to begin their tenure at Tampa's George M. Steinbrenner Field when they open their season March 28 to begin a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies. The ballpark is the spring home of the New York Yankees.

Steinbrenner Field has a seating capacity of 11,026, with the Rays drawing an average of 16,515 fans per game at Tropicana Field last season.

--Field Level Media