March 28th, 2025. George M. Steinbrenner Field. Tampa, Florida—opening day for the Tampa Bay Rays. It’s the bottom of the ninth with the score tied at two against the Colorado Rockies. Kameron Misner stands at the plate, and Victor Vodnik is on the mound. One pitch later, the ball was gone, and the game was over. The Rays defeated the Rockies in walk-off fashion, 3-2.

     Although the Rays started their season on a high note, it doesn’t distract from the stadium saga riddled with misfortune that still continues to this day.

     Tampa Bay sports fans now have to root for a team whose owner doesn’t seem to care about them. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg is holding his team back, as evident in the numerous reports that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and many team owners have been pushing for Sternberg to sell the team.

     However, in a recent interview with Chris Russo on SiriusXM before opening day, Manfred said, “I think the most important point now is that the Rays and Mr. Sternberg have to come up with a ‘go forward’ plan … I don’t think it’s realistic to play indefinitely in a repaired [Tropicana Field]. But they’ve got to tell the other clubs and I think they’ve got to tell their fan base that they have a plan for making it work in Tampa Bay.”

     On opening day, a fan brought a sign that said “SELL,” highlighting the frustration among the entire fan base. That sign said what many have been thinking: fans aren’t happy with Sternberg right now.

     The Rays recently terminated a $1.3 billion stadium deal with both the St. Pete City Council and the Pinellas County Commission on March 13th. That day, Sternberg said, “After careful deliberation, we have concluded we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this moment. A series of events beginning in October that no one could have anticipated led to this difficult decision.” 

     Sternberg primarily referred to Hurricane Milton, which ripped Tropicana Field’s roof to shreds and caused significant damage to the stadium back on October 9th.

     After the storm tore off the Trop’s roof, the Rays had to find a stadium to play in. They ultimately decided to pay the New York Yankees $15 million to play at Steinbrenner Field for the 2025 season.

     As a result of the storm, both the Pinellas County Commission and St. Pete City Council delayed their votes on bonds to fund the stadium. This meant that stadium construction couldn’t begin in January like originally scheduled. 

     Despite the delays, both local governments voted to approve their respective bonds in December. 

     The stadium was supposed to take three years to complete and open before the 2028 season, but that opening was delayed to 2029.

     The Rays said that by delaying the stadium opening to 2029, the cost to build it would increase by $150 million. The team would’ve been responsible for footing that bill. In addition to the $700 million they were already responsible for, the deal terms stated that the Rays would be responsible for all cost overruns.

     As of now, it’s official that the Rays will play in a repaired Tropicana Field in 2026. On April 3rd, St. Pete City Council agreed by a vote of 7-1 to complete the necessary repairs on the stadium.

  The city is legally obligated to repair the roof because they own the land that the Trop currently sits on. If the deal had stood, the city would’ve sold the land to the Rays and their development partner, Hines.

     The roof is estimated to cost anywhere from $55-$60 million to fix, and the city is now looking to order the necessary parts needed to start repairs now that the vote passed. 

     The team’s lease to use the stadium was supposed to expire after the 2027 season, but because the lease requires that the Rays play three more seasons at the Trop, that lease will now expire after the 2028 season. 

     However, this situation could’ve been avoided. St. Pete City Council passed a resolution last March that reduced the stadium’s insurance limit from $100 million to $25 million. By doing this, the city would save $275,000 annually on insurance premiums. The decision was made based on a model predicting that damages from a major storm wouldn’t exceed $39 million. It was a huge gamble by the city, and ultimately, a costly mistake. 

     Before the Rays terminated the deal, St. Pete mayor Ken Welch said that St. Pete City Council had no plans to consider spending more money on the project. Now that the deal is gone, all the heat lies on Sternberg, who’s getting pressured daily to sell the team.

     In a video that JP Peterson posted to his Instagram account on February 22nd, he said that there was a group of Tampa-based investors who were looking to buy the Rays. He didn’t provide any names because he didn’t want to “jeopardize the deal.”

     There are groups of people who’ve expressed their interest in buying the team. One of those groups is led by the DeBartolo Family, which has members who own stakes in the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.

     Another group, led by Tampa-based investor Joe Molloy, who had ties with the Yankees as their managing general partner from 1988 to 1998, also expressed their interest. They wanted to continue with the St. Pete stadium deal already in place.

     At the time that Molloy expressed his interest in the team, he said, “What I can say now is this: The team has plans to stay in St. Petersburg, and we are fully committed to building on the great work that the city and county have already accomplished. We are incredibly excited about this opportunity, and that’s all I can share at this time.”

  Now, there’s more pressure on Sternberg than ever before, and he has lost his trust with both his team’s fans and Welch as a result of the deal’s failure. “I have no interest in working with this ownership group. That bridge has been burned,” said Welch. Finding a new stadium deal in St. Pete won’t happen as long as Sternberg remains the Rays’ owner. 

     Despite Welch’s dismay for Sternberg, he said he is open to working with a new ownership group if the team were to be sold.

     At this point, the Rays seem set for a long road of negotiations ahead, and it’s still unclear if the team will find a stadium deal in St. Pete, Tampa, or elsewhere, but at least the team is back playing baseball. It might not be a perfect distraction, but it’s good enough for fans to get by.