Rays stadium drama and potential relocation could upend MLB’s expansion plans
Major League Baseball last expanded in 1998. For years, commissioner Rob Manfred has maintained the league would not consider expansion until the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays resolved their stadium situations.
In September, the A’s played their final game in Oakland, en route to Sacramento next year and eventually Las Vegas. In July, the Rays and their home city of St. Petersburg, Fla., agreed to build a new ballpark there that would open in 2028.
In the wake of Hurricane Milton, which rendered the Rays’ current home of Tropicana Field unplayable for the 2025 season, city and county officials have focused on the area’s recovery from the hurricane. They also have delayed votes on bond financing for the proposed ballpark, and newly elected officials have raised second thoughts on the project.
Stuart Sternberg, the Rays’ owner, shot back Saturday in the Tampa Bay Times. Moving the Rays out of town entirely, he said, “is not an unlikely conclusion.”
If Sternberg follows through on his threat, the cities waiting for an MLB expansion process instead could scramble to lure the Rays.
Montreal previously considered the Rays’ concept of splitting the season between Florida and Canada. Nashville, Charlotte and Raleigh have expressed interest in expansion, and those cities would allow the Rays to remain in the same geographical region.
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Austin, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Portland, San Jose and Mexico City also have expressed interest. It is considered highly unlikely that MLB would consider placing another team in Oakland any time soon.
The Rays agreed this week to become the second team to play the 2025 season in a minor league stadium. The Rays will play at nearby Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, with the A’s at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento.
The city of St. Petersburg has yet to decide whether to approve an estimated $56 million in hurricane damage repair for Tropicana Field, which would allow the Rays to play there in 2026 and 2027.
The county has yet to approve bond financing for the new ballpark, postponing an October vote in the wake of the hurricane. In elections this month, two ballpark supporters on the county commission were replaced by ballpark skeptics.
“Last month, the County Commission upended our ballpark agreement by not approving their bonds, as they promised to do,” Sternberg said. “That action sent a clear message that we had lost the county as a partner.
“The future of baseball in Tampa Bay became less certain after that vote.”
The Rays’ ballpark search has taken the better part of two decades, and a few months more would not necessarily affect the outcome, whether under the current deal or a renegotiation with the city and county. Sternberg told the Tampa Bay Times he would try and try again before moving the team.
“We’re going to exhaust all that we can here until, and unless, it comes to that,” he said.
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