Preparing Tropicana Field for Opening Day
City leaders gave the media a final look inside Tropicana Field on Friday afternoon, marking a major milestone in the stadium’s recovery from hurricane damage more than a year ago. FOX 13’s Kailey Tracy reports.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The current grounds crew at Tropicana Field is a little different than the one there during games.
This one is installing the last of the turf, and getting the stadium ready to turn over to the Tampa Bay Rays by Opening Day on April 6. Hurricane Milton tore into the Trop’s roof in October 2024, allowing rain to pour inside and forcing extensive repairs.Â
Engineers first assessed the damage before the city launched a large-scale rebuilding effort.
“It was really interesting, because some areas looked like nothing happened, and then some areas you could certainly tell,” Beth Herendeen, the city development administration managing director for St. Pete, said. “Even over time, you know, the water has a tendency to move in areas. So, certainly the field, the bowl, all of those areas were damaged heavily. And then, some of the locker room areas that sit underneath the main level of seating, they took on a significant amount of water, the batting tunnels, things like that.”
“So, those have been gutted, and we’re really starting fresh. So, with the clubhouse, with the visiting team clubhouse, they’re both getting new lockers, new carpeting,” she said.
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She said at the height of the work, they had about 350 people on site helping with repairs, and now have about 225 on site each day.
“This was a tremendous feat and I joke with the team, because the only credit I can take is that I believed it could be done, but it’s a whole bunch of people actually doing the work,” Herendeen said. “It’s really been a colossal effort by a very large number of people and companies.”
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The roof replacement became the centerpiece of the project.
The material was designed by a French company, manufactured in Germany, cut into 24 panels in China and then shipped to St. Petersburg. It’s a Teflon-coated fiberglass fabric known as PTFE. Each panel weighs about 5,000 pounds.
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City officials said the new roof is designed to withstand wind speeds between 150 and 165 miles per hour, considerably stronger than the previous roof. Crews had to finish installing all the panels before they could work on repairs inside. Those repairs included drywall, electrical work along the catwalks, painting, installation of a new sound system and more.
“Once the roof came back on, it really was warp speed,” Herendeen said. “Just to see each milestone as it passes is kind of a sigh of relief,” she said.
Herendeen said most of the big items are in, like the roof, the sound system, the lights, the baseball netting and the new audio system.
“The lockers were just delivered earlier this week. So, the locker room renovations are underway right now. The wall padding, you’ll see, is not quite in. The outfield walls have been rebuilt,” she said.
She said the project hasn’t been without roadblocks, but they built in contingency days to be able to stay on track.
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“We’ve had the Russian earthquakes which brought on the parade of volcanic activity which delayed the roof materials coming in. We’ve had a lot of rain, which, for me, the big one was the Aug. 23 rain where it was just rained I think four or five inches here and then literally, our lockers were made in Dallas, or a suburb of Dallas, and they were held up by the ice storm that Dallas had just a few weeks ago,” she said.
The field has also been rebuilt. Workers installed a three-quarter-inch pad over the concrete before rolling out more than 137,000 square feet of new turf. The infield includes 450 tons of clay, and the warning track features a walnut shell blend.
They’ll also do air quality testing before it opens back up to the public after remediating some spots where mold was found. The city is working with Greenfield Environmental and the Rays have its own industrial hygienist it has been working with for the last few months, Herendeen said.
The Rays are also paying for extra work, like redoing the suites.
“I think for fans coming in, it will be, you know, nostalgically familiar. It won’t look tremendously different. It’ll be nice and fresh and clean, and they won’t really see any remnants of the hurricane or anything like that. And then I know the Rays are putting in their funds and their effort to, I think, improve some areas from what they were before Hurricane Milton, so, I think the fans will have some surprises that way as well,” Herendeen said.
“This project has been a labor of love. My first job out of college was here at the Thunderdome, as it was called at the time, with the Tampa Bay Lightning. And so, to be a part of repairing it and getting it ready for the Rays to play after Hurricane Milton is a highlight of my career,” she said.
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City Council approved almost $60 million for the project. The city is legally obligated to make the repairs. The city said FEMA will reimburse the city $16.5 million, and possibly more. Insurance gave the city almost $11 million, and they’re hoping to get almost $3 million from the state.
During the repairs, Tampa’s George Steinbrenner Field became the Tampa Bay Rays’ temporary home for the 2025 season, moving the team outdoors for the first time.
What’s next:
The Rays offered Opening Day tickets to contractors who have worked on the project.Â
The Rays’ lease at the Trop expires after the 2028 season. In the longer term, the Rays have released conceptual drawings for a proposed $2.3 billion ballpark and mixed-use project to be located on a 113-acre site leased from Hillsborough College in Tampa.
On Saturday, Feb. 14, the Rays are hosting a Fan Fest Block Party featuring a community yard sale, meet-and-greet opportunities with players, games, mascots and a stage show. The block party runs from 1-5 p.m. outside Tropicana Field.Â
Opening Day is scheduled for April 6, 2026.
The Source: Information in this story comes from the City of St. Petersburg and updates released by the Tampa Bay Rays detailing the roof replacement and stadium restoration timeline.