With Opening Day just weeks away, Tropicana Field is nearly ready to host baseball again following an intense rebuild after back-to-back hurricanes in 2024.<\/p>\n
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 With Opening Day just weeks away, Tropicana Field is nearly ready to host baseball again following an intense, high-speed rebuild after back-to-back hurricanes in 2024.<\/p>\n
During a tour on Friday, city officials said the nearly $60 million restoration is on schedule and on budget \u2014 a timeline some once called nearly impossible.<\/p>\n
The work comes 16 months after hurricane damage left the stadium roofless, water-damaged and unplayable.<\/p>\n
The most visible change is overhead: a completely replaced fiberglass dome roof, engineered to withstand winds of more than 150 miles per hour. Once the roof was installed, work inside the stadium accelerated rapidly.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, the roof is on, the field is here. The seats are in place. Things are getting painted. The lights are on. The audio system is hung,\u201d said Beth Herendeen, a spokesperson for the City of St. Petersburg. \u201cAll of those major components that are necessary for playing baseball are here \u2014 and are working.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the field, crews installed more than 137,000 square feet of brand-new artificial turf, along with a new warning track. Fans will also notice a new turf pattern once play begins. While much of the major work is complete, finishing touches remain.<\/p>\n
Outfield walls are still covered in plywood, with padded walls expected to be installed in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
Painting, electrical work, drywall and plumbing continue throughout the building, though city leaders say the remaining tasks will take weeks \u2014 not months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t shock me if we had a paintbrush out or a scrubber here and there the morning of April 6,\u201d Herendeen said. \u201cBut the vast majority of what fans will see and notice will be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside, damaged seating has been repaired or replaced, including upholstered seating in the bowl. A new sound system is in place, lighting has been repaired and air-conditioning systems have been fully reactivated.<\/p>\n
New player lockers were delivered this week, with clubhouse renovations expected to wrap up by early March.<\/p>\n
At the height of construction, about 350 workers were on site daily. That number has since dropped to about 225 tradespeople as the project moves closer to completion.<\/p>\n
Fans are glad to see the stadium re-taking shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut the roof back on and let\u2019s go play ball,\u201d said Rays fan Mike Williams.<\/p>\n
Another fan, Alan Anthony, called the effort \u201crapid\u201d and praised the crews for getting the stadium back to normal.<\/p>\n
The city says funding for the repairs includes $16.5 million from FEMA, $10.8 million from insurance, and an additional $2.75 million expected to be reimbursed by the state.<\/p>\n
Officials say the rebuild was not without challenges.<\/p>\n
Delays were caused by overseas volcanic activity linked to Russian earthquakes, rain events last year and even an ice storm in Texas that temporarily delayed delivery of player lockers.<\/p>\n
Despite those setbacks, the city says Tropicana Field is on track to be ready when the Tampa Bay Rays return home to face Toronto on April 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe fully anticipate being ready for Opening Day,\u201d Herendeen said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a colossal effort \u2014 and we\u2019re grateful to everyone who helped make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Opening Day just weeks away, Tropicana Field is nearly ready to host baseball again following an intense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-154986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}