The Rays will play the 2025 season at the Yankees’ spring training field in Tampa

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rays will play their 2025 home games at the New York Yankees’ nearby spring training ballpark amid uncertainty over the future of hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field, Rays executives told The Associated Press.

Stuart Sternberg, the Rays’ principal owner, said in an interview that Steinbrenner Field in Tampa is the best fit for the team and its fan base. With about 11,000 seats, it is also the largest spring training venue in Florida.

“It is without a doubt the best opportunity for our fans to experience 81 games of Major League Rays baseball,” Sternberg said. “As difficult as it is to get any of these stadiums up to major league standards, this was the least difficult. You get to see Major League Baseball in a small environment.”

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the Rays-Yankees deal is good for the sport and the Tampa Bay region.

“This result fulfills Major League Baseball’s goal that Rays fans will see their team play next season in their home market and that their players can remain at home without disruption to their families,” Manfred said in a news release.

Home of the Rays since 1998, the domed Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, was hit hard by Hurricane Milton on October 9, with most of its fabric roof torn off and water damage inside. The city of St. Petersburg, which owns the Trop, released an assessment of the damage and repair needs that estimated the cost at $55.7 million if it is to be ready for the start of the 2026 season.

The work would have to be approved by the City Council, which earlier this year voted for a new $1.3 billion, 30,000-seat stadium to replace Tropicana Field beginning in 2028. The new stadium is part of a much larger urban revitalization project known as the Historic Gas Plant District – named for the black community that once occupied the 86 acres that includes retail, hotels, office space, a black history museum, restaurants and bars.

Amid the uncertainty, the Rays know one thing: they will play 2025 in a small, outdoor ballpark operated by one of their main American League East rivals. A ballpark with a facade that mimics that of Yankee Stadium in New York and adorned with plaques of Yankees players whose numbers have been retired.

Brian Auld, the Rays’ co-president, said in an interview that Tampa Bay should be ready for a regular season MLB game on March 27 against the Colorado Rockies, just three days after the Yankees’ training camp break.

“There will be a ton of work towards putting our brand in,” Auld said. “The term we like to use for it is ‘Rayful’ in Steinbrenner Field.”

It will also come with weather challenges in the hot, rainy summer climate of Florida, which the Rays didn’t worry about in their domed ballpark. The Rays averaged about 16,500 fans per game during the 2024 season.

The Yankees will receive about $15 million in revenue for hosting the Rays, a person familiar with the arrangement told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because that detail was not announced. The money does not come from Tampa Bay, but from other sources, such as insurance.

Once known as Legends Field, Steinbrenner Field opened in 1996 on Tampa’s north side. It is named after longtime Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who ran a shipbuilding company in Tampa and died at his home there in 2010. One of his sons, Yankees executive Hal Steinbrenner, was instrumental in getting the deal done with the Rays, said Sternberg.

“This is a heavy lift for the Yankees. This is a big ask from us and baseball from the Yankees,” Sternberg said. “(Hal Steinbrenner) didn’t waver for a second. I couldn’t have been more grateful.”

Hal Steinbrenner said in a press release that the Yankees are “pleased to extend our hand to the Rays” and noted that the team and his family have “deep roots” in the Tampa Bay area.

“In times like these, rivalry and competition take a backseat to doing what is right for our community, which continues to help families and businesses recover from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton,” he said.

The Tampa Tarpons, one of the Yankees’ minor league teams, play their home games at Steinbrenner Field during the summer. They will use baseball diamonds elsewhere in the training complex this season.

This is not the first time a major league team has hosted regular season games in a spring training stadium. The Toronto Blue Jays played part of the 2021 season at their facility in Dunedin due to Canadian government restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.