It’s complicated.
Three weeks after Hurricane Milton shredded the roof at Tropicana Field, crews began removing the debris Thursday, and the St. Petersburg City Council approved $6 million for “waterproofing” — per this article, here’s what that’s for:
The council approved up to $6 million in mitigation efforts that will create a temporary drainage system and waterproof the facility’s electrical system, offices, concessions and other exposed areas. The process is expected to take as much as eight weeks.
Should the stadium be declared unsalvageable in the coming days, the city can halt the waterproofing efforts and avoid spending a portion of the $6 million.
Well. That doesn’t sound too positive. But there’s another reason the city of St. Petersburg is doing this, from another Tampa Bay Times article:
St. Pete’s use agreement with the Rays requires the city to provide the team with an adequate facility. If Tropicana is not salvageable or the City Council does not approve the necessary spending, the city would be in breach of that contract.
Ah, ha. The same article says the city has $25 million of insurance on the Trop, with a $22 million deductible — but repairs might cost more than that $47 million. But they could have had more. From the first article linked above:
Back in March, the city opted to reduce its insurance coverage on Tropicana Field from $100 million to $25 million to save $275,000 in premium payments. The decision was made because modeling predicted that the damages from a major storm would not likely exceed $33 to $39 million. With a $22 million deductible, the $25 million policy was thought to be adequate because that would account for $47 million in repairs.
Possibly “penny wise, pound foolish,” was that decision.
The Rays haven’t said much, according to the second article, and that’s not a good thing, says the writer, John Romano:
Good question. They have been virtually silent for three weeks. They have had little to say publicly, and government officials also seem to be in the dark about the team’s desires or intentions. There was no team representative at Thursday’s council meeting.
Considering St. Pete and Pinellas County recently agreed to spend more than $600 million in public funds for a new ballpark (not to mention infrastructure costs and turning over development revenues to the team) giving the cold shoulder to your partners could be interpreted as an ungracious act. Even if the team is still exploring its options, the cone of silence has been somewhat deafening.
Further, as I noted here last week, a delay in a vote for funding for the Rays’ new stadium proposal might wind up getting that funding rejected, depending on who’s elected to the county commission in this week’s elections.
And, they still haven’t figured out where the Rays are going to play next year. It almost certainly will not be at Tropicana Field. Then there’s this:
Considering the Yankees, Blue Jays or Phillies would need to move their Class-A minor-league teams if the Rays wanted to play in Tampa, Dunedin or Clearwater, the league presumably would intercede on the team’s behalf to find a solution. Things could be trickier with the MLB Players Association, which would want assurances that alternate ballparks were up to speed.
Commissioner Rob Manfred noted last week that schedules for both minor- and major-league teams might have to be adjusted, and that the league would like to have all this settled “by Christmas.”
That’s less than seven weeks from now. If it isn’t crunch time, it’s getting real close.