Contents · About 14 min read
- The Roof Hurricane Milton Tore Off Tropicana Field, and Its Return After 18 Months
- What Kind of Team Are the Tampa Bay Rays?
- How to Get to Tropicana Field and Buy Tickets — Based on the Club’s and Stadium’s Official Guidance
- What You Might Miss Inside — The Ray Touch Tank and the Catwalk Rules
- Attendance and Tickets — The Team That Lost Its Roof Gained 630,000 Fans
- Space Use and F&B — A Local Food Strategy at a Cashless Ballpark
- The Rays After 2028 — The $2.3 Billion New Stadium Plan and What Remains Open
- Compared with the KBO — Gocheok Sky Dome and Tropicana Field
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98 wins and 64 losses. The Tampa Bay Rays, the best team in the American League this season, play their home games in a domed stadium with just 25,025 seats in the regular season.
They swept the Yankees 3-0 in the division series and are now playing the Cleveland Guardians in the ALCS. The home opener on October 12 was a 7-3 loss, and Game 2 on the 13th was a 3-1 win, so the series stands at 1-1 as of October 15.
This stadium’s lease with the club ends in 2028, and the club has won approval for a plan to build a new ballpark in Tampa, aiming to open for the 2029 season (theScore). That means the time left to see Tropicana Field is shorter than you might think.
This post puts together, for a foreign visitor, how to get to Tropicana Field and how to buy tickets according to the club’s and the stadium’s official guidance (checked October 15), and introduces the story of the hurricane that tore the roof off and in-stadium sights like the touch tank.
After that I follow with attendance, ticket prices and the new stadium through a marketer’s eyes. I have never been to this stadium, and what follows cross-checks the club’s official material, news reports and writing by local fans.
The Roof Hurricane Milton Tore Off Tropicana Field, and Its Return After 18 Months
On October 9, 2024, as Hurricane Milton passed over western Florida, most of the stadium’s roof membrane was ripped away (Wikipedia’s Tropicana Field entry).
This dome is the only stadium in Major League Baseball with a fixed roof that cannot open or close, and it was that roof that was lost. Repairs were estimated at about $55 million, with work starting in July 2025 and finishing in April 2026.
In the meantime the Rays played the 2025 season at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring training and minor league ballpark. Its capacity was 10,046 (NBC Sports Philadelphia report).
They came back to Tropicana Field on April 6, 2026, with a 6-4 win over the Chicago Cubs. To a marketer, the idea that losing one roof can cost a club its home ballpark for an entire season read as quite heavy.
How the fan base built up over that year carried over into the returned stadium is something I look at in numbers in the attendance section below.
Photo: Archiveng · Source: Wikimedia Commons · License: CC BY 4.0 · Taken October 10, 2024. Tropicana Field with its roof torn off the day after Hurricane Milton (before the roof repair)
What Kind of Team Are the Tampa Bay Rays?
The Rays joined Major League Baseball in 1998, and their first-season home attendance topped 2.5 million. It is a hard number to believe when you think of recent years (2,506,293 by Wikipedia’s count, 30,942 a game).
The stadium has devices telling the team’s history in many places. According to the club’s official ballpark guide, the golden seat in Section 148 marks where Wade Boggs hit the team’s first home run, and Section 144 marks where Boggs’s 3,000th hit, also a homer, landed.
The spot where Dan Johnson’s game-tying home run landed in Game 162 of the 2011 regular season remains a white seat (MLB.com’s Tropicana Field guide).
Starting with this year’s results, the team took the AL’s No. 1 seed at 98-64, its third No. 1 seed in the past seven years. The manager is Kevin Cash, and Junior Caminero hit more than 40 home runs, with Chandler Simpson and Yandy Díaz backing up the lineup (Roundtable article).
In the postseason they won Game 1 of the division series against the Yankees 1-0 and took Game 3 on October 7 by 4-3 to finish a three-game sweep (The Lines). The club’s managing partner is Patrick Zalupski and the CEO is Ken Babby.
Korean fans may think first of Kim Ha-seong. Kim signed with Tampa Bay in early 2025, but the home ballpark at the time was Steinbrenner Field (OSEN report from February 2025).
Injuries to the shoulder and back piled up, leaving a .214 average over 24 games, and on September 1 (U.S. time) that year Atlanta claimed Kim on waivers (Korea Times). I could not confirm whether any Korean player is on the Rays’ roster now.
So I wrote this post for people who are going to see the stadium and the team themselves.
How to Get to Tropicana Field and Buy Tickets — Based on the Club’s and Stadium’s Official Guidance
Everything below was checked on the Rays’ official ballpark pages as of October 15, 2026. The regular season is over and the postseason schedule keeps changing, so check the MLB Ballpark app and the club’s pages again before you actually go.
Starting with the route, the stadium address is 1 Tropicana Dr, St. Petersburg, FL 33705. The ways the club lists are driving, rideshare and bus.
For rideshare it says to set your drop-off point at Gate 4. For public transit, the SunRunner bus rapid transit stops on the north side of the stadium, running every 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and every 30 minutes from 8 p.m. to midnight (club transportation page).
The local outlet Axios reported that a baseball shuttle runs all through the 2026 season, starting 90 minutes before the game (Axios, April 3). I could not find on the club’s pages how to get from Tampa International Airport to the stadium or how long it takes.
If you drive, the club’s lots are Lot 1 (premium), Lot 6 and Lot 7. Postseason parking in 2026 is prepaid only, with no drive-up sales.
When the club’s lots fill up you can use the SouthCore garage at 101 1st Ave S or the Central garage at 1388 1st Ave N, but the club does not run those, so their own rates and refund rules apply (club parking page).
The club’s page does not give parking prices, and Stadium Journal puts rates in city and private lots in the $15 to $30 range (Stadium Journal).
Photo: Yamasztuka · Source: Wikimedia Commons · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Taken October 4, 2023. The stadium before the roof repair and the upgrades
Tickets are all mobile. Tickets and parking passes are issued only through the free MLB Ballpark app, and anyone who has trouble with the app can get help at the box offices at Gates 1 and 4 starting 90 minutes before the game (stadium A-to-Z guide).
The purchase flow goes like this. You pick a game in the app or on the Rays’ official ticket page, buy seats and parking together, and enter on game day with the mobile ticket stored in the app.
The club said this year it cut single-game ticket prices by 15% on average compared with 2024. That applies to more than two-thirds of seats, and it said it would have $10 tickets for all home games (club announcement).
The $10 ticket is guidance for the 2026 season, and I could not confirm 2027 prices or policy. I also could not confirm on the official pages which sections the $10 seats are in, so check the actual price and seat in the app before you buy.
Stadium Journal wrote that games against the Yankees or Red Sox can double in price.
There are also “Rays Rush” tickets that the club sells separately. In the first series in April this year the opener was $74.36 and the next two games were $18.92, with up to six tickets per account and no transfers or resale.
The barcode shows up in the app two hours before the game (MLB.com guidance from March 31). I could not confirm on the club’s official pages whether a credit card issued overseas can be used to pay.
The stadium does not take cash, only credit and debit cards and the club’s e-wallet, Rays Wallet, so I suggest checking your payment method on the app’s payment screen in advance.
The entry rules need careful attention. Under the club’s security guidance, bags are limited to one clear single-compartment bag (up to 12 x 6 x 12 inches) or a small wallet or clutch of 5 x 7 inches or less, and backpacks and non-clear bags are not allowed in, with no place to store them.
A medical bag or a baby’s diaper bag (up to 16 x 8 x 16 inches) is listed as an exception. Outside food is not allowed, but one sealed bottle of water of 20 ounces or less is (club security guidance).
Gates open 90 minutes before first pitch for weekday games and two hours before on Opening Day and weekend games. A child needs a ticket from their second birthday.
I could not find the re-entry policy in the official guidance.
As a marketer, I see two hurdles in this purchase flow. The price has come down to $10 and lowered the barrier, but a foreign visitor who does not know the rules on installing the app, clear bags and no cash can be stopped once at the entrance.
It also makes sense why the club lets you buy parking in the app in one go. Stadium Journal wrote that there is no walkable neighborhood around the stadium and downtown is a short car or bus ride away, so a first-time foreign visitor looks better off settling on transport first.
What You Might Miss Inside — The Ray Touch Tank and the Catwalk Rules
Behind the right-center field fence there is a ray tank of about 35 feet (about 10.7 m), holding 10,000 gallons of water. The Florida Aquarium looks after it, and it holds three kinds of rays, including cownose rays caught in Tampa Bay.
Its feature is that you can touch them during a game (Wikipedia). MLB.com describes the park as the world’s only professional sports facility that is also home to live rays.
In the old days a home run ball once went into this tank. The best-known case is José Lobatón’s walk-off home run in October 2013.
Since the netting was extended in 2021, a ball can no longer go in.
Under the fixed roof hang four ring-shaped catwalk structures. According to MLB.com’s guide, a ball that hits one of the upper two rings (A and B) stays in play, and a fair ball that hits one of the lower two (C and D) is a home run.
Photo: Zeng8r · Source: Wikimedia Commons · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Taken July 26, 2024. Before the roof repair
On days without baseball there are stadium tours too. The route takes 75 to 90 minutes and costs $15 for adults and $12 for ages 14 and under, starting at Gate 1 on non-game days.
With a tour ticket, parking in Lot 7 is free (club tour page and MLB.com guidance from March 31). The club’s tour page says the stadium’s air conditioning is off during tours.
Since a big plus of this stadium is that it is a cooled dome, take that into account if you sign up for a tour at midday in high summer.
Attendance and Tickets — The Team That Lost Its Roof Gained 630,000 Fans
This year the Rays drew 1,414,975 at home, up 628,255 from 2025, the biggest increase in the majors. Across Major League Baseball the total was 71.75 million, the most since 2017, with an average of 29,589 per date (NBC Sports Philadelphia).
However, the comparison base is Steinbrenner Field (capacity 10,046), so the increase looks bigger than it is. At the same stadium, attendance was 1,337,739 in 2024 and 1,440,301 in 2023 (AP report).
Simply dividing this year’s figure by 81 home games gives about 17,500 a game. The 2023 average was about 17,800 a game, so it is more accurate to say it returned to the 2023 level (my own calculation).
The fact that the seat count itself has been cut also deserves attention. The capacity, which was 45,369 in the stadium’s early years (Wikipedia’s 1998 figure), became 25,025 from 2019 when the upper level was closed.
I could not confirm whether closing the upper level was a deliberate club strategy. As a result, though, it became a structure that protects the atmosphere by shrinking the seating itself instead of filling empty seats on price alone, and as a marketer that stands out to me.
The upper level is opened only when needed. The club opened parts of it this year for “Longo’s Legacy Weekend” in July and for the August 15 game against the Orioles (sections 300-312) (MLB.com), and for the postseason local media reported that the club took the tarps off the upper deck and sold standing room too, selling the game out.
Official attendance for ALCS Game 1 was 35,361. Reports differ on the official postseason capacity (WUSF gives 31,042 seats), so this post does not state one.
I think $10 tickets for every home game are also possible on top of this structure.
Photo: Quintin Soloviev · Source: Wikimedia Commons · License: CC BY 4.0 · Taken June 10, 2024. Before the roof repair
Space Use and F&B — A Local Food Strategy at a Cashless Ballpark
In 2019 Tropicana Field became the first North American pro sports venue that does not take cash (MLB.com guide).
The club’s official list includes vendors such as Cubanos (Cuban sandwiches), Fiamma (Italian) and Twisted (pretzels), and the beer includes local brewers such as Coppertail and Grand Central (club food guide).
The club’s list also has a “Souvenir Daiquiri Bat.” Stadium Journal gave food a 4 and judged the area around the stadium not to be a neighborhood you can walk around.
This year the club also worked on the stadium. It enlarged the main videoboard, added new screens behind home plate and along both foul poles, and refreshed the sound system and the interiors of the suites.
It also introduced new premium seats and opened a “Premium Preview Center” at a pop-up store outside the stadium (1101 1st Ave S) showing a full-scale replica of the seat (club announcement). It reads as a stage where the club tests premium products before it sells a new stadium.
The Rays After 2028 — The $2.3 Billion New Stadium Plan and What Remains Open
The Rays have won local government approval for a plan to build a new ballpark costing about $2.3 billion on Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus in Tampa. The Tampa City Council approved it 4-3 on August 27 and the Hillsborough County Commission 5-2 on August 28 (theScore).
The target is to open for the 2029 season, and the current stadium lease runs through 2028. Fox 13 reported that to hit that schedule the club has to break ground this fall, along with a county commissioner’s remark that further procedural votes remain (Fox 13).
Who pays how much differs from report to report, so I give both. In an April 10 MLB.com article the club would pay $1.235 billion plus all construction cost overruns, with a public contribution of $1.065 billion ($750 million from the county and $251 million from the City of Tampa) (MLB.com, April 10).
After final approval theScore reported about $1.37 billion for the club, $796 million for the county and $80 million for the City of Tampa. Fox 13 reported that the city’s $80 million is a loan to the club, repaid in four installments from revenue from the surrounding development, and added that the interest the city pays before that revenue arrives could be $40 million to $50 million.
What makes this structure interesting for a marketer is that the product being sold changes. If the old 25,025-seat stadium filled seats with $10 tickets, in the new one premium seats, naming rights (the right to put a company’s name on a stadium) and commercial development around it are likely to be the core sources of revenue.
So reading this year’s premium upgrades at Tropicana Field as a preview of new-stadium sales is my own personal inference. The club has not officially said so.
Compared with the KBO — Gocheok Sky Dome and Tropicana Field
The Korean stadium most like Tropicana Field is Gocheok Sky Dome, the country’s first domed baseball stadium (Seoul Metropolitan Government Media Hub). They share the fact that there is no worry about games being rained out, but the two stadiums have different philosophies about seating.
Gocheok was described at its opening as having 18,076 seats, and the Rays’ stadium is one that closed its upper level to become 25,025 seats. According to reporting in 2015, the dome built by the Seoul city government was used by Nexen on a daily rental basis for about 100 days a year, and the in-stadium advertising rights were also tied to two years (CBS Nocut News, October 5, 2015).
I have not confirmed the current contract structure, so please read that as reference only.
The Rays, by contrast, operate a city-owned stadium and, when the lease ends, take the route of building a new one themselves. The difference between the Korean structure, where the public builds the stadium and the club rents it, and the American one, where the club builds with a public-private split and takes the surrounding development as well, shows up clearly in these two stadiums.
Given that the seasons in which you can watch the Rays here are fixed up to 2028, when the lease ends, there is reason enough to visit once before the new stadium opens.
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