Major League Baseball’s two murky stadium situations got a little more clarity on Thursday night.
In Florida, the St. Petersburg city council approved to uphold its commitment toward the construction of the Historic Gas Plant District, which includes a new $1.3 billion domed stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays. The 4-3 vote in favor approved $287.5 million in bonds for the stadium and $142 million toward infrastructure for the district.
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However, the city council’s OK doesn’t mean that there will be shovels in the ground just yet. On Dec. 17, commissioners for Pinellas County will vote on the county’s portion of financing the stadium via $312.5 million in bonds.
The future of the Gas Plant project has been up in the air in the aftermath of October’s Hurricane Milton, which tore open the roof of the Rays’ longtime home of Tropicana Field. The city told the team that replacing the Trop’s translucent fiberglass roof, along with other repairs throughout the stadium from water and wind damage, would cost $55.7 million. Repairs wouldn’t be completed before the 2026 season, giving the Rays decisions to make since the proposed new stadium wouldn’t be ready until 2028.
The Rays will play the 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of division rival New York Yankees and the full-time home of the Yanks’ Class-A affiliate Tampa Tarpons. The Tarpons will play elsewhere within the Yankees minor league complex, according to MLB.
Later Thursday, some 2,300 miles away in Las Vegas, the Athletics got some good news about their own planned stadium in the city. The Las Vegas Stadium Authority approved lease, non-relocation and development paperwork that should make way for the construction of a $1.75 billion baseball stadium on the Strip. Both the lease and non-relocation documents are covered for 30 years.
A development agreement with Clark County would still need to be worked out, but upon its approval, construction on the 30,000-seat dome will begin in the spring with the aim of opening ahead of the 2028 season. The state of Nevada and Clark County are contributing $380 million; however, the public financing will not be utilized until the A’s themselves spend at least $100 million toward the development.
According to A’s board member Sandy Dean, the owner of the team, John Fisher, said that his family will increase their contribution toward construction to $1.1 billion. Dean also said that Goldman Sachs and U.S. Bank will provide a $300 million loan.
The A’s, who officially left Oakland after 57 years in the East Bay, will spend at least three seasons in 14,000-seat Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, home of the San Francisco Giants Triple-A affiliate Sacramento River Cats. Both the A’s and River Cats plan to play full seasons in West Sacramento.
While Steinbrenner Field is slightly closer to being fit to house an MLB team than Sutter Health Park, neither the Rays nor A’s will be able to pull in the in-stadium attendance expected of a major league squad, even as they’ve both struggled at the gate over the years.
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