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If and this is a huge IF, the Rays play in Oakland then the A's will play at the coliseum as the ROAD team for 3 or 4 games next year, that would be the weirdest thing to have happened in Major League Baseball
The only thing similar to this would be in 1961, when the Minnesota Twins played at the Washington Senators. The Twins were the original Washington Senators who moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season. A second Senators franchise began play in 1961 until they moved to Texas to become the Rangers in 1972. How weird would it have been for Washington fans to see the previous season’s players as the road team, with a different name on the front of their jerseys?
@@timsnyder2229 That's quite a different scenario. The Rays may have played those games designated as the road team, but they still represented the city of Tampa regardless at that time. The A's coming back to Oakland would no longer be representing Oakland. I would say it would be more similar to when the Braves went to play the Brewers at old Milwaukee County Stadium for closer parallels.
Tropicana is now a teardown. Period...I'm not an engineer, but I am a seasoned electromechanic, and I would imagine that after so many years in a salt air environment, that most of those struts and roof suspension cables are pretty much shot with stress fractures and corrosion anyway. Also, the flexing that the walls of that edifice have taken over the MANY hurricanes over the years may have deteriorated them out of usable life...We've gotta pull you back, Brodie. Ain't no way in hell MLB is going to allow the Rays to play in Oakland. While I do agree with you that Oakland fans would turn out for the Rays, one out of kindness, and two, to flip Fisher the proverbial bird - this whole saga has been about MLB's collective ego and Oaklanders have, to their credit, bashed and humiliated MLB into their present clown car ride. MLB has a big enough shit show in Sacramento (sorry Sackers, not disparaging your city - just the sloppy setup by the A's there) and Vegas, where now that we've seen the Trop blown up, we shall witness a whole bunch of nothing take place on that property for years to come...In the case of the Rays, I don't think they even leave the region. Personally, I think they take up in Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, which is the Orioles' Grapefruit stadium with no minor league teams in residence. Same problem as Sacramento - small capacity stadium (8,500), minor league amenities, off-center from their traditional market, but still within media shot. It's possible they could use Steinbrenner Field in Tampa (11,000 cap) if they could square it away with the Yankees. I also agree with David Samson, that any attempted poaching of this team will be rebuked and not go well for the would-be poacher...Montréal would be a nice gesture, which makes it highly unlikely that MLB would allow that option, since Montréal itself has not shown proper fealty to the top hats of Baseball either. Interesting that it could have been the best option - MTL doesn't need a lid for baseball, and the time could be used to regauge the MTL baseball market post-Expos. Again, MLB's penchant for staying butt hurt about fan rebellion precludes this...If they do move the Rays (temporary or otherwise) the best fit for next season would probably be San Antonio, plunked down into a weird baseball config at the Alamodome. Or, MLB might have a miraculous moment of wisdom and contract for 2025 with the A's and the Rays...But the Rays are still St. Pete's team to lose...
How about Sahlen Field in Buffalo - same time zone, seats 19,500. The Rays haven't averaged more than that in attendance since 2010. Some scheduling gymnastics between the two teams but could be worked out.
Sahlen (aka Pilot) Field was built to be easily expanded, i.e. the foundation can support an upper deck. I remember seeing the renderings when Buffalo was in the hunt for an MLB expansion team (which, ironically, went to St. Pete!) The stadium looked like KC’s Kauffman Stadium but, get this, with a dome … making it look 99% like the Trop. Talk about Karma!!😅
16,600 is the capacity. lets not forget they got rid of the bleacher seats awhile ago and put up the party zone section. that got rid of a few thousand seats.
Much of what Brodie said in this video, myself and others have commented on in two previous videos this week. I don't know what's going to happen but there are challenges no matter what is ultimately decided for the Rays in 2025.
For the fans hoping the Rays play in the Coliseum, the 2025 schedule is out and many teams on eastern road trips would have to go east, west, and back east again with no scheduled days off. This may be unworkable. Any minor league park chosen would have to be renovated to meet minimum MLB standards. How fast can that get done? How willing to modify their plans are the teams or events scheduled at those parks already? Loan Depot Park will be an issue since the Rays and Marlins would have 1/2 their home games conflict with each other. Will MLB accept any venue with less than 10,000 seats? If not, that leaves Steinbrenner Field and maybe you can push Orlando or split between the 2. As for the weather in Florida, The Marlins played many years in an open air stadium. It wasn't optimal, but they were able to do it. There is no easy answer. The way MLB has been handling things lately, they will probably make the situation even worse.
Could you see a scenario in which they have multiple home stadiums? For example: - April: George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa - May: ESPN Wide World of Sports at WDW in Orlando, with 1 homestand in PR - June, July, August: LoanDepot Park in Miami when the Marlins are on the road, Oakland Coliseum or Durham Bulls Athletic Park otherwise (split conflicted home series 50/50 based on availability, but try to play the A's in Oakland to sell tickets (A's are June 30-July 2, We don't play the Giants at home). - September: George Steinbrenner Field or LoanDepot Park (weather still is a problem) - Postseason: Wildcard round at Steinbrenner Field, ALDS and ALCS at ESPN Wide World of Sports (due to capacity), WS at LoanDepot Park (again, capacity. I hate the idea of the Rays playing more WS home games outside of Tampa Bay but capacity is a huge problem for WS games. I also have heard of a scenario in which they play at Raymond James Stadium, the problem is that it wasn't designed for baseball and no roof. But whatever they do, DO NOT play in Montreal. Would be a PR nightmare
@zacksheets9726 It would be entertaining to see the Rays/Gypsies do that for a couple of years but how would you like being a player in that situation??
Whatever the Rays decide on doing, that decision has to be relatively quick. If they choose an existing spring training facility, it has to be updated to meet certain standards, schedules have to be worked out because many teams have their lower minor league teams there. In addition to those games, there may be other events scheduled. If the Rays already know they can't start the season at the Trop, I am sure they and MLB are trying to work out the details where to play now. As for playing in Oakland, as you mentioned that may not be workable. For example, The Yankees play the Royals in NY from April 14-16, Play in St Petersburg 17-20, go to Cleveland April 21-23, no days off. If the Rays are in Oak the Yankees play 3 in NY, fly out west to Oakland to play 4 games then fly immediately east to Cleveland for 3 with no days off. Now multiply that by other teams who are on the east coast schedule to play at the Trop. I don't believe it would be workable unless you build lots of doubleheaders in Oakland so teams can have an off day to make up for the cross country travel. I feel bad for the Rays fans and the Rays since they are in a tough situation on what to do.
The MINUTE I saw the footage of the roof being ripped off Tropicana Field, I immediately knew there was ZERO chance that it would be ready for opening day. They should be talking to Major League Baseball about contingencies for playing at home, the minute they knew about the roof had been ripped off.
Problem with St Pete is that Tampa residents have never embraced driving over an hour to the Trop. Average attendance hasn't exceeded 20k in the last 15 years- and even those numbers are bogus compared to the actual numbers of people physically sitting in a stadium seat. Somewhere like Steinbrenner is probably their best case scenario.
Streinbrenner is probably the best local option, but those Florida summer temps, humidity, and afternoon rains would make it a tough sell with the MLBPA assuming locker rooms and medical facilities are up to standard for the MLB even.
@@JoshOutdoorsGR I'd like to imagine the Yankees set up decent facilities to start with, but probably would have to be similar to what they did in Buffalo. I wonder then if they'll have to resort to little/no day games and later evening starts. If Steinbrenner doesn't fly, I suppose Disney World is going to be the next best option. Oakland (and Montreal to a greater extent) makes no sense. Another completely off-the-wall idea would be the Alamodome in San Antonio. The setup is borderline ridiculous, but the Rangers used to play a handful of exhibitions there.
How about this: Steinbrenner Field is used as the primary location. But, in order to alleviate pressure on the Tarpons and avoid some of the bad weather, they do a series of “Summer Road Trips.” For example: May 23rd - 25th: Blue Jays vs Rays in Montreal June 6th - 8th: Marlins vs Rays in Puerto Rico June 30th - July 2nd: Athletics vs Rays in Oakland July 18th - 20th: Orioles vs Rays in Raleigh-Durham
The Yankees wouldn't be thrilled. They would play 3 in NY, have to fly immediately to Oakland for 4 with the rays, then hop on a plane after the last game to get to Cleveland to get there in time for the next night's game, no days off during that 3 city span. Now do this with other teams on an eastern road trip going through Florida. May be unworkable.
Looking at the Rays schedule, it would be hard to reschedule the early games. Their first two series are against the Rockies and Pirates, who they don't play again, so they can't just swap home games. Then after a week out of town they host the Braves, who also don't play the Rays again. After that the rest of April they could theoretically switch home series with the Red Sox, Yankees, and Royals. But this is assuming that it would only be a month or so issue, not longer.
my money is they play in Orlando in 2025 and this will test the market for expansion even though i honestly doubt the league wants to put a 3rd team in Florida. If they play in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, their attendance will nearly sell out every game since it's closer to their season ticket fan base, and that's gonna piss off the team owner and the city of St Pete because now the team wont want to move into their new building in St Pete b/c attendance is so terrible there.
I would go one step further, if they play in Orlando it may show as a better location than building in the current Trop Field parking lot. The Marlins and Rays are showing Florida is having a difficult time supporting 2 teams. Florida has many snow birds and many go up north for the summer.
Also Camping World Stadium could be converted to Baseball as well. I just think the Rays should save the money and start building their new park today!
The Rays should be making alternate plans for 2025 MLB season when hurricane Milton happened. The best thing that can happen is for the Rays is to temporarily locate for the next 3 - 5 years until they find a new home, hopefully its out of Florida.
It would totally mess up the travel schedules for the rest of the AL East teams, no way do they play on the west coast as an AL East team when the schedule for next season is already announced.
@@DIMP11 No, the Rangers-Astros need that rivalry. If the Astros go to the Central, it'd create a travel nightmare to the same reason why they left the National League. This only way this would work is if you move the Rays and the KC Royals to the West; move both Texas and Houston to the Central and move the Guardians to the East.
Another completely off-the-wall idea would be the Alamodome in San Antonio. The setup is borderline ridiculous, but the Rangers used to play a handful of exhibitions there.
Not only did the As ownership make the right decision for that franchise, Oakland earned/deserved to lose the team to another city. A new stadium has been shown to increase interest and attendance. That said, since John fisher has publicly acknowledged the need for a new stadium since he bought the team over two decades ago. In that time the team has not always been bad, but they’ve always been at the absolute bottom of the barrel when it comes to average attendance. I know A’s fans don’t want to admit it but that city has not shown any type of support for that team. You cannot blame ownership for this. I strongly believe John fisher did not want to move that team out of Oakland. He’s had bad attendance for nearly 20 years, and he and his father had purchased the giants organization to prevent them from moving out of SF to Tampa. And when they finally take a stand and start making plans to move the team, what does the city do in response? They protested going to the games… so, a team wants to move due to bad attendance numbers and the fans response was to not go to games and then blame the owner and act like it couldn’t possibly be the fans fault…
@@ryand5725 you're right about one thing. a new stadium improves attendence. it would have in the east bay too do you know there are ferral animals living inside the coloseum? how about the ongoing sewage issues? you know i haven't seen a senior citizen there since around '04 or so? tell ya what. youtube search these words: is this place safe? followed by the words oakland coloseum. you don't even have to watch the video. what i'm referring to is in the damn thumbnail. check it out if you dare.
@@ryand5725 But where was John Fisher for the last 20 years and what was he doing to increase attendance numbers? Nothing. New stadium didn't work too well for the Marlins since the team is still losing, You can blame ownership for letting his team get to the point of where it was. He chose not to make any improvements.
Send them to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s hosted the Expos, it has good baseball history and it’s a great tourist spot - that’s three things that you can’t say about St. Pete.
Well, one is due to circumstances, the other the league brought on itself. If they didn't want the A's to play the next few seasons in Sacramento, they could have done something about it to prevent that.
In my view, Sahlen Field in Buffalo would be the best option for the Rays to play at for 2025. Sahlen Field has proven it can host an MLB team as it was the home of the Blue Jays for 2 years (all of 2020 + half of 2021) during the pandemic. I am sure that the minor league Buffalo Bisons would not mind sharing their stadium with the Rays as it would mean more revenue for the team given the fact there would be more games being played. Also playing in Buffalo means that the Rays can still play "home" games in their regular time zone & teams doing a road stand in the Northeast can easily get there.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Two teams sharing that tiny ballpark won't be very fun, but it's certainly better than being in Oakland. I'm surprised he didn't mention Montreal, the Rays have talked about playing there already and they have an unused MLB stadium (albeit a crappy one) ready to go.
@@Cruising_On_Lake_Havasoma Well Brodie actually did mention the Big Owe ( 9:40 ), but he said that the roof is under repair. But to take the idea further - Montreal weather in March is...... questionable at best. Maybe it could work from May onward, but there should be an alternative for the March & April home games.
@@Cruising_On_Lake_Havasoma He did mention Montreal. They're replacing the Stade Olympique roof (a overly complex operation because of technical design of the stadium, FWIW) and what would be the playing area is currently occupied by cranes, material, and other construction equipment.
1) The roof is open and winter is commng, so there will likely be more rain between now and the time the roof is repaired. More water damage to the stadium lies ahead lessens the odds that the repairs be complete in time. 2) Having the Rays play in the Oakland Colosseum is a long-shot, but could you imagine a series between the home team Rays and the visiting A's in Oakland? That would be very interesting. Who would long time A's fans root for?
This is very similar to the Hornets playing in Oklahoma City for a couple years. Those two years proved that they could have a successful NBA franchise. Let’s see if they play elsewhere and that city gets a team shortly after.
Yeah, it does have over 16,000 seats. But there's a minor league team there, the Blue Jays AAA team, the Bisons. It's the same problem no matter what minor league stadium you use: scheduling issues between the Rays and that minor league team. As we say in scientific fields, it's a non-trivial problem. And that's just part of it. It could become part of a solution. Desperate times calls for desperate measures after all. The Rays could be playing home games in a variety of cities next season but that brings up other challenges, not just scheduling such as what do you do with employees? Do you move them too? You pretty much have to. What if they can't or won't?
What about Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. It's the home of the College World Series. It is Major League ready and has broadcasting facilities. Omaha's metro area is a million people. Seems like a good idea for a temporary fix.
I think you are close to the right amount. I think they will find way more issues once they start digging. It took nearly 10 months for the superdome to be repaired. They may lose the entire season.
I got you, Brodie. I thought “what about the Coliseum?”, too, as crazy as it sounds. Not that it would be any easier, but what about Salt Lake City? Many, but not all, of the same problems.
I went to a Tampa Bay Bucs game in September and it was unbearably hot. No way you could play outdoor baseball there in the summer at the Yankee's spring training stadium. Its great in March before the humidity heats up there but not in May-August.
1994 Seattle Mariners. The KingDome roof tiles in some areas of the ceiling fell to the turf! The Mariners spent the rest of the season on the road! Fortunately it was that strike shortened season. The Rays could do the same to open the season.
If Oakland hosted the Rays for 25, it would be extremely unfair to the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Orioles. Those are the teams that would be most impacted besides the Rays themselves. They have to play each other more than the rest of the league. It would give them back the advantage when they have to play the west coast teams. There are no good answers for this situation. What’s the Astrodome look like now? It’s still standing in Houston. How well maintained is it? I know I researched a few Florida facilities last time I commented. Most were in the Tampa St Pete area. I think one was completely available but only had 7700 seats.
Useless there is a dome stadium replacement with an hour drive of Tampa - it seems they may need to test the waters of a potential future MLB city. Charlotte NC has a downtown minor league park with obviously would require airfare for the Tampa fan base, but at least this ballpark is in the same time zone for broadcasting.
Yep...Hurricane Milton was insane. A's fan here and have lived in Sarasota since 2018 , so lucky to only lose power for a few hours, roof with minimal damage, and while I have a mess in the backyard to clean up (fallen trees, etc), animals and loved ones are safe. The Rays are my adopted team, probably the blue-collar small market vibes (and a revolving door of players, and of course stadium issues feels familar to my A's roots). Would be so ironic if they then played in my beloved Coliseum! It is sad about the TROP, as it's a fun place to see a game. To keep Rays in FL, I'd say Tampa's Minor League Steinbrenner Field for at least the first few months of season before it gets insanely hot (June 1st) here. Disney in Orlando could work, but in a region far from Rays fan base.
The following MLB teams have used the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex: Atlanta Braves: The Braves played spring training at the complex from 1997 to 2019. The stadium was previously known as Champion Stadium, Cracker Jack Stadium, and The Ballpark at Disney's Wide World of Sports. Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays hosted two regular season series at the complex in 2007 and 2008.
Great post !! Thank you !! The WDW ballpark is really nice and would be a great home for the Rays. My wife and I have gone to numerous games there. Only question is the summer heat/humidity. It seems to be the best solution.
As much as id like to see it, I think the Oakland Coliseum would literally be last in the pecking order. They'd probably play in a minor league park before that. Most likely to least likely temporary spots imo: 1. George Steinbrennar Field 2. Disney's Wide World of Sports 3. Port Charlotte's stadium 4. Nashville Sounds' stadium 5. TD Ballpark in Dunedin 6. Durham (AAA team location) 7. loanDepot Park 8. Oakland Coliseum
Sahlen Field in Buffalo, home of the Blue Jays triple-A affiliate, was renovated to low MLB standards for the Jays during the pandemic. They're another option before the Coliseum.
Their AAA affiliate in Durham, North Carolina was literally built with the capacity to go from its current seating capacity to a 30,000 seat stadium in four months time, and with the intent of someday serving as the temporary home of a team relocating to the region. Send them this way. We'll put 'em up for a while.
I think the chances of this happening are somewhere between slim and none but it's an idea I would love to see happen. The Raleigh/Durham Area is being talked about for possible MLB expansion. Having the Rays play a season at the DBAP would be a great way to show this area can support a major league team.
@@ChrisDavis-zt6zb You know how I know you aren't from the area? "Raleigh-Durham." If you've lived here any period of time, you know better than to refer to anything as "Raleigh-Durham" except our airport. 😏
@@BlackSaiyan24 Fair enough but you can't blame a guy for dreaming! And you have nothing to worry about anyway. This will never happen. If our area were to ever get a team, I hope it would be by expansion and not another team moving here. I've had teams I pulled for move and I know how hard it is for the true fans.
I’m pretty sure Tropicana field is done. I bet at least $100M to fix the roof and everything else. Doubt insurance will cover much…maybe if it were newer or nicer, but it was already in poor condition and was goin to get demo’d in a few years anyway. Most reasonable plan would be to up the timeframe for the new stadium to ASAP, maybe aim for 2027, then make temporary arrangements for the next couple years.
Honestly the rays are better off taking the insurance payment and just putting it towards the new stadium if. that is an option. The other thing to consider is travel between divisions when fans bring up Oakland (granted that is more a joke for irony). I think if they leave Florida for this year it would be beneficial to see possible part time or full time venues to host home games closer to the rest of the Division like in a Durham, NC.
The Rays should try to to use USF's baseball stadium or they do what the Blue Jays did a few years ago and play at their Triple-A Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, until repairs are made at Tropicana Field.
San Antonio Texas has an Alamodome Stadium that has hosted MLB games in the past. It's indoors! They might need to label all the games as away games, to get around the lease terms, by saying they'll be back in St. Petersburgh when the roof is fixed.
If I had to give a list of venues where it would make sense to me from most likely to least likely, my list would be as follows: 1. Spring Training stadium in Port Charlotte 2. Al Lang Stadium 3. World Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando 4. Shared stadium with another MLB team (ie. Miami) 5. Any one of the Rays minor league affiliates outside of Port Charlotte (I.e Durham, Montgomery) 6. Any one of the other local minor league stadiums not affiliated with the Rays (Clearwater, Tampa, Bradenton) 7. Raymond James Stadium 8. A minor league stadium outside of Florida not affiliated with the Rays 9. A former major league stadium, like Oakland. (Not sure if Turner Field can be salvaged) 10. A stadium outside of the US It's going to be very interesting to see what they do. But I don't think the Trop is out of the question forever.
From what I’ve heard, port Charlotte is basically a prison town, and not somewhere you’d want to set a team for the whole season. I’m from Utah though, so what would I know.
@@ethanrobinson3288 it's not ideal, but there aren't exactly a lot of great options. If anything, the thing that will matter to them more than the surrounding area will be the weather.
Al Lang is currently configured as a soccer venue. I don't know what or how long it would take to put it back into a baseball configuration. Orlando sounds like a reasonable option though the ballpark needs to be modernized a little bit to meet MLB standards. Port Charlotte, the Rays already use so they would not have to negotiate with a rival team for use. The number of available seats may be a limiting factor.
So a stadium was built in a location that COULD be hit by a Category 3, 4, or 5 hurricane and get it's roof blown off. Brilliant! Oh, and we don't need to worry about drains either. Genius! Well, the piper just came visiting.
To be fair to the original designers, the roof was supposed to last 25 years and stand up to a Cat 3. The roof should’ve been replaced several years, if not a decade ago, so you can’t really fault it for failing in those conditions. Also, if the field is supposed to be indoors all the time, why would they go through the trouble of designing and implementing a drainage system that will basically never get used?
Both SLC and Portland have quality temporary stadiums they could use, Portland's actually holds about as many as Tropicana does and if they decided to stay both cities have locations for new parks and funding.
The Marlins won two championships playing in an outdoor stadium in Florida. As I understand it, they got rain every afternoon game, but didn't have rain outs.
They have a bunch of spring training facilities they could use in Florida. I think the Rays owner has some incriminating pictures of Manfred that's why they were never forced to move to a better city.
Maybe Rays can play at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The ballpark was upgraded to major league standards for the 2024 MLB tribute game to the Negro Leagues between Cardinals and Giants. Only 2025 tenant is Miles College, a Division II school. (But I think they'll use the ESPN baseball stadium near Orlando - Rays held spring training there in 2023 and currently has no tenants.)
@@StealthyArmada But still have to deal with Yanks' single-A club. I edited my comment to add Orlando seems most practical since that park has no tenants.
@@OrneryOri-trollteams have shared stadiums before but I’m sure Yankees ownership would have no problem leasing to a major league team bc the Yankees would probably make a lot more money.
Hey Brodie I was sorry to see the damage to Tropicana Field's roof Why in the world would they put a fabric roof there when they know that they get hurricanes. Doesn't make sense. Take care!
They haven't had a direct hit on Tamp/Saint Pete in 100+ years. The likelihood of this happening was very low so they went with something like this as it would handle most weather conditions. This hurricane was just right place right time to do damage to the roof.
Coliseum is closed Brody, way out of Tampa’s market anyway. They’ll play at the triple aaa park until they figure out financing for the new stadium, they were supposed to build years ago.
The longer the roof isn't fixed means more times that it'll continue raining inside The Trop with no way of being able to drain the water. Its an astroturf field so it can't even be absorbed at all into the ground of the field.
San Antonio and the Alamodome once saved the Saints from Katrina, we can do the same with the rays. I can guarantee you, San Antonio would pack the dome.
The Oakland Coliseum is *not* "wide open" for the Rays. The Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul are playing there in 2025. I don't know how many home games they have, but I assume it will be enough to make scheduling an MLB team (which will require reconfiguration) difficult. Everyone suggesting this stadium or that stadium as temporary replacements needs to understand: there are very few baseball-capable places that are just sitting empty with no tenants, and baseball teams don't want to go through the headache of sharing a stadium. So before you suggest whatever stadium, make sure it's not really being used much first.
I think First Horizon Park in Nashville makes a ton of sense. it would be a test to see if Nashville market supports a team (similar to OKC getting basketball after Katrina) and it is still on the east coast. Would still have schedule conflicts with local minor league and any other events, but could be workable 5 months out.
I think maybe having them play at thier Minor League affiliate Durham Bulls home... Regardless of what is decided IMO they need to keep them in the Eastern or Central Time Zone, mostly due to the logistics headaches that it would cause putting them in OAK, especially for the other AL East teams.
I just thought of something. Move the Bulls to another city, at least for 2025, and let the Rays play in Durham. Here in Ottawa, Ontario, we have a AAA stadium that used to be in the International League. Unfortunately, the current tenants is an independent league team so there's a scheduling issue. However, that team starts play only in late May, so that gives a bit of wiggle room. Have the IL reschedule the Bulls' schedule around the remaining issues. Have them switch some series around. Isn't MLB now in control of the minor leagues and could dictate this? Doesn't have to be Ottawa of course but some other minor league stadium but I think inconveniencing one minor league team is a small price to pay. Would suck for the Bulls' fans of course or whichever minor league city would end up being the chosen one. Could be Buffalo too as some mentioned here, it has more seats so potentially the Rays could minimize ticket revenue losses. Before we lost our AAA team here, many were hoping the Blue Jays would move their AAA affiliate to Ottawa. Baseball fans here would be delighted to have the baby Jays play, the Rays get a sizable stadium that has proven can be MLB caliber, Buffalo baseball fans probably delighted as well to have a major league team and the Bisons could be compensated by MLB for their troubles. As I've said in other comments, there are still challenges, particularly concerning Rays employees but some thinking out of the box is needed, and fast.
@pierrelevasseur2701 yes, there certainly are many options out there, and it won't be easy for MLB to decide what to do. I think having the Durham Bulls play somewhere else while the Rays use their ballpark could work. Whatever is decided, I just hope they remain in the Eastern timezone
You and other people keep asking, "what about the staff?, what about the players?" Here is a question. What about the season ticket holders??? Are we supposed to just drive to Orlando? Port Charlotte? etc.
This isn't as complex as it seems once you rule out the obvious: the Devil Ray's have played their last game at the Trop. Period. We're not talking about 3 million fans per season. TB is near the bottom in MLB attendance with only 16,000 fans per game that can be moved to one of many other nearby stadiums. Another wrinkle if they test out a new market (i.e. Orlando) and it's a wild success what does that mean for the new stadium?
Orlando makes sense. It may have the Rays rethink the decision to build in the Trop parking lot if Orlando is highly successful and the Tampa/St Pete recovery delays ballpark plans out there.
@@pebmets that would be a huge loss for Tampa/St. Pete. This could only mean good news to the team vying for tax dollars/abatements in a negotiating war.
@@pebmets Orlando is inland, so when hurricanes do go through Orlando, much of their intensity has diminished. That is one of the reasons why Walt Disney chose to build Disney World inland rather than on the coast.
@@HighpointerGeocacher I live in the area and IRMA and the latest storms did have an impact. If a storm comes from the east, Orlando would be on the dirty side which would be where most of the wind and rain would be. Granted as they cut across from the coast, the lose some impact, but there is still impact.
A good alternative is to see if they can start the season at Steinbrenner field in Tampa or BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater where the Phillies spring training is.
With the 2025 schedule already published, teams playing games in the east are not going to be thrilled of playing a series in the eastern time zone, fly to the west, then come back east to finish their trip. Many have no days off scheduled for times when they are scheduled for Florida.
Talks about relocating employees, family members and players and how nobody wants to do that, then Brodie talks about the Oakland move possibility without bringing those exact points up again. 🤪
Al Lang Stadium is like 12 blocks from the Trop. The Rays control that stadium as well. Their only tenant is the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team, so scheduling could be easily worked around. It only seats around 7500, but so does Wide World of Sports and the spring training facility in Port Charlotte. Im guessing it would be the cheapest and easiest option for a short term solution
Camping World stadium in Orlando would make the most sense. It can be converted to baseball and hold a normal size crowd. There would be issues with weather, but I think the weather problems would be easier to manage making it completely unfair by having the team move 2700 miles away to a park that is not much better than a damaged Trop.
What? Camping World makes zero sense. If they’re going to play at a football stadium it’ll be at Ray Jay, but neither have ever been used for Baseball and I don’t think either of them can be converted to a baseball diamond. There used to be an old run down baseball stadium in the same complex as Camping World but it was torn down a decade ago. If they’re going to play games in Orlando it’ll be at the Wide World of Sports Complex.
*Some other videos you might like:*
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Imagine the A's playing in Oakland as the road team.
Oakland Ray's has a familiar ring to it. I'm in.
rAy’s
I’m all in for that Oakland Rays does sound dope John Fisher would be pissed
1992: SF Bay Area team threatens to move to Tampa Bay.
2025: Tampa Bay team threatens to move to SF Bay Area.
Wow. One would think that the destruction wasn't that bad, but Ray's problems go beyond Milton. Milton was just the last drop.
If and this is a huge IF, the Rays play in Oakland then the A's will play at the coliseum as the ROAD team for 3 or 4 games next year, that would be the weirdest thing to have happened in Major League Baseball
Then what people previously thought would be the A's last game at the Coliseum would have been incorrect.
More if they swap divisions with Hou ot TEX
The only thing similar to this would be in 1961, when the Minnesota Twins played at the Washington Senators.
The Twins were the original Washington Senators who moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season. A second Senators franchise began play in 1961 until they moved to Texas to become the Rangers in 1972.
How weird would it have been for Washington fans to see the previous season’s players as the road team, with a different name on the front of their jerseys?
The Rays played in their home stadium as the ROAD team in 2015, when the Orioles had to move home games to Tampa because of the riots.
@@timsnyder2229 That's quite a different scenario. The Rays may have played those games designated as the road team, but they still represented the city of Tampa regardless at that time. The A's coming back to Oakland would no longer be representing Oakland. I would say it would be more similar to when the Braves went to play the Brewers at old Milwaukee County Stadium for closer parallels.
41 games at Steinbrenner field and 40 games at ESPN at Disney.
A clever solution
@@GDavis49I like it
Do Rays fans want Disney sinking their claws into their team? Be careful what you ask for.
@@JamesFranklin-hd4tm With a lot of youth baseball scheduled there the Disney facility may not be viable
Orlando. Wide world of sports
Tropicana is now a teardown. Period...I'm not an engineer, but I am a seasoned electromechanic, and I would imagine that after so many years in a salt air environment, that most of those struts and roof suspension cables are pretty much shot with stress fractures and corrosion anyway. Also, the flexing that the walls of that edifice have taken over the MANY hurricanes over the years may have deteriorated them out of usable life...We've gotta pull you back, Brodie. Ain't no way in hell MLB is going to allow the Rays to play in Oakland. While I do agree with you that Oakland fans would turn out for the Rays, one out of kindness, and two, to flip Fisher the proverbial bird - this whole saga has been about MLB's collective ego and Oaklanders have, to their credit, bashed and humiliated MLB into their present clown car ride. MLB has a big enough shit show in Sacramento (sorry Sackers, not disparaging your city - just the sloppy setup by the A's there) and Vegas, where now that we've seen the Trop blown up, we shall witness a whole bunch of nothing take place on that property for years to come...In the case of the Rays, I don't think they even leave the region. Personally, I think they take up in Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, which is the Orioles' Grapefruit stadium with no minor league teams in residence. Same problem as Sacramento - small capacity stadium (8,500), minor league amenities, off-center from their traditional market, but still within media shot. It's possible they could use Steinbrenner Field in Tampa (11,000 cap) if they could square it away with the Yankees. I also agree with David Samson, that any attempted poaching of this team will be rebuked and not go well for the would-be poacher...Montréal would be a nice gesture, which makes it highly unlikely that MLB would allow that option, since Montréal itself has not shown proper fealty to the top hats of Baseball either. Interesting that it could have been the best option - MTL doesn't need a lid for baseball, and the time could be used to regauge the MTL baseball market post-Expos. Again, MLB's penchant for staying butt hurt about fan rebellion precludes this...If they do move the Rays (temporary or otherwise) the best fit for next season would probably be San Antonio, plunked down into a weird baseball config at the Alamodome. Or, MLB might have a miraculous moment of wisdom and contract for 2025 with the A's and the Rays...But the Rays are still St. Pete's team to lose...
How about Sahlen Field in Buffalo - same time zone, seats 19,500. The Rays haven't averaged more than that in attendance since 2010.
Some scheduling gymnastics between the two teams but could be worked out.
What's ironic is that I bet the Rays would easily average better attendance somewhere else.
I live in Buffalo and never got the chance to watch the Blue Jays there so I’d kill for this.
Sahlen (aka Pilot) Field was built to be easily expanded, i.e. the foundation can support an upper deck. I remember seeing the renderings when Buffalo was in the hunt for an MLB expansion team (which, ironically, went to St. Pete!) The stadium looked like KC’s Kauffman Stadium but, get this, with a dome … making it look 99% like the Trop. Talk about Karma!!😅
Great suggestion! The same time zone would be huge.
16,600 is the capacity. lets not forget they got rid of the bleacher seats awhile ago and put up the party zone section. that got rid of a few thousand seats.
Much of what Brodie said in this video, myself and others have commented on in two previous videos this week. I don't know what's going to happen but there are challenges no matter what is ultimately decided for the Rays in 2025.
For the fans hoping the Rays play in the Coliseum, the 2025 schedule is out and many teams on eastern road trips would have to go east, west, and back east again with no scheduled days off. This may be unworkable.
Any minor league park chosen would have to be renovated to meet minimum MLB standards. How fast can that get done? How willing to modify their plans are the teams or events scheduled at those parks already?
Loan Depot Park will be an issue since the Rays and Marlins would have 1/2 their home games conflict with each other.
Will MLB accept any venue with less than 10,000 seats? If not, that leaves Steinbrenner Field and maybe you can push Orlando or split between the 2.
As for the weather in Florida, The Marlins played many years in an open air stadium. It wasn't optimal, but they were able to do it.
There is no easy answer. The way MLB has been handling things lately, they will probably make the situation even worse.
The Oakland Coliseum is ready. Maybe Oakland can be their home for one year! We'd be happy to have the Rays here in Oakland for 2025.
And since John Fisher does not own the team, fans might actually come out in large numbers.
Zero chance MLB ever returns to Oakland
Could you see a scenario in which they have multiple home stadiums? For example:
- April: George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa
- May: ESPN Wide World of Sports at WDW in Orlando, with 1 homestand in PR
- June, July, August: LoanDepot Park in Miami when the Marlins are on the road, Oakland Coliseum or Durham Bulls Athletic Park otherwise (split conflicted home series 50/50 based on availability, but try to play the A's in Oakland to sell tickets (A's are June 30-July 2, We don't play the Giants at home).
- September: George Steinbrenner Field or LoanDepot Park (weather still is a problem)
- Postseason: Wildcard round at Steinbrenner Field, ALDS and ALCS at ESPN Wide World of Sports (due to capacity), WS at LoanDepot Park (again, capacity. I hate the idea of the Rays playing more WS home games outside of Tampa Bay but capacity is a huge problem for WS games.
I also have heard of a scenario in which they play at Raymond James Stadium, the problem is that it wasn't designed for baseball and no roof. But whatever they do, DO NOT play in Montreal. Would be a PR nightmare
@zacksheets9726 It would be entertaining to see the Rays/Gypsies do that for a couple of years but how would you like being a player in that situation??
LFG BRODIE BACK IN BUSINESS
Whatever the Rays decide on doing, that decision has to be relatively quick. If they choose an existing spring training facility, it has to be updated to meet certain standards, schedules have to be worked out because many teams have their lower minor league teams there. In addition to those games, there may be other events scheduled. If the Rays already know they can't start the season at the Trop, I am sure they and MLB are trying to work out the details where to play now.
As for playing in Oakland, as you mentioned that may not be workable. For example,
The Yankees play the Royals in NY from April 14-16,
Play in St Petersburg 17-20,
go to Cleveland April 21-23, no days off.
If the Rays are in Oak the Yankees play
3 in NY,
fly out west to Oakland to play 4 games
then fly immediately east to Cleveland for 3 with no days off.
Now multiply that by other teams who are on the east coast schedule to play at the Trop. I don't believe it would be workable unless you build lots of doubleheaders in Oakland so teams can have an off day to make up for the cross country travel.
I feel bad for the Rays fans and the Rays since they are in a tough situation on what to do.
The MINUTE I saw the footage of the roof being ripped off Tropicana Field, I immediately knew there was ZERO chance that it would be ready for opening day. They should be talking to Major League Baseball about contingencies for playing at home, the minute they knew about the roof had been ripped off.
We got cranes falling on buildings and people saying they need crews to start fixing tropicana rn lol
Problem with St Pete is that Tampa residents have never embraced driving over an hour to the Trop. Average attendance hasn't exceeded 20k in the last 15 years- and even those numbers are bogus compared to the actual numbers of people physically sitting in a stadium seat. Somewhere like Steinbrenner is probably their best case scenario.
Streinbrenner is probably the best local option, but those Florida summer temps, humidity, and afternoon rains would make it a tough sell with the MLBPA assuming locker rooms and medical facilities are up to standard for the MLB even.
@@JoshOutdoorsGR I'd like to imagine the Yankees set up decent facilities to start with, but probably would have to be similar to what they did in Buffalo. I wonder then if they'll have to resort to little/no day games and later evening starts. If Steinbrenner doesn't fly, I suppose Disney World is going to be the next best option. Oakland (and Montreal to a greater extent) makes no sense.
Another completely off-the-wall idea would be the Alamodome in San Antonio. The setup is borderline ridiculous, but the Rangers used to play a handful of exhibitions there.
How about this: Steinbrenner Field is used as the primary location. But, in order to alleviate pressure on the Tarpons and avoid some of the bad weather, they do a series of “Summer Road Trips.” For example:
May 23rd - 25th: Blue Jays vs Rays in Montreal
June 6th - 8th: Marlins vs Rays in Puerto Rico
June 30th - July 2nd: Athletics vs Rays in Oakland
July 18th - 20th: Orioles vs Rays in Raleigh-Durham
Apparently Montreal’s stadium is not ready as it is being renovated….
Move them out to Iowa and play at the Field of Dreams 🤣😂🤣
That's under construction to 😅
The Rays play at the coliseum, that means the A's would come back home for a series.... as the away team.... that would be wild
The Yankees wouldn't be thrilled. They would play 3 in NY, have to fly immediately to Oakland for 4 with the rays, then hop on a plane after the last game to get to Cleveland to get there in time for the next night's game, no days off during that 3 city span. Now do this with other teams on an eastern road trip going through Florida. May be unworkable.
Looking at the Rays schedule, it would be hard to reschedule the early games. Their first two series are against the Rockies and Pirates, who they don't play again, so they can't just swap home games. Then after a week out of town they host the Braves, who also don't play the Rays again. After that the rest of April they could theoretically switch home series with the Red Sox, Yankees, and Royals. But this is assuming that it would only be a month or so issue, not longer.
my money is they play in Orlando in 2025 and this will test the market for expansion even though i honestly doubt the league wants to put a 3rd team in Florida. If they play in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, their attendance will nearly sell out every game since it's closer to their season ticket fan base, and that's gonna piss off the team owner and the city of St Pete because now the team wont want to move into their new building in St Pete b/c attendance is so terrible there.
My guess is the Rays decide to move to Orlando because of the issues inherent in building a stadium where hurricanes make first landfall
@@patrickwdoyle but what about the deal they just signed with St Pete? How are they gonna back out of that?
@@jondelmore3163 mutual mistake of fact that the Trop wouldn’t fall down / act of god
Too hot to be playing outdoors in Florida in the summer. It is very humid in Florida in the summer time.
I would go one step further, if they play in Orlando it may show as a better location than building in the current Trop Field parking lot. The Marlins and Rays are showing Florida is having a difficult time supporting 2 teams. Florida has many snow birds and many go up north for the summer.
Also Camping World Stadium could be converted to Baseball as well. I just think the Rays should save the money and start building their new park today!
The Rays should be making alternate plans for 2025 MLB season when hurricane Milton happened. The best thing that can happen is for the Rays is to temporarily locate for the next 3 - 5 years until they find a new home, hopefully its out of Florida.
It would be nothing short of bizarre watching the A’s play a road game at the coliseum
It would totally mess up the travel schedules for the rest of the AL East teams, no way do they play on the west coast as an AL East team when the schedule for next season is already announced.
Yeah it’s not going to happen for sure, I’m just saying hypothetically
Move Rays to the West for the season, Rangers or Astros to the Central and Guardians to the East…..
@@DIMP11 The schedule is already made for next season.
@@DIMP11 No, the Rangers-Astros need that rivalry. If the Astros go to the Central, it'd create a travel nightmare to the same reason why they left the National League. This only way this would work is if you move the Rays and the KC Royals to the West; move both Texas and Houston to the Central and move the Guardians to the East.
Another completely off-the-wall idea would be the Alamodome in San Antonio. The setup is borderline ridiculous, but the Rangers used to play a handful of exhibitions there.
I'm all for anything that embarrasses Manfred and all the owners. That's what they get for taking away the A's from Oakland
Not only did the As ownership make the right decision for that franchise, Oakland earned/deserved to lose the team to another city.
A new stadium has been shown to increase interest and attendance. That said, since John fisher has publicly acknowledged the need for a new stadium since he bought the team over two decades ago. In that time the team has not always been bad, but they’ve always been at the absolute bottom of the barrel when it comes to average attendance. I know A’s fans don’t want to admit it but that city has not shown any type of support for that team.
You cannot blame ownership for this. I strongly believe John fisher did not want to move that team out of Oakland. He’s had bad attendance for nearly 20 years, and he and his father had purchased the giants organization to prevent them from moving out of SF to Tampa.
And when they finally take a stand and start making plans to move the team, what does the city do in response? They protested going to the games… so, a team wants to move due to bad attendance numbers and the fans response was to not go to games and then blame the owner and act like it couldn’t possibly be the fans fault…
Just call em the Ayyyys instead
@@ryand5725have you seen what Steve Ballmer’s done for the clippers ??? That’s what’s a real sports owner should be doing
@@ryand5725 you're right about one thing. a new stadium improves attendence. it would have in the east bay too do you know there are ferral animals living inside the coloseum? how about the ongoing sewage issues? you know i haven't seen a senior citizen there since around '04 or so? tell ya what. youtube search these words: is this place safe? followed by the words oakland coloseum. you don't even have to watch the video. what i'm referring to is in the damn thumbnail. check it out if you dare.
@@ryand5725 But where was John Fisher for the last 20 years and what was he doing to increase attendance numbers? Nothing. New stadium didn't work too well for the Marlins since the team is still losing, You can blame ownership for letting his team get to the point of where it was. He chose not to make any improvements.
Send them to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s hosted the Expos, it has good baseball history and it’s a great tourist spot - that’s three things that you can’t say about St. Pete.
Terrible idea.
The MLB won’t like the fact two teams playing in minor/ spring training stadiums.
Well, one is due to circumstances, the other the league brought on itself. If they didn't want the A's to play the next few seasons in Sacramento, they could have done something about it to prevent that.
In my view, Sahlen Field in Buffalo would be the best option for the Rays to play at for 2025. Sahlen Field has proven it can host an MLB team as it was the home of the Blue Jays for 2 years (all of 2020 + half of 2021) during the pandemic. I am sure that the minor league Buffalo Bisons would not mind sharing their stadium with the Rays as it would mean more revenue for the team given the fact there would be more games being played. Also playing in Buffalo means that the Rays can still play "home" games in their regular time zone & teams doing a road stand in the Northeast can easily get there.
No, Oakland Devil Rays will be the best.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Two teams sharing that tiny ballpark won't be very fun, but it's certainly better than being in Oakland. I'm surprised he didn't mention Montreal, the Rays have talked about playing there already and they have an unused MLB stadium (albeit a crappy one) ready to go.
@@Cruising_On_Lake_Havasoma Well Brodie actually did mention the Big Owe ( 9:40 ), but he said that the roof is under repair. But to take the idea further - Montreal weather in March is...... questionable at best. Maybe it could work from May onward, but there should be an alternative for the March & April home games.
@@Cruising_On_Lake_Havasoma He did mention Montreal. They're replacing the Stade Olympique roof (a overly complex operation because of technical design of the stadium, FWIW) and what would be the playing area is currently occupied by cranes, material, and other construction equipment.
@@watson956 I must have missed that.
This is, for some reason, fascinating to me and I live in NYC. Brodie, you need to write a book about this when it's all said and done. Please.
1) The roof is open and winter is commng, so there will likely be more rain between now and the time the roof is repaired. More water damage to the stadium lies ahead lessens the odds that the repairs be complete in time.
2) Having the Rays play in the Oakland Colosseum is a long-shot, but could you imagine a series between the home team Rays and the visiting A's in Oakland? That would be very interesting. Who would long time A's fans root for?
So much for all that talk last month about the A's last game in the Coliseum.
Just stay at the spring training park 7,000 is the perfect crowd for them
This is very similar to the Hornets playing in Oklahoma City for a couple years. Those two years proved that they could have a successful NBA franchise. Let’s see if they play elsewhere and that city gets a team shortly after.
The Oakland-Tampa Bay Rays being the baseball version of the New Orleans-Oklahoma City Hornets would be weird
Move them to Charlotte
Sahlen Field in Buffalo would be a good option. It already recieved upgrades for when the Toronto Blue Jays played there in 2020 and 2021.
Yeah, it does have over 16,000 seats. But there's a minor league team there, the Blue Jays AAA team, the Bisons. It's the same problem no matter what minor league stadium you use: scheduling issues between the Rays and that minor league team. As we say in scientific fields, it's a non-trivial problem. And that's just part of it. It could become part of a solution. Desperate times calls for desperate measures after all. The Rays could be playing home games in a variety of cities next season but that brings up other challenges, not just scheduling such as what do you do with employees? Do you move them too? You pretty much have to. What if they can't or won't?
What about Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. It's the home of the College World Series. It is Major League ready and has broadcasting facilities. Omaha's metro area is a million people. Seems like a good idea for a temporary fix.
I don't know if the Royal's would like that.
I think you are close to the right amount. I think they will find way more issues once they start digging. It took nearly 10 months for the superdome to be repaired. They may lose the entire season.
I got you, Brodie. I thought “what about the Coliseum?”, too, as crazy as it sounds. Not that it would be any easier, but what about Salt Lake City? Many, but not all, of the same problems.
Adam the Woo suggests ESPN Wide World of Sports. Gave stadium that is not being used in summer except for various youth type tournaments.
I went to a Tampa Bay Bucs game in September and it was unbearably hot. No way you could play outdoor baseball there in the summer at the Yankee's spring training stadium. Its great in March before the humidity heats up there but not in May-August.
yeah the players union won't approve that.
Your audio chain is so overkill but I do love it
Im a commercial HVAC contractor. Nothing cause long term damage to A chiller than water flooding.
1994 Seattle Mariners. The KingDome roof tiles in some areas of the ceiling fell to the turf! The Mariners spent the rest of the season on the road! Fortunately it was that strike shortened season. The Rays could do the same to open the season.
If Oakland hosted the Rays for 25, it would be extremely unfair to the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Orioles. Those are the teams that would be most impacted besides the Rays themselves. They have to play each other more than the rest of the league. It would give them back the advantage when they have to play the west coast teams. There are no good answers for this situation. What’s the Astrodome look like now? It’s still standing in Houston. How well maintained is it? I know I researched a few Florida facilities last time I commented. Most were in the Tampa St Pete area. I think one was completely available but only had 7700 seats.
Useless there is a dome stadium replacement with an hour drive of Tampa - it seems they may need to test the waters of a potential future MLB city.
Charlotte NC has a downtown minor league park with obviously would require airfare for the Tampa fan base, but at least this ballpark is in the same time zone for broadcasting.
This sounds like the stadium is just gonna be forgotten, I don’t see how they fix it while also building a whole new ballpark
If I remember the Ray's ownership floated an idea of splitting games a few seasons ago in Montreal..
I doubt insurance would cover a roofing material that was 10 years beyond its design life. Dolphins stadium, the Marlins used to play there.
Yep...Hurricane Milton was insane. A's fan here and have lived in Sarasota since 2018 , so lucky to only lose power for a few hours, roof with minimal damage, and while I have a mess in the backyard to clean up (fallen trees, etc), animals and loved ones are safe.
The Rays are my adopted team, probably the blue-collar small market vibes (and a revolving door of players, and of course stadium issues feels familar to my A's roots). Would be so ironic if they then played in my beloved Coliseum!
It is sad about the TROP, as it's a fun place to see a game. To keep Rays in FL, I'd say Tampa's Minor League Steinbrenner Field for at least the first few months of season before it gets insanely hot (June 1st) here. Disney in Orlando could work, but in a region far from Rays fan base.
What about the Disney sports complex in Orlando or Turner field in Atlanta
Turner is currently being used for Georgia State University football team.
@@sunny1992s but football season ends in January and won't begin until September
There are quite a few ballparks that are suitable for a temporary due to all The spring training games
The following MLB teams have used the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex:
Atlanta Braves: The Braves played spring training at the complex from 1997 to 2019. The stadium was previously known as Champion Stadium, Cracker Jack Stadium, and The Ballpark at Disney's Wide World of Sports.
Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays hosted two regular season series at the complex in 2007 and 2008.
It's their best solution for the rays.
Great post !! Thank you !!
The WDW ballpark is really nice and would be a great home for the Rays.
My wife and I have gone to numerous games there.
Only question is the summer heat/humidity.
It seems to be the best solution.
As much as id like to see it, I think the Oakland Coliseum would literally be last in the pecking order. They'd probably play in a minor league park before that. Most likely to least likely temporary spots imo:
1. George Steinbrennar Field
2. Disney's Wide World of Sports
3. Port Charlotte's stadium
4. Nashville Sounds' stadium
5. TD Ballpark in Dunedin
6. Durham (AAA team location)
7. loanDepot Park
8. Oakland Coliseum
Sahlen Field in Buffalo, home of the Blue Jays triple-A affiliate, was renovated to low MLB standards for the Jays during the pandemic. They're another option before the Coliseum.
@@aidankeys8534 Puerto RIco
Their AAA affiliate in Durham, North Carolina was literally built with the capacity to go from its current seating capacity to a 30,000 seat stadium in four months time, and with the intent of someday serving as the temporary home of a team relocating to the region. Send them this way. We'll put 'em up for a while.
I think the chances of this happening are somewhere between slim and none but it's an idea I would love to see happen. The Raleigh/Durham Area is being talked about for possible MLB expansion. Having the Rays play a season at the DBAP would be a great way to show this area can support a major league team.
No.
Florida first. Get your own team.
@@ChrisDavis-zt6zb You know how I know you aren't from the area? "Raleigh-Durham." If you've lived here any period of time, you know better than to refer to anything as "Raleigh-Durham" except our airport. 😏
@@BlackSaiyan24 Fair enough but you can't blame a guy for dreaming! And you have nothing to worry about anyway. This will never happen. If our area were to ever get a team, I hope it would be by expansion and not another team moving here. I've had teams I pulled for move and I know how hard it is for the true fans.
Rays could play at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play it could hold up to over 36,000 seats
is it fit for a baseball field?
@@brodiebrazil Nope
I'm glad I went to a game there in September to cross that park off my list
I’m pretty sure Tropicana field is done. I bet at least $100M to fix the roof and everything else. Doubt insurance will cover much…maybe if it were newer or nicer, but it was already in poor condition and was goin to get demo’d in a few years anyway. Most reasonable plan would be to up the timeframe for the new stadium to ASAP, maybe aim for 2027, then make temporary arrangements for the next couple years.
Honestly the rays are better off taking the insurance payment and just putting it towards the new stadium if. that is an option. The other thing to consider is travel between divisions when fans bring up Oakland (granted that is more a joke for irony). I think if they leave Florida for this year it would be beneficial to see possible part time or full time venues to host home games closer to the rest of the Division like in a Durham, NC.
The Indianapolis Indians could possibly split time at Bosse Field in Evanston and the Rays could play in Indianapolis.
You didn't mention the old Ballpark in Arlington. That's open and still beautiful. I'd consider that if it's only for a few months.
or the Field of Dreams location
Arlington had seats removed and the field permanently reconfigured for UFL football and USL soccer.
@@miguelpadilla31Plus the third base dugout was removed, along with a major portion of the lower-level seats along that side of the field.
the heat box??? Why would the Rays want to play there when there was a reason why the Rangers moved.
@@Techguyericd Sunday afternoon games during the Texas summer to accommodate Major League Baseball players who won't play Sunday evening games...
The Rays should try to to use USF's baseball stadium or they do what the Blue Jays did a few years ago and play at their Triple-A Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, until repairs are made at Tropicana Field.
San Antonio Texas has an Alamodome Stadium that has hosted MLB games in the past. It's indoors!
They might need to label all the games as away games, to get around the lease terms, by saying they'll be back in St. Petersburgh when the roof is fixed.
If I had to give a list of venues where it would make sense to me from most likely to least likely, my list would be as follows:
1. Spring Training stadium in Port Charlotte
2. Al Lang Stadium
3. World Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando
4. Shared stadium with another MLB team (ie. Miami)
5. Any one of the Rays minor league affiliates outside of Port Charlotte (I.e Durham, Montgomery)
6. Any one of the other local minor league stadiums not affiliated with the Rays (Clearwater, Tampa, Bradenton)
7. Raymond James Stadium
8. A minor league stadium outside of Florida not affiliated with the Rays
9. A former major league stadium, like Oakland. (Not sure if Turner Field can be salvaged)
10. A stadium outside of the US
It's going to be very interesting to see what they do. But I don't think the Trop is out of the question forever.
From what I’ve heard, port Charlotte is basically a prison town, and not somewhere you’d want to set a team for the whole season. I’m from Utah though, so what would I know.
@@ethanrobinson3288 it's not ideal, but there aren't exactly a lot of great options. If anything, the thing that will matter to them more than the surrounding area will be the weather.
Al Lang is currently configured as a soccer venue. I don't know what or how long it would take to put it back into a baseball configuration.
Orlando sounds like a reasonable option though the ballpark needs to be modernized a little bit to meet MLB standards.
Port Charlotte, the Rays already use so they would not have to negotiate with a rival team for use. The number of available seats may be a limiting factor.
@@pebmets all great points to make
I’ve seen those catwalk videos and a lot of the sound and lighting stuff up there is not properly shielded for weather other than by the roof.
correct
What about Raymond James Stadium? 🤷🏼♂️
I’m sorry Brody, I was wrong with my comment from the other video.
So a stadium was built in a location that COULD be hit by a Category 3, 4, or 5 hurricane and get it's roof blown off. Brilliant! Oh, and we don't need to worry about drains either. Genius! Well, the piper just came visiting.
To be fair to the original designers, the roof was supposed to last 25 years and stand up to a Cat 3. The roof should’ve been replaced several years, if not a decade ago, so you can’t really fault it for failing in those conditions. Also, if the field is supposed to be indoors all the time, why would they go through the trouble of designing and implementing a drainage system that will basically never get used?
They should play at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
Just play in Charlotte next season
Has the Superdome ever hosted baseball? Seems like a decent option thats not too far from Tampa.
Back in the day the N.O. Zephyrs (AAA) played there.
Both SLC and Portland have quality temporary stadiums they could use, Portland's actually holds about as many as Tropicana does and if they decided to stay both cities have locations for new parks and funding.
Re: 12:20--The Cubs, White Sox and Brewers are within about 90 miles of each other.
The Marlins won two championships playing in an outdoor stadium in Florida. As I understand it, they got rain every afternoon game, but didn't have rain outs.
Oakland rAy’s baby!!!
They have a bunch of spring training facilities they could use in Florida. I think the Rays owner has some incriminating pictures of Manfred that's why they were never forced to move to a better city.
Maybe Rays can play at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The ballpark was upgraded to major league standards for the 2024 MLB tribute game to the Negro Leagues between Cardinals and Giants. Only 2025 tenant is Miles College, a Division II school. (But I think they'll use the ESPN baseball stadium near Orlando - Rays held spring training there in 2023 and currently has no tenants.)
It only seats 10.8k, the Yankee stadium in Tampa seats 11k. Might as well just stay in Tampa
@@StealthyArmada 8,300 after renovations. Agree if the seats were the only concern -- weather is going to be a big part of this too.
@@StealthyArmada But still have to deal with Yanks' single-A club. I edited my comment to add Orlando seems most practical since that park has no tenants.
@@OrneryOri-trollteams have shared stadiums before but I’m sure Yankees ownership would have no problem leasing to a major league team bc the Yankees would probably make a lot more money.
It could get more humid in Birmingham without the coastal airflow and it is further away from divisional opponents in the Eastern Time Zone.
Hey Brodie I was sorry to see the damage to Tropicana Field's roof
Why in the world would they put a fabric roof there when they know that they get hurricanes. Doesn't make sense. Take care!
They haven't had a direct hit on Tamp/Saint Pete in 100+ years. The likelihood of this happening was very low so they went with something like this as it would handle most weather conditions.
This hurricane was just right place right time to do damage to the roof.
A fabric roof is cheaper than a hard roof for something as large as an MLB ballpark and still be mostly column free.
Coliseum is closed Brody, way out of Tampa’s market anyway. They’ll play at the triple aaa park until they figure out financing for the new stadium, they were supposed to build years ago.
The longer the roof isn't fixed means more times that it'll continue raining inside The Trop with no way of being able to drain the water. Its an astroturf field so it can't even be absorbed at all into the ground of the field.
San Antonio and the Alamodome once saved the Saints from Katrina, we can do the same with the rays. I can guarantee you, San Antonio would pack the dome.
The Oakland Coliseum is *not* "wide open" for the Rays. The Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul are playing there in 2025. I don't know how many home games they have, but I assume it will be enough to make scheduling an MLB team (which will require reconfiguration) difficult.
Everyone suggesting this stadium or that stadium as temporary replacements needs to understand: there are very few baseball-capable places that are just sitting empty with no tenants, and baseball teams don't want to go through the headache of sharing a stadium. So before you suggest whatever stadium, make sure it's not really being used much first.
Omaha is the logical conclusion then. Schwab Field isn’t used outside of the CWS.
I know for a fact that it would be entirely possible to accommodate soccer and baseball in 2025.
@@brodiebrazil Soccer has a much smaller schedule than baseball does.
My Jays had to play in minor league fields during covid
I think First Horizon Park in Nashville makes a ton of sense. it would be a test to see if Nashville market supports a team (similar to OKC getting basketball after Katrina) and it is still on the east coast. Would still have schedule conflicts with local minor league and any other events, but could be workable 5 months out.
I think maybe having them play at thier Minor League affiliate Durham Bulls home... Regardless of what is decided IMO they need to keep them in the Eastern or Central Time Zone, mostly due to the logistics headaches that it would cause putting them in OAK, especially for the other AL East teams.
I just thought of something. Move the Bulls to another city, at least for 2025, and let the Rays play in Durham. Here in Ottawa, Ontario, we have a AAA stadium that used to be in the International League. Unfortunately, the current tenants is an independent league team so there's a scheduling issue. However, that team starts play only in late May, so that gives a bit of wiggle room. Have the IL reschedule the Bulls' schedule around the remaining issues. Have them switch some series around. Isn't MLB now in control of the minor leagues and could dictate this? Doesn't have to be Ottawa of course but some other minor league stadium but I think inconveniencing one minor league team is a small price to pay. Would suck for the Bulls' fans of course or whichever minor league city would end up being the chosen one. Could be Buffalo too as some mentioned here, it has more seats so potentially the Rays could minimize ticket revenue losses. Before we lost our AAA team here, many were hoping the Blue Jays would move their AAA affiliate to Ottawa. Baseball fans here would be delighted to have the baby Jays play, the Rays get a sizable stadium that has proven can be MLB caliber, Buffalo baseball fans probably delighted as well to have a major league team and the Bisons could be compensated by MLB for their troubles. As I've said in other comments, there are still challenges, particularly concerning Rays employees but some thinking out of the box is needed, and fast.
@pierrelevasseur2701 yes, there certainly are many options out there, and it won't be easy for MLB to decide what to do. I think having the Durham Bulls play somewhere else while the Rays use their ballpark could work. Whatever is decided, I just hope they remain in the Eastern timezone
The summer weather in Florida is an issue? How many minor league games are played during the summer in Florida?
A lot
You and other people keep asking, "what about the staff?, what about the players?" Here is a question. What about the season ticket holders??? Are we supposed to just drive to Orlando? Port Charlotte? etc.
i asked both questions, in fairness
@@brodiebrazil thank you
This isn't as complex as it seems once you rule out the obvious: the Devil Ray's have played their last game at the Trop. Period. We're not talking about 3 million fans per season. TB is near the bottom in MLB attendance with only 16,000 fans per game that can be moved to one of many other nearby stadiums.
Another wrinkle if they test out a new market (i.e. Orlando) and it's a wild success what does that mean for the new stadium?
Orlando makes sense. It may have the Rays rethink the decision to build in the Trop parking lot if Orlando is highly successful and the Tampa/St Pete recovery delays ballpark plans out there.
@@pebmets that would be a huge loss for Tampa/St. Pete. This could only mean good news to the team vying for tax dollars/abatements in a negotiating war.
@@pebmets Orlando is inland, so when hurricanes do go through Orlando, much of their intensity has diminished. That is one of the reasons why Walt Disney chose to build Disney World inland rather than on the coast.
@@HighpointerGeocacher I live in the area and IRMA and the latest storms did have an impact. If a storm comes from the east, Orlando would be on the dirty side which would be where most of the wind and rain would be. Granted as they cut across from the coast, the lose some impact, but there is still impact.
@@pebmetseither side a storm would come I can't see it being stronger then a cat 2 when coming over land to Orlando.
A good alternative is to see if they can start the season at Steinbrenner field in Tampa or BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater where the Phillies spring training is.
I don't want to lose the only Milwaukee Tampa rivalry in all of sports.
It's not a rivalry, AL team vs NL team they only play each other 3 times a year in interleague play
I bet Oakland would support The Rays like crazy cause they have different owners
With the 2025 schedule already published, teams playing games in the east are not going to be thrilled of playing a series in the eastern time zone, fly to the west, then come back east to finish their trip. Many have no days off scheduled for times when they are scheduled for Florida.
Talks about relocating employees, family members and players and how nobody wants to do that, then Brodie talks about the Oakland move possibility without bringing those exact points up again. 🤪
Probably gonna be some combination of Disney World, Port Charlotte, and Miami. Maybe Clearwater.
Add Bradenton and Fort Myers.
Buffalo has already converted its AAA field for MLB during covid. Perhaps they can make a deal with the Blue Jays?
Al Lang Stadium is like 12 blocks from the Trop. The Rays control that stadium as well. Their only tenant is the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team, so scheduling could be easily worked around. It only seats around 7500, but so does Wide World of Sports and the spring training facility in Port Charlotte. Im guessing it would be the cheapest and easiest option for a short term solution
Hard Rock Stadium used to host the Marlins. Is it possible they could go back to using it as a multi sport complex?
I think they got rid of that when they did the renovations a few years ago
I saw someone mention this on X or Facebook, but how about relocating temporarily into the Superdome in New Orleans?
Not a bad idea considering that there are no teams on gulf coast between Tampa and Houston and could gain some new fans here.
The Superdome's lower bowl was permanently rebuilt to be football only a long time ago.
The Alamodome in San Antonio could also be used as a temporary home base. Flexible dates, and it has hosted Rangers exhibition games in the past
Taxes, dome, far enough away from Houston and maybe expansion city..
I saw the Phillies and Mets at London Stadium in June. Big ballpark.
Camping World stadium in Orlando would make the most sense. It can be converted to baseball and hold a normal size crowd. There would be issues with weather, but I think the weather problems would be easier to manage making it completely unfair by having the team move 2700 miles away to a park that is not much better than a damaged Trop.
What? Camping World makes zero sense. If they’re going to play at a football stadium it’ll be at Ray Jay, but neither have ever been used for Baseball and I don’t think either of them can be converted to a baseball diamond. There used to be an old run down baseball stadium in the same complex as Camping World but it was torn down a decade ago. If they’re going to play games in Orlando it’ll be at the Wide World of Sports Complex.
Might not be enough time to make Orlando the stadium MLB ready by March 27
Steinbrenner Field, Clearwater stadium, Port Charlotte , Disney....20 games each. Stay local