Owners and tenants of Tropicana Field, ravaged in the face of Hurricane Milton, are facing a short five-month-long window to somehow make the severely damaged home of the Tampa Bay Rays suitable for MLB play.
Hurricane Milton’s powerful winds overnight Wednesday nearly ripped the entire roof off St. Petersburg-owned Tropicana Field, which had been set to be used by workers responding to the storm.
With rescue and cleanup efforts still front of mind in the Tampa Bay region, the city of St. Petersburg is a long way from making any decisions on how to fix the tattered stadium, officials said Friday.
"The city will work with the Rays on determining the best options once the assessment of the situation is complete," Councilmember Gina Driscoll, whose district includes Tropicana Field, said in a statement to NBC News on Friday.
A Rays representative could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.
The prospect of installing a new roof atop Tropicana Field comes at a difficult time for local governments, which are already committed to building a new Rays stadium in time for the 2028 season.
So whatever investment is put into Tropicana Field now would be used by the Rays for only three more seasons.
The most apt comparison for Tropicana Field's situation might be the Dec. 11-12, 2010, snowstorm in Minneapolis that brought down the Metrodome roof.
It cost about $18 million at that time to repair the Minnesota Vikings' ceiling by July of the following year. Given inflation and the added cost of rushing to get Tropicana Field ready for Opening Day 2025, a straight replacement could potentially cost at least double the Metrodome bill.
But California-based structural engineer Emily Guglielmo said she believes there could be a lower-cost alternative for St. Petersburg and the Rays to consider.
"We live in this age of rapidly changing technology in this space," said Guglielmo, chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers Seismic Committee and member of the group’s panel on wind safety.
"So I expect there will be many different manufacturers who will show up with interesting products that they would like to be considered."
As soon as footage of the suddenly open-air Tropicana Field hit the news, scores of engineers, architects and contractors across America and globe were likely racing for their drafting tables.
"I think there will be a very interesting, innovative and economic driven conversations happening very shortly about what are the opportunities that exist for a fast and cheap, yet safe, replacement," Guglielmo said.
The Rays are scheduled to open the 2025 season at home against the Colorado Rockies on March 27.
A rep for the company that installed the stadium’s roof, Geiger Engineers, did not return messages from NBC News seeking comment Thursday. A rep on Friday said the firm would not discuss the matter.
However in an interview with The New York Times, a top Geiger Engineers official appeared to shift blame for the roof’s destruction to the stadium owners and operators.
That roof was “well past its intended service life,” Geiger Engineers principal David Campbell told the newspaper. The Trop’s roofing fabric has a lifespan of 25 years, he said. Tropicana Field opened to the public in 1990 and still had its original roof.
