The Tampa Bay Rays have their home opener for their season at Steinbrenner Field on Friday.
The game is already a sell out. Seating capacity at this years games will be greatly reduced, due to major hurricane damage at Tropicana Field.
Major repairs to the Trop have not even started, but the team is ready to move on for this year.
“I’d like to start with a sentence I never thought I would say, welcome to George M Steinbrenner field, home of the 2025 Tampa Bay Rays,” said Rays Chief Business Officer Bill Walsh as he welcomed the media to a preview.
Walsh said things will be different this year for players and fans.
“The fan experience at home games will look different as well,” said Walsh, making a joke about this seasons outdoor games. “We will undoubtedly experience our first ever rain delay at home and it will be sponsored by BudWeiser.”
He said the team and Major League Baseball worked out an agreement to move some games due to the expected weather at the outdoor facility.
“Obviously the summer months, they are hot, and they are wet, and we all know that,” Walsh said. “So, we were able to move six games from July and August to April and May respectively, and so that front loads our schedule pretty heavily, particularly in April. I think we have 19 games in 22 days, vs 8 games total in July and August.”
After this season it’s uncertain where the team will play next, as Rays owners walked away from a billion dollar development deal to build a new stadium in St. Petersburg.
