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How Rays will make themselves at home at Yankees’ Steinbrenner Field

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How Rays will make themselves at home at Yankees’ Steinbrenner Field

As the Rays considered and researched possibilities for a 2025 interim home following Hurricane Milton’s Oct. 9 shredding of Tropicana Field’s roof, they fairly quickly determined, with input from Major League Baseball, that the best option would be Tampa’s George M. Steinbrenner Field.

But they also knew the Yankees, who base spring training and a minor-league team at the ballpark across from Raymond James Stadium, had more important issues as they advanced through the playoffs to the World Series.

Wisely waiting until a couple of days after the Series ended with New York’s Game 5 loss to the Dodgers on Oct. 30, Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg reached out to Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and asked about using their spring park for the 2025 season.

Steinbrenner, who is based in Tampa, didn’t need long to say the Yankees would be happy to help. Within a week or so, they had worked out a deal.

“We couldn’t have asked for a more accommodating and gracious organization to help us in our time of need,” Rays president Matt Silverman said. “The Yankees are certainly our on-field rivals, but we are partners off the field and they extended a hand to us when we were really in dire straits.”

The agreement provided the Rays with what they felt was the best of many suboptimal scenarios.

It allows them to stay in the Tampa Bay area. To play in the ballpark with the largest capacity and closest-to-major-league-quality facilities. And to create an environment that will have at least something of the look and feel of their home stadium.

It also gives them a chance to be part of some odd, and never expected, scenarios.

Playing outdoor games in Tampa in the summer heat and rain. Seeing the Yankees make April and August visits to their spring home — and use the visiting clubhouse. Potentially hosting postseason games in front of sellout crowds of about 11,000 fans.

“You always try to make the best of a challenging situation,” Silverman said. “And we’re going to see some things that we never anticipated, which is outdoor baseball in Tampa. I think many of our fans will enjoy it, and we expect the team is going to be an incredibly compelling one as well.”

With much still to be discussed and decided, here’s an early look at how some of this will work when the Rays open the regular season by hosting the Rockies on March 27 — just 130 days from now.

Tickets/capacity

The capacity at Steinbrenner Field will stay around 11,026, as there are no plans to add any temporary bleacher-type seating. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

With 9,628 fixed seats plus suites, club areas and cabana seating, Steinbrenner Field has a capacity of 11,026. It will stay around that, as there are no plans to add any temporary bleacher-type seating.

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The Rays averaged 16,515 fans last season. So — for something completely different — demand may exceed supply. Especially if all those Tampa-based fans who complained about the trip to the Trop come out in droves.

Most ticketing details are still being worked out and may not be finalized until after Thanksgiving. Those include how much tickets will cost and how many will be available per game, based on the number set aside for season ticket holders, with current Rays season ticket members getting first dibs.

Signage

Almost all of the Yankees materials at Steinbrenner Field can be taken down or covered up, likely including the large letters atop the seating areas down both foul lines that spell out YANKEES.
Almost all of the Yankees materials at Steinbrenner Field can be taken down or covered up, likely including the large letters atop the seating areas down both foul lines that spell out YANKEES. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

Except for the absence of a roof and differences in color scheme, architecture and dimensions, the Rays will have the opportunity to make Steinbrenner Field look as much like a Rays home game as they can.

That means their logos, promotional materials, signs for advertisers and sponsors (allowing then to recoup some revenues), and scoreboard graphics can be displayed. Their furry blue mascot can run amok as part of their usual game presentation.

Almost all of the Yankees materials can be taken down or covered up, likely including the large letters atop the seating areas down both foul lines that spell out YANKEES. The large team store outside the stadium also is expected to be rebranded.

What likely will not change are the small monuments to past Yankees greats outside the ballpark and — definitely not — the statute of former owner and stadium namesake George Steinbrenner.

One of the things that definitely will not change with the Rays playing at Steinbrenner Field is the statute of former owner and stadium namesake George Steinbrenner.
One of the things that definitely will not change with the Rays playing at Steinbrenner Field is the statute of former owner and stadium namesake George Steinbrenner. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

Game times/schedule/rain

Joining a growing MLB trend, the Rays have started weeknight games earlier — 6:40 p.m. in 2023, 6:50 last year.

But one tactic to combat 90-plus-degree temperatures and daily late-afternoon rains — and the high-percentage potential for pre- and/or in-game delays — could be later start times.

The Rays are looking into that and could do so at least during the rainy season. Also to be discussed is whether to keep Sunday games at 1:40, or to play earlier or later to dodge the most uncomfortable weather.

With only three days between the Yankees’ March 23 spring finale and the Rays’ regular season opener, the Rays could have benefited from an adjustment to the schedule to have them open on the road. But they had a bad draw, hosting two National League teams (Rockies and Pirates) who they play only once during the season. Had they opened against an American League team with whom they have home and home games, the series potentially could have been flipped.

Overall, their schedule helps a bit, with 18 home games in March/April, 13 in May and six in early June, when the weather can be pleasant. Then they have seven in late June, 11 in both July and August, and 14 in September.

That matters. The Tampa Tarpons, the Yankees’ affiliate in the Low A Florida State League, played uninterrupted at Steinbrenner Field this past season until mid-June, then from June 19-Sept. 6 had eight games postponed and another 10 delayed by rain, according to research by Fox Sports’ Greg Auman.

Parking/traffic

With spring games played mostly in the early afternoon, traffic is usually bearable getting to Steinbrenner Field. That will change with weekday night games.
With spring games played mostly in the early afternoon, traffic is usually bearable getting to Steinbrenner Field. That will change with weekday night games. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

With spring games played mostly in the early afternoon traffic is usually bearable, and with most fans using the Raymond James Stadium lots and pedestrian overpass there is sufficient parking. The traffic dynamic will change with weekday night games, and some events at Raymond James Stadium when the Rays are at home could impact parking, such as Metallica concerts on June 6 and 8. The Bucs’ 2025 schedule also could be a factor, as the Rays play at home on Sundays, Sept. 7 and 21, and also potentially in October.

Clubhouses

The Yankees will make April and August visits to Steinbrenner Field to play the Rays, using the visiting clubhouse at their spring home.
The Yankees will make April and August visits to Steinbrenner Field to play the Rays, using the visiting clubhouse at their spring home. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

The Rays will move into the massive and freshly renovated home clubhouse behind the first-base dugout ahead of the season opener and can settle in. They will have the run of the place — plus the trainers’ room, rehab and recovery facilities, weight room, new office space, covered batting cages and pitching mounds — for the season. That includes visits by the Yankees (April 17-20 and Aug. 19-20), who will be relegated to the visiting clubhouse and dugout on the third-base side.

(Yankees executives, including Steinbrenner, will keep their fourth-floor stadium offices.)

While most of the Steinbrenner Field facilities are up to MLB and players union standards, the visiting clubhouse likely will have to be expanded and upgraded, or replaced by a temporary facility, such as a high-grade tent, adjacent to the stadium.

The minor-league Tarpons (who averaged 993 fans last season) will dress and work out at the Yankees’ minor-league facility across the street and likely play all of their games — even when the Rays are on the road — on a field adjacent to the stadium that has bleacher seating.

Stadium staffing/concessions

This is an area that may require much discussion.

The initial plan for game day staffing seems to be for a mix of Yankees and Rays workers — some based on expertise and job description, some on availability. Merchandising and concessions will be run by Legends Hospitality, which is the Yankees company, though it is possible the Rays could get space for some of their specialty vendors (and provide another avenue for monetization). The Rays also will participate in concession and parking revenues, with details to be worked out.

One big, bubbly change: The Trop served Coke. Steinbrenner Field sells Pepsi.

Postseason dates

If the Rays make the playoffs, moving their home games to a neutral site with larger capacity would be more profitable for all parties involved. But it wouldn’t seem very fair to the Rays and their fans. The expectation as of now is that the Rays would play their postseason home games at Steinbrenner Field.

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