The Last Thing St. Pete Needs Is a Trop Extension

What do very hot weather, hurricanes, Tropicana Field, the Rays, John Romano and $5 billion have to do with each other? Let’s connect the dots.

First, the very hot weather:

Not a good sign for hurricanes. The hotter the weather, the hotter the waters of the Gulf of Mexico (oops—make that the “Gulf of America”). And hotter waters breed bigger hurricanes—storms we never thought would hit St. Petersburg. I’d bet most of us are holding our breath as the hurricane season arrives.

Then there’s Tropicana Field

That building with the half-finished roof—right as hurricane season starts. The city is spending over $50 million to fix the roof and a baseball diamond in a pool of water every time it rains. They hope to have the fixes complete by the start of the 2026 baseball season.  Something else to worry about.  

The Rays?

They’re under a contractual agreement to play at Tropicana Field through the 2028 season, assuming the city can patch that roof.

And John Romano?

In his latest Tampa Bay Times column, John Romano suggests the city should consider extending the lease—a “tourniquet,” he calls it—beyond the current three-year commitment.

Before I dig into how all these pieces connect, let’s unpack John’s suggestion.

First, he floats the idea that the Rays might pay “millions in rent payments” for the extension. Sounds promising—until he pivots and says they’d actually pay only “nominal rent.” That’s not promising at all. So how is that good for the city?

John says the extension is “necessary” for Tampa Bay to keep the Rays. Necessary to whom? The small number of people who actually go to games? The countless businesses that have moved here because of baseball? Name one. (Spoiler alert: Baseball doesn’t drive economic growth. Everyone knows that.) The flood of tourists coming here just for a baseball game in the sweltering summer? Please. Visit St. Pete/Clearwater’s own analysis shows that just 4% of all visitors attend any kind of sporting event.

The roof and the real costs

Solves everybody’s problems

John claims an extension “solves problems for everyone.” Really? But let’s be clear about about the problems it doesn’t solve. An extension likely means the city would be on the hook—again—to fix the roof if another hurricane tears it off. Another $50 or $75 million out the window—or rather, out the uncovered roof. Moreover, it means the city can’t plan effectively for the streets and parks that would replace the stadium. As a result, it means that if we want to develop the parking lots, there’d be no place for cars for the handful of baseball fans—and that means traffic chaos on I-275 and in the neighborhoods around the stadium. Imagine you want to go out to dinner on Central Avenue—per Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, 40% of tourists come here for the restaurants—and where do you park now?

John suggests an extension might run beyond Mayor Welch’s term—or maybe even into a second term. But does that really matter? Keeping the Rays around longer just blocks progress on redeveloping the Gas Plant site—worth over $1 billion in economic opportunity for our city.

What about the Rays

And here’s another thing to consider.  How does an extension help the Rays? They start playing at the Trop, and the next big hurricane rips the roof off again. Back to square one.

The Rays had and have plenty of time to figure out their future. It’s June 2025. They have until the start of the 2029 season to build a stadium somewhere else. Can they build one in time? Sure—if they chose to.  But let’s be honest: if they want the public to pay for it, well, that’s another story.

Furthermore, if the Rays can’t figure it out, why is this suddenly St. Petersburg’s problem to solve?  Per John, the extension will give the Rays more time to decide their fate, and that longer time will increase the team’s value.  Yet again, how does this help St. Petersburg?  And who else should the city be bailing out?   

$5 Billion and real priorities

So, what does John Romano’s column have to do with the $5 billion the city needs for infrastructure improvements? Plenty.

Here’s how I see it

That $5 billion is what St. Petersburg estimates it will cost to stop the flooding from hurricanes—and keep our water running and our toilets flushing and the sewers from backing up when those hurricanes most certainly will come again.  

As a community, we need to focus on opportunities that actually improve life for everyone. John is a sportswriter; he gets paid to cover sports. But in my judgment, he fails to recognize what truly matters. And it isn’t baseball. Baseball doesn’t bring business. It doesn’t bring tourists. And overwhelmingly, St. Petersburg voters don’t want to spend the cities resources on a private business owned by a billionaire. 

The land the Trop sits on and all its parking lots are worth over $1 billion—and the city could use that money to help pay for those flood prevention projects. That’s what matters. That’s the opportunity. It’s not baseball.