Rays Having Trouble Selling Tickets for Tampa Home Opener at Steinbrenner Field
With opening day right around the corner, many sections of Steinbrenner Field’s 11,026 seats are still empty for the Tampa Bay Rays‘ March 28 opener.
This is very different from last year’s full crowd of 25,000 in St. Petersburg. Ticket prices have jumped too, fans now have to pay $50 to $402 per seat, much higher than the old Tropicana Field prices that brought in about 18,000 fans per game in 2023.
In a final effort to get more fans in, officials made room for 1,000 standing-room spots. But the numbers don’t look good, they’d need full houses plus 5,000 extra fans each game just to match their old attendance numbers.
“I think, in part, this confirms what I have believed to be true – St. Pete is the right place for baseball,” City Council Chair Copley Gerdes told the Catalyst. “I think it also speaks to the uncertainty surrounding the team’s future.
“People want to know they are going to be here for the long haul.”
The team had to move to Tampa after Hurricane Milton destroyed Tropicana Field in October 2024. Fixing it will cost $55.7 million and they hope to open again in 2026. Prior to the March 31 deadline, the team had backed out of the new stadium deal.
There’s talk in MLB circles about changing ownership, with Orlando possibly getting the team. Baseball great Barry Larkin is leading the charge to bring baseball to The City Beautiful.
