Rays to play 2025 season at Yankees’ Tampa spring training stadium: Three things to know about new arrangement

The Tampa Bay Rays will play their 2025 home games at Steinbrenner Field, the team announced Thursday. Steinbrenner Field is the spring training home of the New York Yankees, as well as the host of the Yankees’ A-ball affiliate Tampa Tarpons. It’s also, notably, located in Tampa, Florida — Tropicana Field, damaged by Hurricane Milton, is located in St. Petersburg. 

“We deeply appreciate that the Yankees have graciously allowed us to play at Steinbrenner Field for the 2025 season,” Rays owner Stuart Sternberg said in a statement. “The hurricane damage to Tropicana Field has forced us to take some extraordinary steps, just as Hurricanes Helene and Milton have forced thousands of families and businesses in our community to adapt to new circumstances as we all recover and rebuild.”

Here are three things to know about this development, including what it could mean for the Trop’s future and the Tarpons.

1. What’s notable about Steinbrenner Field?

Besides the Yankees affiliation? Steinbrenner Field is located next to Raymond James Stadium, home to the NFL’s Buccaneers. Additionally, its dimensions are identical to Yankee Stadium, making it friendlier for left-handed batters.

In case you were wondering, Steinbrenner Field holds a capacity of 11,000 fans. The Rays, for comparison, averaged just over 16,500 paid tickets per home game during the 2024 season. 

2. Will Tropicana Field be repaired?

A recent St. Petersburg City Council report established that Tropicana Field’s dome roof, shredded by high winds during Hurricane Milton, can be repaired in time to reopen for the 2026 season. 

However, such repairs will cost more than $55 million for what would amount to two years of play before the Rays relocate to their new stadium for the 2028 season. 

As such, it’s an open question as to whether or not it makes sense to repair the Trop at all.

3. What happens to the Tarpons?

That’s to be determined. 

Minor League Baseball announced its schedules for the 2025 season back in August. At the time, no one knew that the Tarpons would be sharing a home with the Rays. As such, you can be sure that the schedules overlap. (The same is not true for the Athletics and the River Cats in Sacramento, since that arrangement was known well before the schedules were finalized.)

It stands to reason that the Rays will get priority at Steinbrenner Field since they’re the major-league team. It also stands to reason that MLB and MiLB won’t want both teams playing home games on the same days so as to preserve the quality of the playing surface. 

If we’re spitballing here, the most plausible solution has the Tarpons playing their home games at nearby fields that don’t feature a scheduling conflict. Given that this is Florida we’re talking about, there would be no shortage of nearby potential venues for them to pick and choose from.