Report: Montreal not an option to host Rays in 2025
Published
If the Tampa Bay Rays are going to play elsewhere to begin the 2025 season while Tropicana Field undergoes repairs, it won't be in Montreal.
According to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, Olympic Stadium will not be an option to act as a temporary home for the Rays, who are searching for options due to Tropicana Field sustaining severe damage from Hurricane Milton last week. Topkin adds that roof repairs at the former home of the Montreal Expos will have the facility closed until at least 2028.
Topkin reported earlier this week the Rays are searching for an interim home and are unsure of when they may be able to return to Tropicana Field. The team said in a statement released last Thursday that they are in the process of determining the extent of the damage. The hurricane tore much of the roof off the ballpark and caused extensive devastation to thousands of structures along Florida's west coast last week.
"Over the coming days and weeks, we expect to be able to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field. In the meantime, we are working with law enforcement to secure the building," the Rays said.
As Topkin points out, the Rays spent several years working to develop a plan where they would play half the season in Montreal and half in Tampa in order to help rejuvenate interest in a franchise routinely near the bottom of the league in attendance year after year. However, Major League Baseball nixed the plan two years ago and the Rays have since struck a deal to open a new stadium in 2028 on an adjacent site in St. Petersburg, Fla.
A number of options exist for the Rays' temporary home, including their spring training stadium in Port Charlotte, Fla., about 140 kilometers away from the Trop and TD Ballpark in Dunedin, the spring home of the Toronto Blue Jays as well as the home ballpark of the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays. Other spring training facilities throughout the state, a sharing arrangement with the Miami Marlins, and other minor league parks around the country remain options for the Rays in 2025, according to reports.
The Rays are scheduled to open the season at home on March 27 against the Colorado Rockies.