The Nerds Predict It Will Cost $55,000,000 To Completely Fix Tropicana Field
FloridaPolitics.com - A damage assessment on Tropicana Field following damage sustained during Hurricane Milton last month found that the stadium is structurally sound and can be repaired, but it will come with a hefty price tag: $55 million.
The report does not include an itemized list of needed repairs, but estimates there is $39 million in damage costs and another $16 million in other related costs, according to the Times.
The roof is the biggest part of the bill, at nearly $24 million.
Imagine being a Rays fan and never having any money in the offseason. You're always watching other teams sign free agents. Always watching your leadership go cheap. Always hoping/waiting/wanting/praying that you can one day join the fun of free agency and offseason improvements that don't require a magnifying glass. And now finally ownership is forced to spend a ton of money in a random winter and it's all for a new roof at a stadium everyone already hates.
That would suck a big proverbial dick.
Makes me wonder what's up with roofs these days. At $24,000,000 you should at least retract in nice weather. But all indications suggest this is just your standard twenty four million dollar roof with no bells and whistles, all for the low-low price of Zach Eflin's two-year AAV.
Meanwhile some local insurance wholesale broker in greater Tampa is cashing a gigantic renewal commission because the property's too risky for an admitted market. Insert the most cutthroat business development specimen in any white collar industry. He's got Lloyds on the other line with a soft number but you have to act quick. I've seen it a thousand times in another life. Don't even get me going on the frozen pipe crisis in Nashville circa 2014-15. That was a crazy time for reinsurance.
My point is it blows to be a Rays fan. Your stadium sucks. Your owner sucks. The competition is ferocious and the roof costs $24 million, and you won't see that level of capital reinvested in the roster until the Tampa city council gets bribed into a new public facility. All that adds up into a big old shit burger for Rays fans to stomach and that sucks because their front office deserves so much better. A group of nerds that consistently outperform so many big markets using the most unconventional methods. And as a twisted, tortured Cubs fan living in no man's land, it makes me sick we can't even hire a 3rd base coach. It's legitimately pathetic.
But again it would be so much worse to be a Rays fan knowing the insurance proceeds are going towards an uninhabited Polynesian vacation island vs. corner infield depth. That would really bother me.
It would also really bother me if my team played at Tropicana Field. Here's exactly why it blows: