Rays introduce their new home at Steinbrenner Field
Mar 26, 2025
Dozen of Tampa Bay Rays staff members are racing the clock Wednesday to re-brand Steinbrenner Field before Fridays season opener.Four days, really a sprint to turn this from Yankees spring training to home of the Rays, Bill Wals
h, Rays Chief Business Officer, told ABC Action News.The Rays are playing their 2025 home schedule in Tampa because of hurricane damage to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. 300 full-time employees at The Trop were displaced, according to the team. There is really no playbook for this, Walsh added. We were really building the place as you fly it, so to speak.The Rays biggest rival, the New York Yankees, were gracious enough to lend their spring training ballpark for this season.Over 3,000 pieces of Rays' art will be installed by Friday. Staff members are covering and removing almost everything Yankees to make the space look and sound as much like the Rays home as possible.That was our goal. When youre here, walking around, sitting in the seating bowl, is to have this place have home-field advantage for the Rays. Were almost there, Walsh said. Weve accomplished that in significant scale. It feels really good to see this transformation and see our brand come to life. And thats just what the fans see. The Rays clubhouse also got a makeover.We worked on covering up the big NY in the middle, Tyler Wall, Rays clubhouse manager, said. The nameplates covered up the Welcome to the Bronx House over there. Down to the smallest detail. Even in the hot tubs, were putting suction cups over the Yankees logos. Wall said that seven truckloads of equipment, four from Tropicana Field and three from Port Charlotte, were brought in to make the turnover happen.Were going try our best to cover everything up, Wall said. This is supposed to be the Rays place, for the next season at least. Lets make it home and make it comfortable so they can perform well on the field.Steinbrenner Field will seat 10,046 fans for each game of the 81 home games in what promises to be a unique season.Weve never played outdoor regular-season baseball in Tampa Bay before, Walsh said. This is an opportunity to define what that experience will look like. For evening games, were going to have some fireworks. Were going to have home run celebrations, were going to have win celebrations, some rockets will go off during the national anthem. We have a flyover happening on opening day.The Rays will host the Colorado Rockies at 4:10 p.m. for Fridays opening day. ...read more read less