Tropicana Field lost most of its roof Wednesday night time as Hurricane Milton got here and introduced winds as much as 120 mph to elements of Florida.
The St. Petersburg, Fla., stadium is the house of the Tampa Bay Rays. Its dome roof — which was constructed of huge, triangular panels product of fiberglass and coated with Teflon — was largely shredded, with some sections lacking fully, exposing the within of the one Major League Baseball stadium with a roof that’s not retractable.
It was not instantly clear if there was vital injury contained in the constructing.
The Rays mentioned solely important personnel had been contained in the ballpark, and all of them had been protected.
“We’re lucky and grateful that nobody was harm by the injury to our ballpark final night time,” the Rays mentioned in an announcement Thursday. “Over the approaching days and weeks, we anticipate to have the ability to assess the true situation of Tropicana Area. Within the meantime, we’re working with legislation enforcement to safe the constructing.”
Earlier this week, the Florida Division of Emergency Administration mentioned the stadium can be used as “a ten,000-person base camp at Tropicana Area to help ongoing particles operations and post-landfall responders.” Rows of cots had been set up inside the ballpark, however all staff and tools had been eliminated after it was discovered the roof won’t keep intact beneath the pressure of Milton’s winds.
“Because it grew to become clear that there was going to be one thing of that magnitude that was going to be inside the distance, they redeployed them out of Tropicana,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis informed reporters Thursday. “There have been no state assets that were in Tropicana Field.”
In accordance with the Rays’ 2024 media information, the stadium’s roof was designed to face up to winds as much as 115 mph.
The Rays completed the 2024 season final month with an 80-82 document. The group introduced plans final 12 months to construct a brand new $1.3-billion stadium adjoining to the 34-year-old Tropicana Field, with hopes of shifting there by the 2028 season.
Video out of Tampa on Wednesday night time confirmed flooding on the field at the open-roof Raymond James Stadium, dwelling of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NCAA soccer program the College of South Florida Bulls. The Buccaneers left Tuesday for his or her recreation in New Orleans on Sunday.
Earlier this week, South Florida postponed its scheduled home game against Memphis from Friday night time to Saturday afternoon. On Thursday, the American Athletic Convention introduced the sport’s location had been modified to Tenting World Stadium in Orlando.
The convention mentioned in a statement: “The choice to maneuver the sport from Raymond James Stadium was made in session with native legislation enforcement within the curiosity of public security and with respect for the response and restoration efforts underway within the Tampa Bay space along with logistical challenges associated to the storm that affected each colleges.
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