Rays’ Unprecedented Move to Steinbrenner Field: A New Home for 2025
TAMPA, Fla. — In a move that has never been seen before in Major League Baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays have embarked on a remarkable journey to transform George M. Steinbrenner Field into their home for the 2025 season. This transformation began in earnest on Sunday at 5 p.m., marking a significant moment in baseball history.
After playing a Grapefruit League game against the New York Yankees as the visiting team, the Rays were handed the keys to Steinbrenner Field. This stadium, which has been the Yankees’ spring training home and the residence of their Single-A affiliate, the Tampa Tarpons, since 1996, will now serve as the Rays’ home for the entire 81-game schedule this season. The transformation is a result of Hurricane Milton, which tore through Tropicana Field in October, causing extensive damage that made it impossible to play baseball there in 2025.
The task of converting Steinbrenner Field into a home for the Rays was monumental. With MLB’s decision to push back the Rays’ home opener from Thursday to Friday, the organization gained an extra day to prepare. More than 80 Rays staff members and over 50 contractors from five companies worked tirelessly to rebrand the property with over 3,000 signs, enough to stretch a mile if laid out end to end.
Interestingly, the Rays were allowed to repaint the stadium, but the similarity between the Yankees’ navy blue pantone (PMS 289 C) and the Rays’ navy blue (PMS 648 C) meant that much painting wasn’t necessary. However, one thing was explicitly off-limits: the 600-pound bronze statue of George Steinbrenner, the late Yankees owner, standing proudly at the main entrance.
Transforming Steinbrenner Field
The transformation covered every corner of the stadium, from the home clubhouse to the team stores and the massive “Y-A-N-K-E-E-S” lettering above the stands. Cranes, scissor lifts, and cameras were used to record a time-lapse video of this unprecedented event: a major league team moving out of a stadium after spring training and another moving in for the summer.
Rays chief business officer Bill Walsh emphasized the goal of making the stadium feel like home for the players. “We’re not going to get every single pinstripe gone in the next four days and that’s not really the goal,” Walsh said. “The goal is to have this place feel — when you’re walking around, when you’re sitting in the seating bowl — to feel like this is the home of the Rays.”
On Sunday, the Rays played as the road team against the Yankees. By Wednesday, less than 72 hours later, players walked into the home clubhouse for the first time ahead of a team workout. This gave them 48 hours to acclimate to their new surroundings after spending the previous six weeks in Port Charlotte, 90 minutes south. Rays manager Kevin Cash didn’t anticipate a difficult transition for a team eager to end the spring training grind and start playing games that count.
“I mean, getting out of Port Charlotte,” Cash joked, “they’ll take f—ing anything.”
Challenges and Adaptations
Playing a full season in the spring home of a division rival is far from ideal. Multiple options in the area were considered, but Steinbrenner Field was deemed the most major-league-ready choice. A one-year deal between the Rays and Yankees was struck in November, granting the Rays full-time use of the stadium and New York more than $15 million in return.
Steinbrenner Field was already undergoing renovations to player and staff facilities, including a two-story weight room, a kitchen with a dedicated staff, and a players’ lounge with an arcade. These upgrades made the stadium more suitable for the Rays, beyond its convenient location. Additional work was required to bring the building up to MLB regular-season standards, including remodeling the visiting clubhouse and improving cabling and broadcast infrastructure.
- The Tarpons will play their home games at a field next to the stadium, upgraded with lights and seating for 1,000 people.
- MLB commissioner Rob Manfred estimated the entire operation would cost $50 million.
- Steinbrenner Field seats just 11,026, while the Rays’ average attendance last season was 16,515.
Playing in an open-air stadium during a Florida summer presents challenges, including heat and rain. MLB adjusted first-pitch times starting in June and scheduled more home games before June. The Rays will play 19 of their first 22 games at home and 37 of their first 54 games there.
To prepare for the elements, director of special projects and field operations Dan Moeller had six of the Rays’ eight full-time groundskeepers work Yankees Grapefruit League home games alongside the Yankees’ crew. Moeller expressed confidence in his team’s ability to handle the challenges, saying, “We got the best grounds crew in the major leagues and we’ll deal with whatever’s thrown at us.”
Adapting to a New Home
Veteran second baseman Brandon Lowe viewed Sunday’s game against the Yankees at Steinbrenner Field as more than just an exhibition. It was an opportunity to become familiar with the ballpark, the playing surface, and the background from the batter’s box. “I feel like baseball players are very resilient and very good at adapting to changes,” said Lowe, who lives in Tampa and will have a shorter commute to work.
The game served as a reminder that the stadium wasn’t quite home yet. The Rays heard cheers, but the loudest ones were for Aaron Judge and the Yankees. The game ended in a tie and doubled as a dress rehearsal for the organization.
In the press box, the Rays’ public relations team worked to figure out how to handle large groups of media during the regular season. TV and radio broadcast teams adapted to their new workplace, encountering challenges like the inability to see the bullpens from the booths. Ryan Bass, the team’s sideline reporter, noted the need to adapt their TV coverage throughout the season.
After the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone packed up his office and left it for Cash, jokingly saying, “I’m getting out of here today, so I’ll leave him something.”
For the Rays, the pace was frenetic. Sunday evening, Walsh was busy hanging signs, while the outfield walls were power-washed for advertisement installations, and team stores were stocked with Rays gear. The Yankees packed and moved out of the home clubhouse, making way for the Rays.
As the transformation continued, Yankees reliever Scott Effross asked a clubhouse attendant about the fate of the giant Yankees logo light fixture. The answer was revealed on Wednesday: it was covered with a Rays-branded box. Nearby, a nonslip, Rays-branded rug concealed tiling with “The Bronx” spelled out on it. Rays logos replaced Yankees logos on training tables and whirlpool tiles, and photos of former Rays were hung in the press box.
Outside, a billboard featuring the “Rays Up” tagline was mounted on the facade facing Dale Mabry Highway, signaling to passersby that George M. Steinbrenner Field is now the home of the Rays. However, a reminder at the bottom of the billboard acknowledges the temporary nature of this arrangement: “THANK YOU, YANKEES!”
Originally Written by: Jorge Castillo
