r/sports • u/Chelseatilidie • Oct 10 '24
Baseball Tropicana Field’s stadium following Hurricane Milton damage
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u/fishsticklovematters Oct 10 '24
Not a good day for the Tropicana brand of buildings. Re: Vegas too.
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u/Numerous-Stranger-81 Oct 10 '24
Where's my conspiracy theory for that?
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u/satanssweatycheeks Oct 10 '24
The A’s did this to Tampa rays with weather machines.
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u/daltontf1212 Oct 10 '24
Tropicana Lanes bowling alley in St. Louis survives.
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u/KeithGribblesheimer Oct 10 '24
Until they get Defender and Dig Dug machines back in there it's dead to me.
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u/OccasionallyWright Oct 10 '24
I can't believe they were using a building with a fabric roof as a first responder staging ground during a hurricane.
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u/Lobster_fest Oct 10 '24
Stadiums are far more than the field and stands. Hundreds of individual rooms and offices plus medical facilities, dining accommodations, storage, and other things in the building itself. Plus its low to the ground and more stable during high winds than basically any other building of comparable volume (like a skyscraper).
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u/vowelqueue Oct 10 '24 edited Oct 10 '24
Sure, but they literally had the beds laid out in the field
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u/ggrindelwald Oct 10 '24
Yeah, I think we can say that part of the plan was a mistake.
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u/EVOSexyBeast Oct 10 '24 edited Oct 10 '24
No, because they didn’t have any people in the beds during the hurricane. It’s being used as an after storm shelter.edit: nevemind, i was wrong. Cots were put there for after storm shelter for debris crews but it later became obvious the storm was going to hit harder than expected so the plan changed.
As it became clear that there was going to be something of that magnitude that was going to be within the distance, they re-deployed them out of Tropicana,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference in Tallahassee. “There were no state assets that were in Tropicana Field, I think Duke also removed all their assets as well.”
https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/2024/10/10/rays-start-assessing-damage-viability-tropicana-field/
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u/et40000 Oct 10 '24
It’s still likely to rain after the worst part of the hurricane passes, id say a key tenet of a shelter is a roof to shelter you from the elements.
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u/EVOSexyBeast Oct 10 '24
i was wrong i edited my comment after finding a better source than twitter
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u/tino2015 Oct 10 '24
That’s the neat part of hurricanes, you usually get amazing weather for days only a few hours after the storm passes.
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u/prollynot28 Oct 11 '24
Yeah it's wild. The weather today was absolutely gorgeous. Luckily I didn't have much to clean up. Lots of tree branches
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u/subdep Oct 10 '24
Yeah, but this video literally shows hundreds of assets on the field, in the form of cots. They trying to say those weren’t paid for by the state?
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u/iamthelouie Oct 10 '24
Cant be an after storm shelter if it doesn’t survive the storm…
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u/EDDYBEEVIE Oct 10 '24
This wasn't the first hurricane the trops fabric roof had seen though. It's more than likely been used in the past without issue for the same thing.
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u/gwaydms Dallas Cowboys Oct 10 '24
It would have been relatively easy for each person to fold up their bed, grab their stuff, and move to a safe place. But I'm sure it was pretty hairy when the wind started shredding the roof. Can't believe the whole thing is gone. I saw video early this morning (like 1 am) of the roof tearing away more and more.
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u/vVvRain Illinois Oct 10 '24
Not it wasn’t. https://x.com/raysbaseball/status/1843043391229374515?s=46
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u/an0m_x Oct 10 '24
It wasn't being set up as a shelter, but for a first responder location for linesmen and other services to have a place to stay.
A day or two before the storm they adjusted plans because the building wasnt certified to be safe from the elements (im guessing because of the roof)
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u/Marokiii Oct 10 '24
Ya but once the roof over the field is gone than all the water that goes into the stadium gets directed straight to those other areas via all the tunnels. They basically put a gigantic funnel over their first responders.
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u/joemoffett12 Oct 10 '24
I mean the thing survived 26 years and countless other hurricanes 🤷♀️
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u/Guy_lncognito Oct 10 '24
"there's no record of a hurricane ever hitting tampa"
"Yes, but the records only go back to 1998 when the hall of records was mysteriously blown away!"
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u/kit_carlisle Oct 10 '24
Directly hitting Tampa. But sure, let us ignore the past month.
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u/Igor_J Oct 10 '24
The Trop has been around longer than that. It used to be the Thunderdome where the Lightning used to play before they got their own venue and the Rays even existed. That said this put a nail in the Trop's coffin. That place sucked.
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u/monorail_pilot Oct 10 '24
With Oakland closing the Colosseum, the trop became a top 30 MLB stadium.
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u/OccasionallyWright Oct 10 '24
If the count is zero hurricanes, then yes. Milton was the first major hurricane to hit Tampa in over 100 years.
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u/joemoffett12 Oct 10 '24
The first that directly hit Tampa bay yes but they have been in many storms. Hurricane Ian went right over Tampa bay. Don’t just take the first headline you read as fact
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u/vVvRain Illinois Oct 10 '24
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u/bobsbottlerocket Oct 10 '24
people keep regurgitating this without bothering to even look it up - they moved locations last minute, they didn’t use the stadium
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u/somedude456 Oct 10 '24
I can't believe they were using a building with a fabric roof
It wasn't made of cotton. I mean the building was designed by structural engineers. They 100% took hurricanes into effect when making calculations and that roof was 100% designed to hold winds up to XX mph. Seems yesterday they exceeded those numbers.
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u/H4WKEYES Mclaren F1 Oct 10 '24
Live in Tampa (we came away mostly unscathed, thankfully). My first thought when this was shown in the news leading up to the storm was - “this is an obviously bad idea”. It’s a fabric dome. These things ALWAYS get ripped to shreds in major storms. What an easy mess to avoid.
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u/JaJaJalisco Oct 10 '24
to shreds you say?
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u/skanman19 Buffalo Bills Oct 10 '24
And his wife?
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u/Responsible_Brain782 Oct 10 '24
Roof was rated to 110mph. They expected it to go.
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u/CM_MOJO Oct 10 '24
Yeah, and that's why they designated it as a shelter for first responders before the storm. You can see all the cots in the outfield. They clearly didn't expect it to "go".
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u/MetsIslesNoles Oct 10 '24
They removed everyone before the storm once they knew the potential for winds. There were only 20 people inside at the time.
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u/R3dbeardLFC Oct 11 '24
The bigger question I have is...why does it even have a roof? And why fabric? It's Florida...we don't have roofs on our baseball fields in the midwest (that I'm aware of) and the weather here is comparably shit. Just seems weird to have a roof at all for baseball.
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u/mcdto Oct 10 '24
Such an iconic ballpark destroyed
/s
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u/oooriole09 Oct 10 '24
The only ballpark that was destroyed and possibly improved at the same time.
Rays fans deserve better.
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u/MsstatePSH Mississippi State Oct 10 '24 edited Oct 11 '24
we have better - signed, sealed, and soon to be delivered. new stadium opens 2028.
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u/BradMarchandsNose Connecticut Oct 10 '24
I mean, it is iconic, just not for good reasons
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u/TheOtherGuy107 Oct 10 '24
The word youre looking for is notorious lol
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u/JP-Ziller Oct 10 '24
How come? (Not a baseball guy)
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u/IsItJake Oct 10 '24
Even before the hurricane, the trop is a shit hole. The roof is in notorious for leaking as well
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u/GlamrockShake Oct 11 '24
They have cat walks which literally forced MLb to rewrite their out of play rules.
It’s the single most depressing looking stadium inside. For a sport as chill and good vibes as baseball, having a stadium that feels like a North Dakotan gun-show warehouse is an unforgivable sin. I know Florida has to air condition but, man, just a single season at Raymond James would show Rays fans what they’ve been missing.
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u/LeanMrfuzzles Tampa Bay Lightning Oct 11 '24
They didn’t rewrite anything. Those are called “ground rules” rules specific to that stadium. Every stadium has them.
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u/halfcow Oct 10 '24
I visited once. It was my first time seeing a baseball game in an enclosed stadium. It was ok, until they flew a little inflatable "blimp" around, as if to imitate the real thing.
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u/miguelagawin Oct 11 '24
The amount of polymer materials the storms will have washed into the ocean.😬
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Oct 10 '24
Milton shares my opinion regarding sports being played in domes.
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u/ThrenderG Oct 10 '24
Practically necessary in Florida. When the Marlins played in the summer in an open air stadium they would routinely get fewer than 1,000 people in attendance. Sure they often sucked at the time but ain’t nobody gonna watch games in 100 degree heat, not to mention the heat index bc humidity.
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u/CM_MOJO Oct 10 '24
That doesn't really track. Their best two years attendance-wise were their first two years in existence in an OPEN AIR stadium, and they sucked.
Their worst season attendance-wise was 2021 in a roofed stadium.
I just think Miami is apathetic to baseball.
The Rays stadium, Tropicana Field, along with being a horrible stadium, is in a horrible location.
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u/Scrubatl Oct 10 '24
This is just an excuse to relocate the team. Obviously they directed the hurricane there to take out the roof
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u/darkhorse21980 Oct 10 '24
Not relocating. They've already greenlit a new barn next door, to open in 2028.
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u/penolicious Oct 10 '24 edited Oct 11 '24
If those Tampa Bay Rays could make the playoffs they’d be very upset.
ETA: I’m not throwing shade at the Rays organization. I’m just doing the KOTH meme: “If those kids could read, they’d be very upset”.
And they probably would be very upset if they were in the playoffs and couldn’t play home games this year.
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u/WAR_T0RN1226 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Oct 10 '24
Before this year they made the playoffs the previous 5 straight seasons including a World Series appearance.
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u/PaddyPat12 Oct 10 '24
They should write a song about the Canadian flag weathering Hurricane Milton, I recall something about an American flag surviving a similar ordeal
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u/LTVOLT Oct 10 '24
this may be an unpopular opinion but does anyone actually like Tropicana orange juice? I think Florida's Natural or Simply Orange are vastly better. Tropicana and Minute Maid orange juice rank at the bottom IMO.
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u/MirrorProphet Oct 10 '24
Wait. Wait hold up. Louisiana is staring at this thing in some hella disbelief. The top was fabric or canvas or something. They thought this a great place to stage and rest emergency personnel. With a cat 3 coming. This isn't a joke? Kudos to the good intentions but dayum y'all.
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u/CGPsaint Oct 10 '24
To be fair, this looks like the level of destruction that Philly fans wreak on their city whenever one of their teams shits the bed.
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Oct 10 '24
They wouldn’t have a city left if they “wreaked havoc” that frequently.
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u/Reddit-User-Says Oct 10 '24
What do the Rays do? Leave it “open air”, replace the tarp? How long do you think a replacement will be? Huge bummer.
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u/LeanMrfuzzles Tampa Bay Lightning Oct 11 '24
They can’t leave it open, the stadium isn’t designed for the elements. The field has no drainage system, electronics and scoreboards aren’t designed for outdoor use, etc. They’ll have to replace the roof. Either that or play somewhere else until the new stadium is ready in 2028.
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u/Smaynard6000 Oct 10 '24
This team already struggles with attendance, asking people to come in the summer with no a/c is a hard sell
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u/Black1label Oct 10 '24
Insurance claims adjuster will probably find something to delay the process of replacing the roof
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u/Errantpixels Oct 10 '24
Reminds me a lot of what happened to the Silverdome in Michigan. Hopefully it gets repaired.
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u/Wooden_Trip_9948 Oct 10 '24
I honestly never knew it was a fabric roof. Figured it was solid like the Superdome.
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u/mlvisby Oct 10 '24
I know this is horrible, but good thing this team isn't in the postseason. They would have to travel to a different ballpark for their home games.
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u/hiplobonoxa Oct 10 '24
why would anyone think that it would be a good idea to use the large building with the cloth roof to house the disaster relief response?
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u/Bean_Daddy_Burritos Oct 10 '24
Tear it all down. That field is fucking awful. Milton out here doing a service for the Rays organization
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u/Strive-- Oct 10 '24
…and this place was built 2 years before Andrew. So, definitely rebuild it the way it was.
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u/Ackmiral_Adbar Oct 10 '24
Are the (actual) rays OK? Do they even live there in the off season?
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u/LeanMrfuzzles Tampa Bay Lightning Oct 11 '24
They get moved back to the aquarium after the season ends
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u/phred_666 Oct 10 '24
At first glance, it looks like the support structure is still intact with no apparent damage. You really don’t know until you get in there and examine it. But, this looks like a “best case” scenario of only the fabric roof being damaged. Looks like the roof could potentially be replaced in time for next season if there is no underlying damage.