Tropicana Field, the longtime home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, suffered extreme damage to its domed roof on Wednesday night as Hurricane Milton moved through the region. In video footage captured by various social media users and local news broadcasts, the interior of the dome can be seen from surrounding areas. Tatters of the dome’s fabric, meanwhile, can be seen fluttering in the wind.
Here are a few such images, including from former Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Dave Moore:
And here’s another, from Rays television broadcast sideline reporter Ryan Bass:
Here’s a video from Bass:
Tropicana Field, MLB’s only stadium with a fixed roof, was supposed to play a pivotal role in the region’s Hurricane Milton recovery effort by serving as a base camp for “thousands of emergency responders,” according to USA Today. On Thursday, Gov. Rick DeSantis told reporters that first responders had moved to a safe location prior to the storm’s landfall and were not inside Tropicana Field when it sustained damage.
Here’s more on the roof’s composition, courtesy of the Rays’ media guide:
Tropicana Field features the world’s largest cable-supported domed roof. It is made of six acres of translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass and supports itself with 180 miles of cables connected by struts. Opposing forces of tension and compression keep the roof in an arc. The roof is slanted at a 6.5-degree angle, dropping from 225 feet above second base to 85 feet at the center field wall. The slanted roof reduced construction costs and decreased the volume of air under the dome by 16.8 million cubic feet, decreasing the amount of air requiring climate control. It is built to withstand winds of up to 115 miles per hour.
According to the National Weather Service, Albert Whitted Airport (located about six minutes away from Tropicana Field) recorded wind gusts up to 101 mph during the 10 p.m. hour on Wednesday night.
The Trop, as it’s known colloquially, is located in St. Petersburg — not Tampa — and has served as the home of the Rays since they began play in 1998. In addition to serving as the Rays’ base, Tropicana Field has hosted several other notable events — college football bowl games and amateur baseball showcase events among them. The National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning and the Arena Football League’s (defunct) Tampa Bay Storm also played at the Trop for various periods of time.
Back in July, Pinellas County commissioners approved public funding toward a new Rays ballpark.
Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday evening around Siesta Key, a little over 90 minutes away from the Trop, as a Category 3 storm. In the hours since, the storm has spawned numerous tornadoes and has left nearly 2 million residents without electricity, according to CBS News. Heavy flooding was expected along the coast. St. Petersburg has received more than 16 inches of rain in the past 24 hours, or more than seven times higher than the historical average rainfall for the entire month of October.
