Will Disney World Provide a Home for an MLB Team?
Earlier in October, Hurricane Milton overwhelmed parts of Florida.
This storm was part of a double whammy, with Hurricane Helene reaching land two weeks earlier.
Photo: WESH
Some structures failed to survive the unlikely chain of events, and one of the most memorable was Tropicana Field.
Viral videos showed the stadium’s roof membrane tearing apart due to the high winds.
Photo: Tampa Bay Times / ZUMA Press via Shutterstock
With the Major League Baseball season reaching its conclusion soon, the Tampa Bay Rays face a challenging decision.
Their stadium is currently unable to host games. So, where will Tampa Bay play in 2025?
Photo: MLB
More importantly, will Disney World provide a home for the MLB team?
About Tropicana Field
The first thing you should know is that it’s unlikely that Tampa Bay’s baseball team will repair the stadium.
Current estimates suggest that repairs would cost more than $100 million. That’s price-prohibitive on its own.
Photo: BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images
Then, there’s the consideration that the team announced in 2023 that it would build a new $1.2 billion stadium soon.
So, Tampa’s ownership already disliked the stadium enough to sign the paperwork for its replacement, with construction scheduled for 2025.
Photo: Major League Baseball
You can understand why this group wouldn’t want to spend $100 million or more to repair the old stadium, especially after what just happened.
Why Disney Is a Possibility
I briefly discussed one remote possibility in the latest batch of Disney Headlines. It’s ESPN Wide World of Sports.
Those of you who follow Disney may remember something that happened last year. Disney previously hosted a Tampa MLB game.
Credit: Disney
Damage from Hurricane Ian forced the Rays to begin training camp at a different location. So, the team chose Disney World.
The Disney facility at ESPN Wide World of Sports had previously hosted the Atlanta Braves during Spring Training.
Credit: Disney
Once that team — my team — switched to a NorthPort, Florida, facility, the space was available for Tampa. And it still is.
In fact, ESPN recently provided an update on Tampa’s current options. And here’s the important quote from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred:
“The easiest thing is always to stay in the market where the clubs are anchored, if we can manage it.”
In other words, Disney isn’t ideal. In fact, I’ll circle back to a quote from the Orlando Sentinel article linked above.
ESPN Wide World of Sports
Here’s Tampa’s manager, Kevin Cash, speaking after the team wrapped up its time at Disney World:
“So appreciative of Disney, what they allowed for us and we got our work in. Now we get to go back home and sleep in our own beds for an extra month.”
Rays Spring Training
That statement reflects the pro AND con of Disney hosting Tampa Bay’s MLB games.
Why Disney Isn’t Ideal But Still May Work
MLB players need organization and infrastructure to enjoy sustained success. Many of them are creatures of habit who dislike interrupted routines.
If Tampa Bay played its home games at ESPN Wide World of Sports, the players would be only 90.2 miles away from Tropicana Field.
Credit: Disney
Still, that’s 90 miles from home, which would force them to travel more often to visit their families.
The genius of Disney World as a solution, one the NBA discovered during its Bubble season, is that there’s ample housing.
ESPN Wide World of Sports
Players could have their families and friends stay at Disney resorts during the games. But who wants to live at a hotel?
For this reason, ESPN suggested that Disney World is a fallback option.
ESPN
The preferred choice is to play in Tampa, which does host a minor league facility as well.
However, Tarpon Stadium has a capacity of only 11,026. Also, a minor league team already plays there.
Photo: Major League Baseball
MLB would displace one (minor league) team to host another, which really just shuffles the deck.
For this reason, many Tampa Bay fans have expressed their belief on social media that Disney World makes the most sense.
Will Disney World Provide a Home for an MLB Team?
I don’t necessarily agree, but I do believe it’s one of the top contenders for Tampa Bay in 2025. I’d guess it’s MLB’s fallback option.
The catch is that ESPN Wide World of Sports hosts numerous athletic competitions already.
ESPN Wide World of Sports
So, management would need to adjust some of those events to open the needed dates for MLB games.
I’ll confess to you that I’ve repeatedly thought that this idea was improbable.
Photo: Tamir Moore
Each time I tried to dismiss it, something new happened that restored the possibility.
I suspect the Major League Baseball Players Association would frown on the idea of Tampa players playing in Orlando.
Photo: ESPN
Then again, they did exactly that just last year. Yes, those were preseason games, but everyone raved about Disney’s handling of the games.
The drawback with regular season games is that The Stadium — I swear to you that this is the name of the facility — seats only 9,500.
Photo: Major League Baseball
That’s actually less than the Tampa Bay Tarpons’ minor league stadium. I presume Disney would need to add some seats.
However, officials have four months to do that if MLB desires it. Manfred has stated he wants this resolved in November.
Photo: Major League Baseball
So, we should find out soon either way.
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