Could damage from Hurricane Milton bring Tampa Bay Rays to Durham in 2025?

By Brian Murphy, WRAL News

Durham, N.C. — The Durham Rays?

It seems like a long shot, but Hurricane Milton’s destruction in Florida, particularly in the Tampa area, has, at least, allowed some to dream of a Major League Baseball team coming to the area.

The roof Tropicana Field, the home of MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays, was badly damaged during Hurricane Milton which hit Florida earlier this month, raising questions about its viability for the start of the 2025 season.

Given the Rays are scheduled to build a new stadium for the 2028 season and the cost of potential repairs to Tropicana Field, is it even worth it to fix the park?

So if the Rays need a temporary home or, perhaps, a home for the next several years, could the 10,000-seat Durham Bulls Athletic Park — home to the Rays’ Class AAA franchise — be under consideration?

It’s not unprecedented for a big-league team to take up residence in a minor-league park.

The Toronto Blue Jays played games at minor-league venues in Buffalo and Dunedin, Florida, during the COVID-impacted 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Oakland A’s, who are moving to Las Vegas, will play the next three seasons at Sacramento’s minor-league stadium.

It’s enough to make the hearts of baseball-loving fans in the Triangle flutter, especially when combined with the Carolina Hurricanes’ owner Tom Dundon’s public courtship of a potential MLB expansion franchise.

Not so fast.

“There have been no conversations between the Rays and anyone at this point,” Mike Birling, Capitol Broadcasting Company’s vice president of baseball operations, said in an email. “Engineers still haven’t been able to access to see how much damage and how long a solution would take, so any discussions about playing anywhere but Tampa are premature at this point.”

Capitol Broadcasting Company is the owner of the Durham Bulls. It is also the owner of WRAL.

In an Oct. 10 statement, the Rays said: “Over the coming days and weeks, we expect to be able to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field.” The Tampa Bay Times reported that access to the building has been limited due to safety concerns, but there are indications of extensive damage.

Even if Tropicana Field is not ready for Opening Day or at any point in 2025, the Rays have options closer to home. Many teams, including the Rays, have spring training facilities in Florida. The franchise has a facility in Charlotte County, Florida.

As for where the Rays might play if they left Florida, the Times wrote, “expect to hear suggestions that include Durham, North Carolina, home of their Triple-A team, and near Raleigh, which is hot for an expansion team.” It also included Nashville, Charlotte and Puerto Rico among potential sites to be considered.

Dundon has been open about his desire to bring a MLB to the market. Brian Fork, the chief executive officer of Hurricanes Holdings, said baseball is part of his job duties at an introductory press conference in July.

“All we’re doing is preparing, just in case they decide they’re going to run some process to expand,” Dundon said in Raleigh in September.

Fork said the ownership group could have interest in a relocated MLB franchise as well.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said that Dundon’s involvement — and the heavy investment that Charlotte is making in updating the Spectrum Center and Bank of America Stadium — means Raleigh is a better landing spot for MLB at this time.