DALLAS — As the baseball world awaits the decision on which team superstar outfielder Juan Soto will sign with in free agency, the New York Yankees announced the details of their partnership with the Tampa Bay Rays for the 2025 season.
Due to damage sustained by Tropicana Field in October from Hurricane Milton, the Rays will play their home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field — the Yankees’ spring training home since 1996.
Once Yankees spring training concludes, the team will be treated as any other visiting club at the Tampa, Fla. facility. Yankees players will use the visitors’ batting cages and training areas when they play the Rays. Players on rehab assignments will be prohibited from using GMS Field’s facilities and will instead train at the club’s player development complex located nearby.
In return, the Rays will utilize the Yankees’ home clubhouse and training facilities, including the team’s new multistory baseball operations building set to open before the start of spring training. This state-of-the-art building will feature an expanded weight room, training room, female locker room, players’ lounge, dining area, family lounge and new offices for baseball operations staff.
However, the Rays will not have access to any Yankees equipment, technology, or proprietary spaces, including the club’s indoor pitching facility, which houses sensitive information.
Ticket sales for the Rays’ regular season games will be handled by the Rays, and all ticket revenue will be retained by them. Merchandise sold at Steinbrenner Field will also be Rays-specific after spring training concludes. The two teams are in discussions on how to modify the stadium to give it a more homey feel for the Rays, but no final decisions have been made. One certainty is that George Steinbrenner’s statue at the main entrance will remain in place.
For fans attending Rays games, most parking will be available across the street at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Rays will determine parking rates.
An aerial view on Oct. 10 shows the damage done to the roof at Tropicana Field that forced the Rays to find an alternate home for 2025. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
Game day operations at GMS Field will be overseen by the Rays, with a small number of Steinbrenner Field employees supporting the events. Legends Hospitality will be the exclusive provider of food, beverages and merchandise during Rays games, in collaboration with Levy Restaurants, the Rays’ official vendor. These entities will also explore employment opportunities for those impacted by the closure of Tropicana Field.
The Rays’ scoreboard and game presentation teams will take on their usual roles at GMS Field, while groundskeepers from the Yankees manage the park’s upkeep.
Rays personnel will staff their box office on game days, with ushers and ticket takers made up of a mix of GMS Field employees and Rays staff.
Yankees front-office employees with offices at GMS Field will remain in place. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, who has an office on the fourth floor of the main building, will not be displaced.
While insurance will cover the majority of expenses incurred by the Rays in renting the Yankees’ spring training facility, the Rays are responsible for the costs of upgrading an adjacent field, where the Yankees’ Low-A affiliate, the Tampa Tarpons, play their regular season games. Necessary improvements include installing lights, padding the outfield walls and upgrading both dugouts before the Tarpons’ season begins.
To meet Major League Baseball’s standards, the visiting clubhouse, dugouts, camera wells and press box at GMS Field must be upgraded. Specific plans for these improvements are still under discussion between the Yankees, Rays and MLB.
Finally, if the Rays make the postseason, the location of their potential home games remains uncertain. The Yankees, Rays, and MLB will jointly decide where any postseason games would be played.
(Photo of George M. Steinbrenner Field from 2021: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
