As work to reopen Tropicana Field continues, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is hopeful it will be ready in time for the Tampa Bay Rays to kick off the 2026 season.  

The Rays will begin the 2026 season on the road, where they will play their first nine games. Afterward, the club is slated to return to Tropicana Field for a home opening series against the Chicago Cubs beginning on April 6.   

 “We’re hopeful that it will be ready for the opening homestand,” Manfred told reporters before Game 2 of the World Series in Toronto. “It certainly is going to be open very early in the year.”  

It will be the first time the Rays will play in Tropicana Field since it suffere since it suffered severe damage as a result of Hurricane Milton last October.  

Manfred also praised the new ownership group led by Jacksonville, Fla. based homebuilder Patrick Zalupski, especially as it pertains to their work in pursuing a new stadium for the team. Zalupski’s group assumed their role last month after finalizing the sale with outgoing principal owner Stuart Sternberg.  

“I think the most appealing thing about this group was their ties in the Tampa Bay region,” Manfred said in an appearance on SiriusXM. “I think that’s a really important thing in terms of getting political support for getting a new facility built. They’re well-financed; [a] really strong group and I am confident that something good’s gonna happen in Tampa.” 

Zalupski and his partners, co-chair Bill Cosgrove and Rays CEO Ken Babby, expressed their desire to have the team in a new stadium in time for the 2029 season. Currently, the club is fulfilling its thirty-year lease in Tropicana Field with the city of St. Petersburg, a deal that goes through 2028. Zalupski’s group said at their introductory press conference that they are “encompassing all of Tampa Bay” in their search for a location fitting for a new multi-use development. 

Manfred also expressed admiration for Sternberg, whose tenure at the helm spanned two decades after his group purchased the team from late former owner Vince Naimoli in 2004 for $200 million. 

 “I would be remiss though if I didn’t say, look, Stu Sternberg was a good owner for a really long time. Put a really competitive team out on the field. He did the right thing by his people. In addition, one thing that gets overlooked; he hired and developed good people. There’s a lot of Tampa veterans out there working at other clubs now.”