Rays say it might take ‘weeks’ to evaluate stadium injury in wake of Milton

The Tampa Bay Rays mentioned it might take weeks to totally assess how a lot injury was executed to Tropicana Area, which noticed its roof ripped to shreds by the power of Hurricane Milton because the lethal storm barreled throughout a lot of Florida.

The group mentioned nobody was injured when the St. Petersburg ballpark was struck by the storm on Wednesday evening. A handful of “important personnel” had been inside Tropicana Area because the roof panels had been blown aside, a lot of the particles falling on the sphere and seats beneath.

“Over the approaching days and weeks, we count on to have the ability to assess the true situation of Tropicana Area,” the Rays mentioned Thursday. “Within the meantime, we’re working with regulation enforcement to safe the constructing. We ask on your endurance right now, and we encourage those that can to donate to organizations in our group which might be aiding these instantly impacted by these storms.”

Milton was the second hurricane to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast within the span of two weeks, preceded by Hurricane Helene, which flooded streets and houses on that very same facet of the state and left at the very least 230 individuals useless throughout the South.

The Rays aren’t scheduled to play within the ballpark once more till March 27, when they’re imagined to play host to the Colorado Rockies to open the 2025 season.

For as dangerous because the injury was, the state of affairs at Tropicana Area may have been worse. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had mentioned earlier within the week that there have been plans for the ballpark to function a “momentary base camp” to assist particles cleanup operations and briefly home some first responders. However these plans had been modified because the storm neared, amid issues that the roof merely wouldn’t survive Milton’s wrath.

“They had been relocated,” DeSantis mentioned at a Thursday morning information convention. “Tropicana Area is a routine staging space for these items. The roof on that … I believe it’s rated for 110 mph and so the forecast adjustments, however because it turned clear that there was going to be one thing of that magnitude that was going to be inside the distance, they redeployed them out of Tropicana. There have been no state belongings that had been inside Tropicana Area.”

The group beforehand mentioned that Tropicana Area options the world’s largest cable-supported domed roof, with the panels fabricated from “translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass” supported by 180 miles of cables linked by struts.

The roof was designed to face up to wind of as much as 115 mph, based on the Rays. The stadium opened in 1990 at an preliminary price $138 million and is due to get replaced in time for the 2028 season with a $1.3 billion ballpark.

Lightning dwelling opener postponed

The Tampa Bay Lightning is not going to play their dwelling opener Saturday as deliberate.

The NHL mentioned Thursday that Saturday’s Lightning recreation in opposition to the Carolina Hurricanes was postponed “amid restoration efforts within the Tampa Bay space from the influence of Hurricane Milton.”

No make-up date was instantly introduced. The Lightning will open the season at Carolina on Friday, and traveled there earlier this week to get out forward of the storm.

The change signifies that Tampa Bay’s dwelling opener is now set for Tuesday in opposition to Vancouver.

The Lightning additionally had their preseason finale, which was to have been performed this previous Monday in opposition to Nashville, known as off due to Milton’s looming arrival. That recreation was initially set to be performed final month and was postponed then due to Hurricane Helene.

Magic return delayed

The Orlando Magic had been planning to spend Thursday in San Antonio and return dwelling on Friday, a day behind their unique schedule for the week.

The Magic performed a preseason recreation in San Antonio on Wednesday evening. They supposed to fly dwelling Thursday, arriving in Orlando within the early afternoon — these plans being scrapped due to Milton.

As an alternative, the Magic scheduled a apply in San Antonio on Thursday and have tentative plans to fly again to Orlando on Friday. A preseason recreation that was to be performed Friday in Orlando between the Magic and the New Orleans Pelicans was canceled and won’t be rescheduled.

“There’s at all times issues greater than the sport of basketball and that’s what we now have to maintain our perspective on,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley mentioned. “Understanding that there’s households and houses and conditions which might be going by means of a tricky time proper now, we must be conscious of that and aware of it.”

The Magic-Pelicans recreation is the second NBA preseason matchup to be affected by Milton. A recreation scheduled for Thursday in Miami between the Warmth and Atlanta Hawks was postponed till Oct. 16 due to storm issues. Additionally known as off earlier this week: a rescheduled NHL preseason recreation on Friday in Tampa between the Lightning and Predators — one which was initially set to be performed final month and was postponed due to Hurricane Helene.

UCF, USF video games nonetheless on

A pair of faculty soccer video games are set to be performed Saturday in cities that handled a few of Milton’s worst wind and rain, although there have been some logistical points that had been nonetheless being mentioned on Thursday within the aftermath of the storm.

In Tampa, USF is making ready play host to Memphis — a recreation that was pushed again from Friday to Saturday. And in Orlando, UCF is making ready to play host to Cincinnati.

Each video games are scheduled to have 3:30 p.m. kickoffs.

Reporting by The Related Press.

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