City vote could change insurance claim for Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium

The St. Petersburg City Council last week rejected a proposal to spend $23.7 million to repair the hurricane-damaged roof of the stadium that is home to Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, despite testimony from the city’s risk manager that doing so could result in a different insurance payout. 

Hurricane Milton caused significant damage to Tropicana Field when it made landfall in Florida on Oct. 9.

At the Nov. 21 meeting, the council initially voted to proceed with the stadium’s roof repairs but later reversed course and unanimously voted against the plan.

The reversal came after the council voted to delay approving the sale of bonds to fund a new stadium for the Rays. A plan to build the $1.3 billion ballpark was approved in July, and the current stadium is scheduled to be torn down after the 2027 season.

Blaise Massola, risk manager for St. Petersburg, told council members ahead of the vote at Thursday’s meeting that their decision would affect Tropicana Field’s insurance claim.

“If we were to just not do anything on it the insurer will most likely want to just offer actual cash value on the entirety (of the claim) because we are not rebuilding per se. That’s typical in insurance,” Mr. Massola said.

But “if we are to replace and repair, we are looking at replacement cost for the majority of the work,” he said, adding that the roof is insured on an actual cash value basis, “so there is a deduction for depreciation on the roof.”

The maximum coverage limit on the stadium is $22.5 million, Mr. Massola said.

The city has already spent $6.5 million to protect the stadium from further damage and it will cost $55 million to repair all the hurricane damage to the ballpark, according to preliminary estimates from Hennessy Construction Services.

Ahead of hurricane season, the city decided to lower Tropicana Field’s coverage limit for named windstorm and flood damage to $25 million from $100 million, reducing the annual premium by $275,000.

The proposal for the property insurance coverage for the 2024/2025 policy year was submitted by broker Brown & Brown Inc. and approved at a March 7 meeting of the city’s budget, finance and taxation committee, according to a recording of the meeting.

Tropicana Field’s unique aging roof construction and “lack of historical and actuarial loss data makes insurers uncomfortable,” according to information presented at that meeting.

The city’s general property program covers Tropicana Field and other city-owned buildings, such as the municipal services center, up to a $441 million limit. The program has a $22 million deductible.

The Rays recently announced the team will play the 2025 regular season at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring training home of division rivals the New York Yankees.