Who owns tropicana field

In , a then-record crowd of 53, attended the three-day Davis Cup tennis event. That same year, 25, fans saw the NBA's Chicago Bulls play an exhibition against the Seattle SuperSonics, the largest crowd ever to attend a basketball game in the state of Florida at the time. That figure was first surpassed during college basketball's East Regionals in Miami. New for , the Rays partnered with Levy to dramatically overhaul the food, beverage and retail experience. Following the season, the Rays added degree pedestrian circulation around the lower seating bowl.

The ballpark began construction in in the hope that it would lure a Major League Baseball team to the Tampa Bay area. The stadium, built originally as the Florida Suncoast Dome , was first used in an attempt to entice the Chicago White Sox to relocate if a new ballpark were not built to replace the aging Comiskey Park. Cellular Field in The stadium was finished in , but still had no tenants. The venue made St. There were rumors of the Seattle Mariners moving in the early part of the s, and the San Francisco Giants came close to moving to the area, with Tampa Bay investors even announcing they were in a press conference in However, the sale was blocked by National League owners who voted against the sale and move in November [7] under pressure from San Francisco officials and the then-owner of the Florida Marlins , Blockbuster Video Chairman H.

Wayne Huizenga [8]. A local boycott of Blockbuster Video stores occurred for several years thereafter. The Suncoast Dome did manage to gain a tenant in when the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning made the stadium its home for three seasons.

In the process, the Suncoast Dome was renamed the Thunderdome. Because of the large capacity of what was basically a park built for baseball, several NHL attendance records were set during their time there [9]. Changes were made to the stadium and the name, which was changed due to the sale of naming rights to Tropicana Products, thus renaming it Tropicana Field in The completion of the Ice Palace in downtown Tampa permitted "The Trop" to be vacated for preparation for its intended purpose, as the Lightning and Storm moved into the facility that was built for them.

Ebbets Field was the model for the renovations, which included a replica of the famous rotunda that greeted Dodger fans for many years. The first regular season baseball game took place at the park on March 31, , when the Devil Rays faced the Detroit Tigers , losing 11—6. Although Tropicana was purchased by PepsiCo in , PepsiCo did not elect to make any changes to Tropicana's naming rights.

The park was initially built with an AstroTurf surface, but it was replaced in by softer FieldTurf , becoming the first major professional facility to use it.

Unlike other artificial turf fields used in baseball, the field at Tropicana has full dirt basepaths and pitching mound as opposed to having only dirt "sliding pits" around the bases.

Since Tropicana Field does not need to convert between baseball and football, sliding pits, designed to save re-configuration time, were unnecessary.

On August 6, , the astro turf warning track was replaced by brown-colored stone filled FieldTurf Duo. The tank is located just behind the center field wall, in clear view of the play on the field.

People can go up to the tank to touch the creatures. Further improvements prior to the offseason, in addition to the new FieldTurf, include additional family features in the right field area, the creation of a new premium club, and several new video boards including a new 35 ft. The renovation also added built-in high-definition television capabilities to the ballpark, with Fox Sports Florida and WXPX airing at least a quarter of the schedule in HD in and accommodating the new video board's 16x9 aspect ratio.

The disputed play involved a home run hit above the left field foul pole by Yankee Alex Rodriguez. The ball was called a home run on the field, but was close enough that the umpires opted to view the replay to verify the call. The umpires determined that the fan in question, originally believed to have reached over the right field wall, did not reach over the wall. The Rays ended up losing the game and eventually the World Series to the Phillies 4 games to 1.

On December 20, , Tropicana Field was converted into a football stadium for the day to host the St. The Trop returned to a football configuration on October 30, , to host one of the three home games of the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League, which the Rays had invested in.

Jackson was a member of the Rays from — This was also the first no-hitter in Rays history. Garza faced the minimum 27 batters as the only batter to reach base was erased by a double play hit by the next batter. The most recognizable exterior feature of Tropicana Field is the slanted roof. It was designed at an angle to reduce the interior volume in order to reduce cooling costs, and to better protect the stadium from hurricanes. The dome is supported by a tensegrity structure and is lit up with orange lights after the Rays win a home game.

With the Minnesota Twins vacating the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome following the season and moving into Target Field in , Tropicana Field is the only active Major League Baseball stadium with a fixed i.

The main rotunda, on the east end of the stadium, resembles the Ebbets Field rotunda on the interior. The walkway to the main entrance of the park features a ft. It is the largest outdoor tile mosaic in Florida, and the fifth-largest in the United States. The primary level concourse is at street level, with elevators, escalators and stairs separating the outfield and infield sections, since the ground is at different grades on either side.

The level loge box concourse is further separated, and is carpeted, as it includes the entrances to most of the luxury suites. The level concourse is the highest of the concourses.

The seating is arranged with odd sections on the left field side, and even sections on the right field side. Rows are lettered starting closest to home plate and rise as you move further away. There are a total of 70 luxury suites. There are a total of 2, club seats at Tropicana Field.

Rays owner backs down from plans to display Montreal sign at Tropicana Field. The principal owner of the Tampa Bay Rays is now backing down from plans to hang a sign at Tropicana Field during the team's postseason games. By: Lisette Lopez. Copyright Scripps Media, Inc.

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