Inside the Rays’ mad dash to transform Steinbrenner Field

Moving often involves bribing a few buddies with pizza and beer. That will not suffice for the Tampa Bay Rays, who have four days to transform Steinbrenner Field into a temporary home.

The 11,000-seat minor league and New York Yankees spring training stadium will host the Rays throughout the 2025 season. About 150 people will work around the clock to help the team start from scratch in Tampa.

Bill Walsh, chief business officer for the Rays, will oversee the “enormous effort.” The sprint to replace nearly every visage of their rival begins after the Yankees complete their final home spring training game March 23.

“All-hands-on-deck is truly the metaphor,” Walsh said. “This number goes up every day, but we’ve got more than 3,000 pieces of art to install. If you lined them up end-to-end, they’d be more than a mile in length.”

The Rays and Yankees began establishing remodeling parameters in November after it became clear that Steinbrenner Field was the only local facility – outside of a storm-damaged Tropicana Field – suitable for Major League Baseball. Highlighting sponsors is a priority, and the Rays must move previously installed ad signs to an adjacent community field that will host the minor league Tampa Tarpons.

Walsh noted the Yankees installed new lights and outfield wall padding to hold signs at the community field. They also “enhanced” the dugouts to accommodate the switch. “These are all new projects that had to come online this offseason,” he said.

The Rays must integrate new security, ticketing and parking protocols. Walsh said utilizing a different concessionaire requires a “whole new set of business terms.”

“There’s a new video board, so we had to rework our game presentation,” he added. “Every aspect of the operation has changed, so we’ve really had to go back to square one with almost everything.

“The last time we changed a concessionaire, it took 18 months to vet, do due diligence and negotiate a deal. We’ve had to do this in like two months.”

The Rays must inventory and remove all Yankees merchandise from two team stores and replace it with their gear. However, branding is the heaviest lift during the four-day move.

Walsh said the 10-by-9-foot letters that spell “Y-A-N-K-E-E-S” above the first and third-base stands will now read “R-A-Y-S” and feature the sunburst logo. Crews will cover the large “NY” logo on the home clubhouse ceiling and other internal signage.

“None of these things are unique business elements in their own right,” Walsh said. “The sheer volume of change and the speed at which we’ve had to adjust and execute is what’s made this just a huge challenge.”

A statue outside the stadium honoring the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is off-limits. Adjacent team Hall of Fame plaques and Steinbrenner’s name atop the scoreboard are also untouchable.

Steinbrenner Field has a slew of recent upgrades. The Tampa facility seats just over 11,000 people. Photo: Visit Tampa Bay.

While a Yankees logo will remain at the end of each seating row, Walsh pledged that the ballpark would “feel like the Rays home field, as it should. We need that home-field advantage.”

He said the move created opportunities to be creative. For example, sunscreen dispensers at the outdoor ballpark can feature branding. Walsh believes the unique season can drive value for partners, including Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, as “there’s going to be a lot of people watching” in the stands, at home and throughout the country.

Walsh credited the hundreds of team employees that have enabled the move. Many must negate similar disruptions in their personal lives.

The Rays had until March 31 to proceed or pull the plug on long-awaited plans to build a new stadium in St. Petersburg. Owner Stuart Sternberg announced his decision to exit the agreement March 13, mitigating it overshadowing a March 28 season-opening “home” stand.

“And don’t forget, this was an organization impacted as much as any other from the storms,” Walsh said. “We lost the roof of our building; our offices were completely destroyed. Our entire staff was displaced, and many lost their homes. The way we have overcome that, and our staff has risen to the occasion to be able to do something like this, is really remarkable.”

Walsh also credited the Yankees for welcoming their rivals with open arms. He noted the new state-of-the-art clubhouse is an upgrade from Tropicana Field.

However, Walsh noted that the much-maligned Trop is still home. Rays executives, staff and players eagerly anticipate returning to St. Petersburg for the 2026 season.

Walsh said the temporary move is “strictly a one-year deal at this point.” The Rays will revert Steinbrenner Field to its previous once the 2025 season concludes.

“Leaving them (the Yankees) with something, hopefully, that’s even better than when we found it is the goal,” Walsh added. “They’ve been very magnanimous towards us and extended a helping hand when we needed it the most.”

The Tampa Bay Rays plan to return home to Tropicana Field in 2026. Photo by Mark Parker.