Tropicana Field officially has its roof back after Hurricane Milton ripped it off last year. FOX 13’s Kailey Tray reports.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Crews laid the last of 24 panels on Tropicana Field’s new roof Thursday ahead of schedule.
Their goal was to finish the roof by the end of the year. Hurricane Milton ripped the roof to shreds last year. It was perhaps the biggest visual representation of the toll the storm took.
The company helping install the panels, Enclos Tensile Structures, says the panels should be watertight in a few weeks. St. Pete’s architect says the new roof will be stronger and able to withstand 165 mph winds. It takes crews six hours straight to fully lay out one panel, and up to six days to completely stretch it out.
READ: Tropicana Field’s new 24 roof panels take six days each to fully install
The backstory:
Crews started the roof replacement in August. They’ll install the audio system, backstop netting and outfield wall padding in December. Turf installation will happen in January, city officials say.
City Council approved $59,699,513.82 for Tropicana Field remediation and repair expenses. The city is legally obligated to make repairs to the stadium suitable for Rays home games.
Dig deeper:
How the panels were made and how they got here was an international effort. The French company, the Serge Ferrari Group, wove together fiberglass yarns in a facility in Germany, then put a Teflon-like protection coating on it.
They then shipped what looks like massive, heavy spools to the fabricator in China. There, they cut and welded each piece for the panels that weigh almost 5,000 pounds each, then shipped those panels to Florida.
David Peragallo, the specifications manager for U.S. projects for the Serge Ferrari Group that designed the new roof, says they’re used to supplying roofs for new stadiums. He said they usually have three years to design and build them. This, though, was an emergency and they produced the Trop’s in about three months.
“This really happened overnight,” he said. “I think it was a successful experience for us and for everybody involved, hopefully including the city and the team, and of course, the most important, the fans,” Peragallo said.
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He said this is one of their largest projects in the U.S. and one of the most important ones.
“We are talking about the top product of the market right now to cover a sport venue. Not only in the USA, also we have stadiums in Spain like Atletico Madrid in Spain, the Munich Stadium, the Olympic Stadium in Germany,” he said.
Peragallo, who’s from Chile, admitted he wasn’t a baseball fan going into the project, but he is now, specifically a Rays fan.
“I will be more than happy to attend a game under our roof and have someone to teach me what’s going on and learning a little bit more about baseball, especially in St. Pete. I would love to do that under our roof,” Peragallo said.
Peragallo says the new roof will last more than 20 years. He said it will look similar to the previous ones with little changes.
What they’re saying:
“I want to thank our city team and our contractors for their diligent work in getting the roof installation completed ahead of schedule,” St. Pete Mayor Kenneth Welch said. “This project was a massive undertaking, but we have an outstanding team working on it and making sure we’re prepared for Opening Day. We look forward to completing the remaining repairs and welcoming fans back for the 2026 season.”
What’s next:
St. Pete officials say city contractors can now focus on internal repairs. All of the stadium repairs are on track to be completed by April 2026, in time for the Rays’ Opening Day.
The Source: This story was written with information provided by ETS, the Serge Ferrari Group and the City of St. Pete.
St. PetersburgRays Stadium PlansRays