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Fixing Tropicana Field pricier than starting over, study says

News Channel 8 file photo by PETER MASA (2007)

One of the recommendations calls for a new roof to let more natural light into the stadium. Estimated cost: At the minimum, the Trop needs a new "membrane" that would allow in more natural light from the outside. Cost: $100 million.

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By MICHAEL SASSO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 16, 2009

TAMPA - Four-hundred-seventy-one million bucks.

That's the potential cost to turn Tropicana Field into a modern-day ballpark, according to a consultant's report. And even at that enormous sum, the Trop would still have "substantial flaws," including too many upper-level seats and some seats with bad views, the report says.

The Tampa Bay Rays released a Tropicana Field Renovation Study that weighs the pros and cons of a massive upgrade to the St. Petersburg ballpark as opposed to building a new stadium. The study was done by Populous, formerly HOK Sport, for the ABC Coalition, a group of community and business leaders researching a new stadium.

Cost estimates were provided by Hunt Construction Group, a major ballpark builder.

Overall, the report paints the Trop as unlovable, even with massive upgrades. The cost of the project would be as high as $471 million with a retractable roof. That exceeds the Rays estimate of $450 million for a new waterfront stadium.

If such a renovation were to go forward, some of the retrofits needed would include:

A new roof and some walls. At the minimum, the Trop needs a new "membrane" that would allow in more natural light from the outside. Cost: $100 million. To get closer to a first-class ballpark, the community should consider a retractable roof at a cost of an additional $121 million.

Walkway improvements. The concourse walkways are narrow and confusing, since they require going up escalators and they end in dead-ends, the report says. The solution is to tear out 1,944 lower-level seats to and rip out a wall separating the concourse from the field, giving an unobstructed view of the game. Fans wouldn't need to miss the game as they head for a soda or the bathroom. Cost: $52.7 million.

New luxury lounge. The Trop lacks a lounge accessible to people paying for high-dollar seats behind home plate. A solution would be to tear out seating behind the dugouts and create 1,084 new premium seats. A 12,000-square-foot lounge would be added on the stadium's service level, accessible by people in these premium seats. The cost would be $35.5 million.

Bigger suites. The Trop's luxury suites are too small at 290 square feet. The plan would boost that to 500 square feet and add another 15 suites. The cost would be $21.6 million.

Other upgrades include a new press box, improvements to the stadium's scoreboard, new general seating and improvements to the infrastructure.

Even with the pricy upgrades, Rays management seemed less than thrilled by the plan. In a letter to the ABC Coalition, Michael Kalt, Rays' senior vice president, suggested renovating the stadium is not the way to go.

"While these improvements would certainly help narrow the gap between Tropicana Field and major league ballparks around the country, significant underlying design issues would still remain," Kalt wrote.

"As such, we believe the study leaves little doubt that a renovation of Tropicana Field would not be a prudent course of action going forward."

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.

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