ORLANDO, Fla. – The roof panels over the home of baseball's Tampa Bay Rays were ripped to shreds after Hurricane Milton came ashore in Florida on Wednesday night, bringing wind gusts exceeding 100 mph and flooding parts of the state.
It was not immediately clear if there was damage inside Tropicana Field, located in St. Petersburg. Television images showed the swaths that serve as the domed building’s roof were completely tattered, giving a clear line of sight to the lights that were on inside the stadium.
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There were only essential personnel inside the ballpark Wednesday night, all of them safe and accounted for, the Rays said. It was not being used as a shelter and no first responders were being staged there, the team said, adding that no official determination about damage can be made until the storm passes and conditions are safe.
The team previously said that Tropicana Field features the world’s largest cable-supported domed roof, with the panels made of “translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass” supported by 180 miles of cables connected by struts.
The roof was designed to withstand wind of up to 115 mph, according to the Rays. The stadium opened in 1990 and initially cost $138 million. It is due to be replaced in time for the 2028 season with a $1.3 billion ballpark.
An NBA preseason game in Orlando between the Magic and the New Orleans Pelicans, scheduled for Friday, was canceled even before Milton hit the state. The game will not be rescheduled.
Orlando was playing at San Antonio on Wednesday night and was scheduled to return to central Florida on Thursday. Those plans are now in flux because of the storm, which made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida. It forced the airports in Orlando and Tampa to close and it wasn't clear when it would be safe for the Magic to return home.
“There's always things bigger than the game of basketball and that's what we have to keep our perspective on,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Knowing that there's families and homes and situations that are going through a tough time right now, we need to be mindful of that and conscious of it.”
The Magic-Pelicans game is the second NBA preseason matchup to be affected by Milton. A game scheduled for Thursday in Miami between the Heat and Atlanta Hawks was postponed until Oct. 16 because of storm concerns. Also called off earlier this week: a rescheduled NHL preseason game on Friday in Tampa between the Lightning and Predators — one that was originally set to be played last month and was postponed because of Hurricane Helene.
“Stay safe Florida!” former Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos, who is entering his first season with Nashville, posted on social media Wednesday. “Thinking about all the amazing people in the Tampa area right now.”
Countless college and high school events in Florida also have been canceled or postponed because of the storm.
For now, two planned exhibitions by Simone Biles and other Olympic gymnasts — part of the “Gold Over America Tour," the acronym not coincidentally spelling out GOAT in a nod to Biles' status as the consensus Greatest Of All-Time in the sport — this weekend are still on. The tour is scheduled to come to Sunrise, the home of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, on Friday and then move to Orlando on Saturday.
Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, which is north of Miami, is scheduled to resume live racing on Friday. Saturday's college football game with Cincinnati going to Orlando to face UCF is still on, and the Memphis-South Florida game in Tampa was rescheduled earlier this week to be played Saturday.
UCF and USF officials have both said further decisions will be made, if necessary, after the storm damage is evaluated.
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