Olympic Stadium in Montreal Not an Option For Tampa Bay Rays After All

The Tampa Bay Rays' Tropicana Field isn't the only venue that needs a new roof, as Montreal's Olympic Stadium will be undergoing major renovations of its own over the next few years.

Mar 26, 2019; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; General view of the Olympic Stadium with a baseball before a spring training game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays. / Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Rays will not be playing their home games in Montreal in 2025, the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin reported Friday.

The Rays are currently in limbo with their stadium, as Tropicana Field was left in disarray in the wake of Hurricane Milton earlier this month. With the franchise set to move to a brand-new ballpark in St. Petersburg in 2028, spending millions of dollars to get their home of 27 years back to game shape in time for the 2025 regular season could prove easier said than done.

The Durham Bulls, the Rays' Triple-A affiliate, announced Thursday that the big league club was not planning on taking over Durham Bulls Athletic Park in 2025.

Another option suggested by many was Olympic Park in Montreal. The host stadium of the 1976 Olympics was also the home field of the Montreal Expos from 1977 until 2004, when they moved to Washington and became the Nationals.

The Rays previously explored splitting their home games between Tampa and Montreal, until MLB rejected the idea back in 2022. Perhaps the league would have reconsidered the concept for 2025, considering Tropicana Field's demolished roof, but the timing still isn't on the team's side.

Olympic Park is about to undergo $870 million renovations to repair its own roof, leaving the playing field virtually unusable until 2028.

Now, the Rays' options may be limited to local Spring Training sites, lower-level minor league parks or converted soccer stadiums. It remains to be seen what the front office's timeline is for determining where they will play home games in 2025.

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