Tropicana Field History and Information
Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, closed its doors in October 1996 for a 17-month, $85 million facelift that transformed the facility from functional to intriguingly innovative, incorporating baseball traditions throughout the dining, shopping and entertainment complex while adding 319,000 square feet of space.
Originally named the Florida Suncoast Dome and then the ThunderDome, Tropicana Field's 1.1 million square feet include unique design features and fan amenities found nowhere else in the Major Leagues.
• Tropicana Field is the first major league park in more than 20 years to feature artificial turf and all-dirt base paths. It features the new, naturally looking FieldTurf. All of the other five major league parks that currently feature artificial turf have only dirt cutouts around the bases and at the pitcher's mound. Only four other artificial turf ballparks have ever featured all-dirt base paths: Houston's Astrodome (1966-1971); San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1971; Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium in the early '70s; and, most recently, St. Louis' Busch Stadium (1970-1976). Chicago's Comiskey Park had all-dirt base paths with an artificial turf infield and grass outfield in the early 1970's.
• In keeping with baseball's traditions, the bullpens were relocated after the 1998 season to the field, giving fans a clear view of activity before and during games. The Devil Rays bullpen is located along the right field line, while the visitors' bullpen is located along the left field line.
• Seats behind the backstop are some of the closest in the major leagues - only 50 feet from home plate.
• Of the 319,000 square feet that was added to the facility - including new and wider concourses - it is the area known as Center Field Street that commands the most attention. This bustling area, open year round, features the Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar, baseball's first in-stadium cigar bar, as well as the Batter's Eye Restaurant, located, appropriately, in the "batter's eye" in center field. The specially tinted windows of the restaurant make up a 130-foot-wide hitting background, yet still allow patrons of the restaurant to watch the game. Also found on Center Field Street are the Jack Daniel's Billiards Hall, the Budweiser Brew House with its adjoining family entertainment center, merchandise outlets, a bank, a travel agency, the Mountain Dew rock climbing wall, a kid-sized concession stand with kid-sized prices, and a food court known as the Taste of Tampa Bay, which features cuisine from some of the area's most popular restaurants.
• Tropicana Field features the world's second-largest cable-supported domed roof (Georgia Dome is the largest). It's made of six acres of translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass and it virtually supports itself with 180 miles of cables connected by struts. Opposing forces of tension and compression keep the roof in an arc. Tropicana Field's roof is slanted at a 6.5-degree angle, dropping from 225 feet above second base to 85 feet at the center field wall. The slanted roof reduced the overall construction costs and decreased the volume of air under the dome by 16.8 million cubic feet. Accordingly, that reduced the amount of air that requires climate control treatment. It is built to withstand wind of up to 115 miles per hour.
Playing surface
In March 2000, Tropicana Field became the first Major League Baseball stadium to install FieldTurf, a revolutionary synthetic grass. The first professional baseball game played on the new surface occurred on April 7, 2000, when the Rays hosted the Cleveland Indians in their home opener.
FieldTurf combines blades of artificial grass with a specially patented infill mixture of sand and ground rubber. The ground rubber is a recycled material made from used NIKE athletic shoes. It took 500 tons of clay shipped in from Tennessee to build the base paths. Called "Mar Mix," the infield dirt is a carefully blended mixture of 54 percent sand, 32 percent clay and 14 percent silt. Another type of clay, Blue Gumbo, is used for the pitcher's mound and batter's box.
The infill surrounds each FieldTurf fiber like natural earth holds a blade of grass and provides a non-compactable, resilient, natural earth feel. Tropicana Field remains the only professional baseball stadium with FieldTurf, which can be also found at the University of Washington's Stadium (where the Seattle Seahawks played in 2000 and 2001), the University of Nebraska's football stadium, the Cleveland Browns' practice facility and the Pittsburgh Steelers' practice facility.
In business since 2000