Although the news first broke in November that the Tampa Bay Rays (no longer Devil Rays) were going to build a new stadium, I'm just seeing pictures of the new proposed ballpark and the images are breathtaking.

Roof closed


Roof open

After looking at them, you can understand why they're the Tampa Bay Rays and not the Tampa Rays - the bay looks magnificent next to the ballpark. It'll be a small 34,000 seat stadium (good for the fan base in Tampa) with a design to allow homeruns hit over the right field wall to have a chance to make it into Tampa Bay. But the most aesthetically appealing part to the stadium will be its sail-like retractable roof made of a weatherproof material. It won't ever cover the entire stadium so as to allow the view of the bay to be unobstructed for all games. What concerns me are the nasty storms people call hurricanes. By having it open air won't the ballpark be vulnerable to those storms? But, that would be an obvious major concern and the developers have certainly factored that into their design - I hope. It's good to see the Rays will be moving out of the ballpark abomination that is Tropicana Field and even better - they're planning to redevelop Tropicana Field into a "major retail, entertainment and housing development" in order to help offset the cost of the new $450 million stadium. Unfortunately, seeing the rendered images of the ballpark remind me of the Expos' old $1 billion Olympic Stadium. Not a good thing to compare to. Olympic Stadium had a massive post protruding into the sky which was supposed to hold up the kevlar roof but it wouldn't withstand windspeeds of more than 25 mph and was constantly in need of repair. No word yet on what the Tampa stadium roof is made of, but hopefully they'll learn from Montreal's mistake. Here is the link for the official site TAMPA STADIUM