I grew up 15 minutes from the Trop and enjoyed every Rays game that I got to attend since the first season in 1998.

Went to a game once and almost melted in the 97 degree heat and 96 per cent humidity buying tickets. Walked into the A/C and it felt like going from hell to heaven.

The Trop: You took everything from me Tampa: I don't even know who you are

It must've been doublety insulting to folks in the Tampa Bay area that Miami got an MLB expansion team before they did, considering that the only venue that the Marlins could reasonably play in was Dolphins Stadium... ...which is an NFL-specific stadium. Not a multi-use, cookie cutter stadium, that could fit a baseball field. An NFL-specific stadium! That they had to cut a chunk out of in order to fit a baseball field in. One that had no roof to protect agains the Florida heat. MLB chose THAT over Tropicana Field! To be fair, it wasn't exactly the wrong choice.

The Rays were so good last year and it looked like the only time the stadium had full capacity was in the playoffs

As a Tampa native, I have mixed feelings about the Trop. I saw a Devil Rays game there their first season in 1998 and the stadium has improved immensely over the last 22 years. The atmosphere in the stands is not as bad as most people say. And believe me, it beats the Florida summer heat. Where the stadium does feel dated is in the concourse and concession areas. The ceiling is very low and the architecture is almost Soviet brutalist. The non-public service areas seem completely unmaintained compared to say, the main tunnel under Raymond James Stadium - it makes the Trop look structurally decrepit. I'll always have a fond appreciation for Tropicana Field, but its time to be replaced has long since passed. When it comes to the Rays, being a fan in the late 00s early 10s when the whole region knew every player by name was electric. It was like how the Lightning are in Tampa today. But trading away the household names hurt them. I'd rather not share the team. If Sternberg can't make the Rays work here, then move them completely.

Anyone who has attended a Playoff game here knows the truth, The Trop is a great home until a Tampa venue can be built. The weather inside the dome is always perfect, 72 degrees and no rain. Great staff and young, exciting players who interact with fans and a winning team. The neighborhood around the Trop is up and coming with development nearby. Many markets would love to have what we have here. We know it isn't perfect. We love it just the same.

4:48 while it's about a 30 minute drive from Tampa to st.petersburg, because of traffic and where most people in Tampa actually live, it's usually an hour + trip to the trop.

I often thought of this stadium as misunderstood. While many hated it, I liked its uniqueness and quirks. As I got older, I understood why people didn't like this stadium. I still see it as a guilty pleasure. A stadium that has its own charm that many will never understand. Plus, what other stadium can say they hosted Baseball, Football, Hockey, Basketball, Arena Football & Tennis in its lifespan?

Should be called the thunderdome again

I’ve been to 27 MLB ballparks. Sadly, this beauty isn’t one of them

The new stadium has to be in Tampa and out of St. Pete if this team has any future in Florida

The rays have a terrible owner too

Watching from Saint Petersburg, Florida! My group of friends always call the Trop "The Used Condom". I have great memories at the Trop, such as a boy scout over-night camp out on the field and my high school graduation, but it is absolutely an eye soar on the downtown Saint Petersburg skyline. USFSP represent. Go bulls!

The Trop is my home. I don’t care if it’s a bad stadium, I love it all the same.

You know when your stadium is garbage when the best thing about it is a touch tank which can be found at any local aquarium.

I have been to the tropic twice and honestly it’s one of the coolest places you can go to. It’s really cool walking into the place and yeah it gets made fun of and they need to move because it’s a headache getting there but it’s super different from any baseball park.

Tropicana Field: “How come they don’t want me, man?” 🥺😢

The split stadium idea makes zero sense when they are becoming a perennially successful team. They cannot split a playoff series between St. Pete and Montreal.

I understand the hate from outsiders but this stadium is my childhood. Never had a bad time. The trop will always have a soft spot in my heart❤️

I’ve always had something of a secret soft spot for Tropicana Field. Not just because it has mostly good memories for me as a Mariner fan on the occasions we catch the Rays rebuilding, but also because I feel a bit of a kinship to it via my Mariners’ old home, the Kingdome, which was similarly designed and maligned in its time and went through a very similar replacement/relocation arc to Tropicana as well. In a way, as a younger fan who never grew up with them, it’s nice to be able to still see a relic of the “cookie-cutter” AstroTurf era of stadium construction in action, even if it most likely doesn’t have that many years left in the tank. If I could hug Tropicana and let it know there are people who love it for what it is, I would. :)

Good things about the trop: The touch tank That’s pretty much it

If you're gonna slant the roof, why the hell not slant it up from home plate to center field? This is bass-ackward

The Tampa Bay Gamma Rays. The only MLB team comprised entirely of Floridamen. A team that reluctantly wears cleats and pants. To think all they had to do was leave the waste where it was and we could have a team of mutant baseball players.

5:36 YOU'RE A LEGEND FOR THIS 😭😹😹😹😹😹😹

I love the trop, so many memories there. But yeah we need a new stadium.

Thank you Dick Clippers for this inspiring video

This feels so much like the Chargers with the Rays.

As a Yankees fan, there’s always so many Yankees fans at Rays home games. A lot of northern transplants from NY, NJ, CT, and PA moved to Central FL.

I moved down here to the Bay Area in 1987 and I have seen the ups and downs of the Trop. Hell, I remember one of the 1st events there was a concert (I want to say it was Willie Nelson but don't hold me to that), and the roof leaked... badly. My father used to work for Sports Service who handled the concessions for the Lightning & Storm so I used to find ways to get cheap seats for both and despite the terrible way traffic is handled in Downtown St. Pete those places were rocking. I was there on October 9th 1993 when over 27,000 fans packed the house to see the Lightning face off against the Panthers, and before you ask, yes, they did play the Tina Turner "Welcome to Thunderdome!" monologue before every game. Fucking Awesome! While I have never been a big fan of the building or it's location I think this is a fitting tribute to one of the more obscure structures in Professional Sports today. Excellent Video as always, and as always, Dam Son!

I used to live a couple blocks away from this stadium. I was jumped by a bunch of kids from my school right in front of it. Good times

Let's not forget the traffic woes just getting into and from that damn dome. There's one thing that's more hated in the area than the Trop, and it's name is Howard Frankland.

I love driving down to Tropicana Field from Georgia. Don’t know what’s so bad about it.

Thank you for this. I never knew the history of my local stadium but have always heard about it sucking. It's great to finally get the story behind the suckage. Seriously, Thank you.

Love the footage at the end. That was a crazy day in baseball, lmao

As a lifelong Rays fan, this video is so touching and poignant. The history of how the Trop was built is entirely forgotten and it's nice to hear the acknowledgement of who and what it was replacing.

How does giving one team two stadiums make more sense than simply moving the team or doing another expansion to bring back the Montreal Expos?

I've been there and it's not that bad, sure it's sort of sterile but watching a game there isn't bad. It's a lot cheaper than Fenway and more comfortable.

I hate that Idea of the rays playing in Montreal and St. Petersburg. Either Relocate to Montreal or just Stay, that idea is just stupid to me

Finally one on the giant dump that is the trop

3:33 It would be dumb to put 2 expansion teams in the same state." The NBA putting 2 expansion teams (in FLORIDA) in 1988 and 1989: "Are we a joke to you?"

I’m a die hard rays fan and have been my whole life and live about 45 minutes away from the trop, I’ve enjoyed every trip I have made there #raysup

I've been patiently waiting for this vid. Made my day. Thanks man love the channel

Wow so Tropicana Field didn't have a tenant for that long? Shit, it was cursed from the start!

Another nice thing the Trop got to see: Wade Boggs' 3,000th hit.

I've always thought Tropicana Field looked like a warehouse.

The sad thing is that even when the Rays were very good last year, every home game looked like batting practice attendance.

The temperature is always nice inside.

I live in the Tampa Bay area and I love the stadium

I was so excited for the stadium in Ybor City but NOOOooooOOoOoOO we couldn’t do it. Also, that ending clip was what I grew up on! It was so cool!

I’m a huge baseball fan. Grew up 6 hours from the closest MLB field. I now live two hours from the Trop, and wouldn’t go there if I had free tickets.

Went to the 1999 Final Four there. UConn upset Duke in a great game.

I actually really like Tropicana field because of unique and quirky it is. I also like it because it’s the last remaining dome stadium in MLB.

The beginning of video already sent the vibes of this video 😂😂😂😂. Love u man, no homo

"... Jason Reddick...(CHEATER)..." 😂😂😂✌️❤️

When I first saw it, I thought it was used by NASA for something.

Hey, that's You HHENN eeyo. Go Redlegs!

I like how it’s a dome stadium, but going to a Tampa Bay Rays game is depressing. I went there 2 years ago and only 25% of the stadium was filled with fans. It looked like how games will be with Coronavirus, but in a normal game. No wonder the Rays are moving to Montréal, they need it.

Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2004 season. The Patriots defeated the Eagles by the score of 24-21. The game was played on February 6, 2005, at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, the first time the Super Bowl was played in that city.

The Trop itself isn’t boring or drab inside, it’s evolved over the years as I’ve lived in Tampa for 7 years. The process to actually get there on a weekday is absolute hellfire though. Despite attendance. People love the Rays here. They do. Just the process of driving to South St Pete is taxing. Great video! I went to Game 4 here against the Astros in 2019. This place was ROCKING. They love their team here as I do

Me and my dad walked around the outside of the stadium during this past spring training when we were in Florida it’s just sad because it’s like a ghost town

That stadium looks like a irregular top of a golf ball or a rusty mental hospital

I moved into the Tampa area this year, and found this informative. Thanks!

Love your stadium videos Five Points! Could you do a couple of videos on three of my favorites, the former Candlestick Park in San Francisco, SDCCU Stadium in San Diego, and the Inglewood Forum in Inglewood?

They even had half their team name taken from them. What's next?

Let’s do a sad history of the Palace of Auburn Hills

I’ve been to Tropicana Field so many times in my life, I only live a few miles away and I’ve been to not only baseball games, but a few other events like college football bowl games

This was actually one of the stadiums I have been able to visit. Hearing baseball in that dome is like playing in a large warehouse. The walk around the park is incredibly odd and old as hell!

Last time I was this early 5points had hair

I have heard multiple stories that be rays may be moving to Orlando I would definitely go multiple games a year

Me: "Tropicana Field is a dump." Five Points Video: "Also, it's racist." Nicely done, sir. Nicely done.

I was in town on business during the inaugural week and was given tickets for games 2 & 3. Being a lifelong ball fan, I had experienced numerous major league stadiums prior to this. Indeed, there was nothing memorable about this stadium. I do recall it being claustrophobic and lacklustre in its presentation.

This is off topic, but are you doing a follow up of the best Minor League Stadiums?

Being a hockey fan, my time with this stadium was during its days as the Thunderdome. Some of my best hockey memories were made there, like waiting outside after the game and getting the Lightning players' autographs. My mom even got passes to the team lounge once, though with two small children in tow she sadly wasn't able to use them. I know the place is long past the prime I remember, but I'll still be a little sad to see it go.

I literally live right next to the stadium and even currently work for the organization. The story of this stadium and the land it’s built on is a sad one. I still remember going to my first game in 07 and all the fun I remembered. Then moving down here for college in 15 and learning the full story to that away.

I love your video, keep posting, I wish more people would see your channel, cause you deserve way more subs than you have

If they moved to Montreal would they be able to call themselves the expos since they changed their name when they moved to DC?

Bring back the Expos! My dad found an old ticket stub from when the Padres were still at Qualcomm and that day they were playing Montreal. I would love to see them back and it would create another great rivalry with Toronto.

I went to a Rays game at the Trop last summer with my cousin (he lives about 10 minutes away), and I didn’t think it was a terrible stadium. That said, they could have better. After the game, I even saw some guys protesting splitting time between St. Petersburg and Montreal. It definitely was an experience.

Didn't know any of this. It is actually sad.

Unpopular opinion: The Trop is actually one of my favorite stadiums

6:34 No, it was to protect against hurricanes.

It is amazing how The Truman Sports complex for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals, side by side stadiums, was built in 1973, and BOTH still exist as beautiful as ever. All they had to do was put GRASS in Royal's stadium, plus make some minor improvements over the years. Still a beautiful setting!!

I actually wasn't aware of those catwalks. That is a terrible flaw indeed

Leave this stadium alone. It's not unwanted and it's gotten a lot of improvements over the last decade! The rays have put tons a lot of money into this stadium making a great fan experience. They redid the whole outfield area a few years ago and it's become super popular and very nicely done! New types of turf consistently being installed every few years. This is one of the best kept fields in the league now. Their only hope is a new stadium near downtown Tampa where more of their fan base is and make it easier to get to with major highways connecting there! Until Stu sells the damn team or someone can afford to build a new stadium they're stuck at the trop tbh.

I heard it was good for hockey

it is one of the most comfortable places to watch a games. great beer selection too.

A stadium so bad that makes everyone just feel sympathy for you, your city and your team for playing in it

As a born and raised Tampon, I love this stadium. I would love to see it across the bay, but will settle for an hour’s drive just for the midgame lightning strikes to the dome. Also, the extensive use painted cinder blocks through out has always given me a crappy 1950s rec center pool vibe- and I’m here for it. The trop’s an ugly f*cker, but she’s our ugly f*cker - for now, at least.

The trop is my stadium but lordie it’s not the best

The tonal shifts between the opening tag and the ad, and back to the main program gave me a huge whiplash.

St Petersburg should have done what Pheniox did for the Diamondbacks to bad they don’t know how to design a stadium lol

If they do the dual-stadium thing they'll have to rename the team to The Tampa Bay Snowbirds Of Montreal.

Manfred is terrible. The Ray's need to stay in Tampa Bay, EXCLUSIVELY. If Montreal wants a team again they should give them an expansion and the Expos can come back ...

Your videos bring me joy at a time when life is odd to say the least. Thank you for all the hard work you put in.

Love games at The Trop. Unlike so many other stadiums the players are pretty readily available and open to interaction there.

Tropicana Field is very aesthetically ugly There's no other way to honestly describe it. It looks like an indoor nuclear fallout shelter somewhere in Russia. It has the lighting of the New York City subways. The only good thing about Tropicana Field is the Ted Williams hitters museum center field. It's funny how there are a lot of New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox uniforms and caps in the exhibits. Those two teams are Tampa's rivals. No beauty or originality is put into the ballpark, the uniforms, the ballcaps. I would describe it like Chernobyl nuclear plant but you don't know if the nuclear fallout is coming from inside or outside. It's attendance is going to suffer as why should a father bring their son as there is no charm or history. It's a cookie cutter concrete ugly stadium.

5:36 Racism is usually a good marketing strategy 👌🏿👌🏿

I still love it. I'll never forget being there 3 games in a row to see Wade Boggs hit his 3000th base hit.

I went to the Trop in 2019 for Yankees/Rays on the 4th of July. One of the funniest stadiums I've been to. Great atmosphere, pretty good food and beer options and the tank was awesome. Gonna try to make it back there at some point.