This doesn't look good for Al Lang St. Petersburg’s Gas Plant District to be reimagined in $6.8 billion project - Tampa Bay Business & Wealth There's another column (can't find it now) that indicated this proposal had a very anti-sports slant to it.
The Gas Plant District is basically the site of Tropicana Field. Al Lang is further east of that. So I'm not sure this has an effect on Al Lang at all. That said, the lease for the Rowdies to use Al Lang was only extended for a year back in August. https://www.rowdiessoccer.com/news/...wdies-al-lang-stadium-agreement-through-2026/ Also, the Rowdies have a new owner who bought them at the same time they bought the Rays (I'm guessing the lease was only extended for a year because of the ownership uncertainty primarily). So who knows what their ideas are for the Rowdies and how that might tie into any new stadium they're seeking for the Rays. Word is they want to try building in Tampa again. Club statement about new ownership. 🔰 pic.twitter.com/MSbr3a5o9G— Tampa Bay Rowdies (@TampaBayRowdies) October 2, 2025
In what would be an insane turn of events, the Tampa Bay Sun of the USL Super League have plans to build a 15,000 seat stadium at Ybor Harbor where the Rays were once trying to build. It would be something if the Rowdies ended up tenants in a women's soccer stadium in Tampa. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/so...pro-soccer-stadium-at-ybor-harbor/ar-AA1GT7XZ
According to Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, supposedly Darryl Shaw is still open to accommodating baseball in his Ybor plot, not sure what that would mean for the women's soccer stadium. Personally hope they don't go to Ybor because I think the traffic will be an absolute mess. Soccer once a week is fine and I wouldn't mind the Rowdies there but baseball has so many dates. https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2025/09/23/tampa-bay-rays-sale-stadium-zalupski-babby/
St. Petersburg has ideas for Al Lang Stadium, including spring training https://www.tampabay.com/news/st-pe...wdies-al-lang-expansion-rays-spring-training/ The city seems to bouncing around a bunch of ideas of what to do with Al Lang, including bringing back baseball, but also possibly upgrading a bit for the Rowdies. I guess it's all up to the new Rays owners. New renderings from Tampa-based design firm ASD | Sky show a concept for a three-story, 36,000-square-foot addition for Al Lang Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Rowdies, as part of a plan to build a "Center for the Arts" on St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront. It is a reversal from an April presentation that floated demolishing the stadium and building an amphitheater there instead. [ City of St. Petersburg ] Renderings of a proposed Center for the Arts on St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront include a concept of Al Lang Stadium as a spring training baseball field. [ Courtesy of the city of St. Petersburg ]
I don't know about crazy, but it seems like they've moved on from the idea of putting any stadium in that site at the moment with the bad taste Sternberg left. They probably have time to figure it out though with the Trop being repaired for next season and who knows when the Rays actually move out of that with the search for a new home being rebooted. Tbh it's hard enough convincing the Tampa side to come all the way out to St. Pete as is, at least Al Lang has the waterside, the Gas Plant area would need a lot of attractive development around it to be enticing for Tampa fans to cross the bridge regularly if they already don't do it for baseball. I selfishly kind of hope the Rowdies come back over to this side of the bay if they're not gonna be in Al Lang.
Rowdies request another extension for a year at Al Lang https://www.tampabay.com/news/st-pe...rowdies-extension-al-lang-st-petersburg-rays/ As a side note the Rays settled on a site across the street from Raymond James Stadium for their latest bid. We'll see if that gets done. No mention of the Rowdies otherwise.
Here's to another year of memories at Al Lang 🔰 pic.twitter.com/vhgBmDK8E9— Tampa Bay Rowdies (@TampaBayRowdies) August 6, 2026 And it's still Al Lang... for a while
I actually like Al Lang. Is it perfect? No. I like how they have made it feel like a place for and by the Rowdies as best they can. And with nothing driving them to seek accommodations elsewhere (and with owners kind of focused on other things at the moment), it's just as well. Long-term, ground-sharing wth the Sun on the Hillsborough side would be ideal.