Tampa Bay Rays fans may celebrate twice if the club wins its first World Series next week.
Officials from St. Petersburg and Tampa both say their respective cities are planning to host victory parades should the Rays clinch.
Two prospective parades signal the team’s past and present in St. Petersburg and its future in Tampa, as the Rays brokered a deal to build a stadium on Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus.
Mayor Ken Welch said St. Petersburg’s parade may follow the same route as the annual St. Pete Pride parade along the downtown waterfront.
“We are looking at that right now because the timetable is really tight,” Welch said. Game 7, if needed, is scheduled for Halloween, three days before the Nov. 3 election, where Welch is on the ballot for reelection. “We invite all of our brethren to come party at the home of the Rays.”
Tampa is working on hosting a boat parade in line with how it has celebrated past sports victories.
“We had one for the Super Bowl-winning Bucs, two for the Stanley Cup-winning Lightning, and one for the USL Super League Champions, the Tampa Bay Sun,” Tampa spokesperson Adam Smith texted. “Heck yeah, we’re going to have a boat parade after the Rays win the (World Series).”
Rays CEO Ken Babby did not immediately respond to a text message and phone call seeking comment.
Tampa City Council chairperson Alan Clendenin said the city is “actively working on it behind the scenes.”
The parade twofer is emblematic of the stadium tug-of-war between the cities. Under prior leadership, the Rays celebrated a deal to build a replacement stadium on the Trop’s site but pulled out following Hurricane Milton in 2024. The team was sold the following year and new owners set their sights on a stadium in Tampa.
The World Series is a last hurrah of sorts for Tropicana Field, where the Rays are under contract to play for two more seasons. The Tampa stadium is expected to open in 2029.
Clendenin, a staunch supporter of the Tampa stadium, praised the Rays’ ownership group, helmed by managing partner Patrick Zalupski.
“This isn’t going to be one of those one-offs where they’ve dumped a bunch of money to buy a bunch of rich talent and it only pays off one time,” Clendenin said. “I could see this kind of momentum carrying us through to the new stadium. That’d be amazing.”
