Al Lang Stadium in St Petersburg, Florida is likely to be expanded as home of the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team rather than being demolished to make way for a waterfront amphitheater.
Ballpark Digest said instead of demolition, the city is now looking at a $49.2 million proposal from the Rowdies, developed by ASD | SKY, to keep the old baseball grandstand but maintain the site as a soccer pitch, with expanded seating options.
There would also be a new parking lot and a 360,000-square-foot three-story addition complete with locker rooms, a rooftop bar and year-round concessions.
Al Lang Stadium is a 7,500-seat sports stadium along the waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, which was used almost exclusively as a baseball park for over 60 years.
Since 2011, it has been the home pitch of the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the USL Championship soccer league.
Al Lang Stadium is also the former spring-training home of the Tampa Bay Rays, but the general site hosted spring training decades prior at Waterfront Park to the north and the first version of Al Lang Field.
When the Rays departed for Port Charlotte and Charlotte Sports Park for spring operations, the venue was slightly made over for pro soccer in the form of USL Championship’s Tampa Bay Rowdies.
City leaders have more recently considered tearing down Al Lang Stadium as part of a broader waterfront redevelopment that could include an amphitheater and arts-focused projects for downtown St. Petersburg, but this remains a proposal, not a committed plan.
There has been significant pushback from council members and the community due to the stadium’s history and potential future uses.
Recent studies and city discussions have leaned toward renovating and expanding Al Lang Stadium, to improve facilities for the Rowdies and even to support future baseball activities like spring training.
The Rowdies also remain committed to staying at Al Lang under renewed lease arrangements.
Ballpark Digest further stated that it’s a mix of the old and new for the Rowdies in the negotiations. The Rays were sold by Stuart Sternberg to a Jacksonville investment group, and that sale included the Rowdies.
Relations between the old Sternberg regime and the city were strained when the Rays walked away from a development plan next to Tropicana Field that would include a new ballpark.
There were rumors that the Rays were also looking at a new 12,000-seat Rowdies soccer pitch as part of entertainment complex anchored by a Rays ballpark.
With the Rays eying Tampa locations for a new ballpark, an Al Lang Stadium renovation would ensure a long-term commitment from the Rowdies, who could also program plenty of other events, like concerts, at a renovated Al Lang Stadium.
A decision could be made in the first half of 2026 with the Rowdies’ lease at Al Lang Stadium running through the 2026 USL Championship season.
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