Milton damages the roof of the Rays’ stadium and forces NBA preseason game to be called off

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The fabric roof over the home of baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays was ripped to shreds after Hurricane Milton came ashore in Florida on Wednesday night, bringing wind gusts exceeding 100 mph and flooding parts of the state.

It was not immediately clear if there was damage inside Tropicana Field, located in St. Petersburg. Television images showed the swaths that serve as the domed building’s roof were completely tattered, giving a clear line of sight to the lights that were on inside the stadium.

The Rays’ stadium was not being used as a shelter, but the Tampa Bay Times reported that it was being used as “a staging site for workers” who were brought to the area to deal with the storm’s aftermath. The Rays had previously announced that they were “working with state and local emergency management partners ... to aid efforts for debris removal.”

The stadium opened in 1990 and initially cost $138 million. It is due to be replaced in time for the 2028 season with a $1.3 billion ballpark.

An NBA preseason game in Orlando between the Magic and the New Orleans Pelicans, scheduled for Friday, was canceled even before Milton hit the state. The game will not be rescheduled.

RELATED COVERAGE Pelicans wing Trey Murphy III sidelined at least three weeks with a hamstring strain Pelicans star Zion Williamson still has Brandon Ingram as a wingman -- for now Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado agrees to 2-year extension worth $9 million, AP source says

Orlando was playing at San Antonio on Wednesday night and was scheduled to return to central Florida on Thursday. Those plans are now in flux because of the storm, which made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida. It forced the airports in Orlando and Tampa to close and it wasn’t clear when it would be safe for the Magic to return home.

“There’s always things bigger than the game of basketball and that’s what we have to keep our perspective on,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Knowing that there’s families and homes and situations that are going through a tough time right now, we need to be mindful of that and conscious of it.”

The Magic-Pelicans game is the second NBA preseason matchup to be affected by Milton. A game scheduled for Thursday in Miami between the Heat and Atlanta Hawks was postponed until Oct. 16 because of storm concerns. Also called off earlier this week: a rescheduled NHL preseason game on Friday in Tampa between the Lightning and Predators — one that was originally set to be played last month and was postponed because of Hurricane Helene.

“Stay safe Florida!” former Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos, who is entering his first season with Nashville, posted on social media Wednesday. “Thinking about all the amazing people in the Tampa area right now.”

Countless college and high school events in Florida also have been canceled or postponed because of the storm.

For now, two planned exhibitions by Simone Biles and other Olympic gymnasts — part of the “Gold Over America Tour,” the acronym not coincidentally spelling out GOAT in a nod to Biles’ status as the consensus Greatest Of All-Time in the sport — this weekend are still on. The tour is scheduled to come to Sunrise, the home of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, on Friday and then move to Orlando on Saturday.

Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, which is north of Miami, is scheduled to resume live racing on Friday. Saturday’s college football game with Cincinnati going to Orlando to face UCF is still on, and the Memphis-South Florida game in Tampa was rescheduled earlier this week to be played Saturday.

UCF and USF officials have both said further decisions will be made, if necessary, after the storm damage is evaluated.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports