Tropicana Field's epic transformation from Tampa Bay Rays' home to playing host for WWE's Royal Rumble
The home stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, will host the WWE 2024 Royal Rumble on Saturday, January 27. This is the second time the Royal Rumble has been hosted at this location; the first one was in 2021. However, after the COVID-19 epidemic the year before, the 2024 event will be the first with live fans in attendance.
That structure served as the previous host of the ThunderDome during the epidemic, hosting multiple WWE events. They won't have virtual supporters this time around because there will be a large number of real people occupying the stadium.
It appears from the seating arrangement that WWE intends to position the ring around the marking for second base. This implies that Superstars won't have to walk a very long distance to get to the ring for the bout this year.
If there are any major surprises, only time will tell, but WWE typically has them at its Royal Rumble events. Since the Royal Rumble initiates the annual Road to WrestleMania, it is a highly significant event.
The playing field at Tropicana Field wasn't too problematic because, since Enchant opened in November, the mound has been lowered and plastic flooring has been placed over the dirt and turf.
However, there remained an incredible amount of work still to be done, which would require the basic setup for the event. In addition to the Rays crew, WWE brought in 60 trucks and seven buses, totaling over 330 workers.
Wrestlers will exit the Tampa Bay Rays dugout, which is primarily covered in video boards, and enter the 20-by-20-foot ring that will be situated in the middle of the mound beneath a well-lit ceiling light inside Tropicana Field.
On Friday, the team store will be converted into a WWE retail location. The stadium is occupied in almost every room and inch, even beneath a few tents in the parking lot.
Tropicana Field previously hosted WWE Royal Rumble in 2021
When the WWE held its most recent major pro wrestling event at Tropicana Field, it had the entire venue. That occurred in January 2021, during a four-month residency consisting of 38 events at the baseball stadium with a dome that was otherwise vacant due to the coronavirus epidemic.
The WWE team created a ThunderDome-style set by hanging a black curtain from the B-ring catwalk, utilizing video screens to incorporate a virtual audience, and arranging the necessary staging, setup, and TV production areas—all while prohibiting people from entering.
However, this time around, according to the stadium's organizers, attendance is expected to be among the highest for the event and in the stadium's history, surpassing both the Tropicana's overall record of 47,150 for a New Kids on the Block concert (Aug. 11, 1990) and the sporting event record of 45,369 for the Rays' opening game (March 31, 1998).