The Atlanta Braves and their ballpark development have become the model for a new development in Florida Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

New MLB Owners Using Braves' Truist Park, The Battery as Model for Ballpark

Originally posted on Atlanta Braves on SI
By Harrison Smajovits | Last updated Oct 7, 2025 6:15 PM ET

The Atlanta Braves have been openly used as the model for a planned MLB Ballpark and development. The incoming new owners of the Tampa Bay Rays, led by Patrick Zalupski, stated in an introductory press conference that The Battery and Truist Park would be their model and have met with Braves ownership about it.

Zalupski called The Battery in Atlanta "the gold standard of what we want to build and develop here in Tampa Bay."

A key difference, given the region that the ballpark will be in, is that the Rays' new ballpark will have a fixed roof instead of either an open-air stadium or a retractable roof. They also eye over 100 acres of land for the development around the stadium. The Battery is about 75 acres.

This new development that takes inspiration from the Braves has a projected opening year of 2029 and could be in either Tampa or St. Petersburg. The former is where Steinbrenner Field, the Rays' temporary home, is located, and the latter is where Tropicana Field is located.

The Rays are supposed to be back at their old ballpark by 2026. Outside of the 2025 season, the Rays have played at Tropicana Field since their inaugural season in 1998. The Braves played at the temporary venue during a three-game series back in April.

The Braves host the Rays in Atlanta this upcoming season, meaning the next trip to Tropicana Field would be the following season. This projected inaugural season would line up with the Braves being a featured team playing at the new ballpark.

While the new owners of the Rays are openly looking to the Braves for inspiration, copying The Battery isn't a new concept during the stadium concept that has been going down on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The Gas Plant stadium, which was planned to be built in the Tropicana Field parking lot, was also intended to have a mixed development around it, consisting of shops and housing.

Truist Park and The Battery both opened in 2017, replacing Turner Field after about 20 years of use for baseball. Since the team moved into the development out in Marietta, the first ballpark outside of Atlanta's city limits, it has been a success.

The development gets 9 million visitors per year, and Truist Park hasn't averaged fewer than 30,000 fans in a season not impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Even in the season that fans could attend (2021), the Braves averaged 28,746 fans.