Charlotte County officials took a walk-through Wednesday to see the renovation and repair work going on at Charlotte Sports Park.  

The repairs are currently on track for completion prior to Tampa Bay Rays spring training, county Communications Manager Brian Gleason said.  

It will mark the return of the Rays, whose 2023 season ended Wednesday at the hands of the Texas Rangers in the American League Wild Card Series, after a year’s absence following damage to the Port Charlotte ballpark from Hurricane Ian. 

The Rays used the ESPN Wide World of Sports facility in Kissimmee earlier this year for early spring workouts and one game against the New York Yankees, before playing the rest of its 2023 home spring training games at its regular season home of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. 

County officials said the newly repaired Charlotte Sports Park will look about the same as it did prior to Ian. 

Media wasn’t permitted to accompany county and city officials, who included Punta Gorda Councilman Bill Dryburgh, on the tour of the facility. All donned hard hats as they entered the construction zones. 

Gleason provided an update on how the work is progressing. 

“As work continues to move forward at the sports park, we are nearing completion of the Major League clubhouse, the store fronts and some minor interior repairs are all that remain,” he said. 

The administration building’s rooftop air conditioning units were replaced, and roof replacement is nearing completion. Interior repair work is still ongoing.  

Kids Corner and Hot Corner concessions and the ticket sales area’s roof repairs were completed, and minor interior repairs remain in the ticket sales area.  

“The press tower/team store building is currently having the damaged roof removed, and the dry-in process has begun. All interior work has been started and is moving along nicely,” Gleason said.  

The stadium and all practice fields suffered damage from the storm and were refurbished to playing condition.  

The Rays’ annual presence in February and March brings in millions of dollars to the county, said Sean Walter, sales and sports business development director for the Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach Visitors and Convention Bureau. In an earlier interview, he said a Research Date Services report showed visitors to 2022 spring training games brought in nearly $6.1 million. 

Last month, during a Charlotte County Commissioners meeting, Rays representatives presented the county with a check for $1 million for Hurricane Ian recovery efforts. 

“Over the past year, we were so impressed with the commission, the administration and the staff we work closely with,” said Robbie Artz, Rays’ vice president of planning and development. 

He noted how the county was able to “keep the focus on the community amidst all of the challenges of the past year, and we were so glad that the Rays Baseball Foundation was able to make such a substantial donation earlier in the year in support of the community.” 

Commissioner Chris Constance said the gift from the Rays’ foundation wasn’t the only help the team provided. 

Shortly after the hurricane, the baseball organization took over restoring all of the county’s baseball fields, an effort Constance said was worth millions.