Eric Church helped welcome the Tampa Bay Rays back to their home of Tropicana Field yesterday.
It was only right that Church was the one that sang “The Star Spangled Banner” when the Rays opened their ball park back up. The “Darkest Hour” singer knows a thing or two about having your home devastated by a hurricane, and yesterday was the first time that Tropicana Field was open to the public after Hurricane Milton tore the roof off the stadium in October of 2024.
This was the scene shortly after the hurricane moved its way through the Tampa Bay area:
Now, some 18 months later (and $50 million spent), the roof is back on and the Rays are once again playing baseball at Tropicana Field. They had been playing in a minor league ballpark in Tampa, Florida for the time being while crews worked to repair their damaged stadium.
And it’s fitting that, for their first game back, they got country music superstar Eric Church to come out and perform the national anthem. A month before Hurricane Milton tore down the coast and hit Florida hard, Hurricane Helene devastated the Carolinas (specifically western North Carolina) as well as areas in surrounding states like Tennessee and Georgia.
Ever since then, Church had dedicated a lot of his time to helping rebuild his home state, and has helped communities in the Carolinas rebuild and restore through his Chief Cares initiative.
Whether the Tampa Bay Rays organization took all of that into account or not when asking Church to sing before the Rays game yesterday, it was a perfect match for the moment, and Rays Chief Executive Officer Ken Babby recognized how special it was for everyone involved to have Eric Church performing the national anthem:
“This is a special moment for our team and our community, and we are excited to welcome ‘The Chief’ to Tropicana Field to celebrate our return and this magnificent moment for the community. The impact of the hurricane kept us on the road, so being back home and celebrating with an artist like Eric Church brings an extra level of excitement and emotion to this long-awaited return.”
So the somewhat re-opening day for Tropicana Field (and its new and improved roof) got kicked off by Eric Church and Joanna Cotten standing by home plate and delivering a solid rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” that certainly got the Tampa Bay crowd fired up and ready to watch some baseball.
Check it out:
@luvyoumeanitEric Church singing the national anthem at the opening day of Tropicana Field 🇺🇸 Rays vs Cubs
What a duo.
It ended up being quite the night for Tropicana Field. Repair crews that worked on the damaged stadium were also honored before the game began, and then the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago Cubs 6 to 4. In other words, Rays fans got to a) see Eric Church perform b) witness a Tampa Bay win and c) see their team play at the Trop once more.
If that’s not a perfect welcome home game, I don’t know what is.
