The Tampa Bay Rays said it could take weeks to fully assess how much damage was done to Tropicana Field, where the roof was torn to shreds by the force of Hurricane Milton as the deadly storm swept across much of Florida.

The team said no one was injured when the St. Petersburg baseball field was hit by the storm Wednesday evening. A handful of “essential personnel” were inside Tropicana Field when the roof panels were blown apart, causing much of the debris to fall onto the field and seats below.

“In the coming days and weeks, we expect to be able to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field,” the Rays said Thursday. “In the meantime, we are working with law enforcement to secure the building. We ask for your patience at this time and encourage those who can to donate to organizations in our community that are helping those directly affected by these storms.”

Milton was the second hurricane to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast in two weeks, preceded by Hurricane Helene, which flooded streets and homes on that same side of the state and killed at least 230 people in the south.

The Rays won’t play at the stadium again until March 27, when they host the Colorado Rockies to open the 2025 season.

As bad as the damage was, the situation at Tropicana Field could have been worse. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had said earlier this week that there were plans for the ballpark to serve as a “temporary base camp” to support debris removal operations and temporarily house some first responders.

However, those plans were changed as the storm approached, fearing that the roof simply would not survive Milton’s wrath.

“They have been moved,” DeSantis said Thursday morning. “Tropicana Field is a routine staging area for these things. The roof on that… I think it’s rated for 110 miles per hour and so the predictions change, but when it became clear that something of that magnitude was going to happen to get within the distance, they moved them from Tropicana. There were no state resources within Tropicana Field.

The team previously said that Tropicana Field has the largest cable-supported dome roof in the world, with the panels made of “translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass” supported by 300 km of cables connected to struts.

According to the Rays, the roof is designed to withstand winds of up to 115 mph. The stadium opened in 1990 at an initial cost of $138 million and will be replaced by a $1.3 billion ballpark in time for the 2028 season.

The wrath of Hurricane Milton was palpable elsewhere in the sports landscape.

The Orlando Magic plan to spend Thursday in San Antonio and return home Friday, a day later than their original schedule for the week after playing the Spurs in preseason play Wednesday night.

The Magic are scheduled to practice in San Antonio on Thursday and have tentative plans to fly back to Orlando on Friday. A preseason game scheduled to be played in Orlando on Friday between the Magic and the New Orleans Pelicans was canceled and will not be rescheduled.

“There are 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 are families and homes and situations that are struggling right now, we have to be aware of that.”

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

A pair of college football games will be played Saturday in cities that experienced the worst of the wind and rain in Milton, although there were still some logistical issues discussed Thursday in the storm’s aftermath.

In Tampa, South Florida prepares to host Memphis – a game that was postponed from Friday to Saturday. And in Orlando, UCF prepares to host Cincinnati.

Both games are scheduled to kick off at 3:30 PM ET.