St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway sat down with a Tampa Bay Rays representative Monday as Tropicana Field prepared to host American League Championship Series Game 1 against the Cleveland Guardians, the team's first ALCS game in St. Petersburg since 2008. The department marked the moment with a social media post cheering on the Rays and touting its community partnership with the club, signing off as the agency that has been “keeping St. Petersburg safe since 1903.”
The post, shared on X by St. Pete Police
, read in part: “So proud to support @RaysBaseball and our community partnership! Good luck tonight! #RaysUp.” Holloway met that day with Ryan Bass, who serves as an in-game television reporter and pre- and postgame host for Rays broadcasts on FanDuel Sports Network Florida, according to
MLB.com
. The two discussed how the Rays were honoring the community during the postseason, and the team's recognition of first responders on both sides of Tampa Bay, who were offered ALCS tickets through the club's postseason website.
First Responders Get Discounted Seats For Historic Series
For ALCS Games 1 and 2 at Tropicana Field, the Rays offered discounted $49 upper-deck tickets specifically to verified first responders, including police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and nurses, as well as active military members and teachers, per the Tampa Bay Times. Eligibility for the discount was verified online through ID.me. The outlet's report provides the clearest window into the ticketing initiative that came up in Holloway's meeting with the Rays representative.
Bass joined the Rays broadcast team in 2022 after serving as sports director at WTSP-TV, the station notes separately in its own coverage of the ALCS matchup. According to WTSP, the Rays' trip back to the ALCS at Tropicana Field is especially notable because the team's 2020 ALCS run was played out in San Diego under pandemic restrictions, making Monday's game the first true home ALCS appearance for St. Petersburg fans in 18 years.
A Partnership Built On More Than Ticket Deals
Holloway has led the St. Petersburg Police Department since August 2014, after previously serving as police chief in Clearwater, Florida, and in Somerville, Massachusetts. He was later named Florida's 2020 Chief Executive of the Year by the Florida Police Chiefs Association, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department.
The department's ties to the Rays extend well beyond postseason ticket drives. The two have co-hosted free youth sports clinics at Tropicana Field funded by a U.S. Department of Justice COPS grant, including a 2023 clinic that brought funding for youth sports programming to underserved neighborhoods. The Rays also run an annual Law Enforcement Day ticket package in partnership with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which in June 2026 included discounted seating and custom merchandise for public safety personnel and their families.
A Historic Season Clouded By An Impending Move
The celebratory mood around Tropicana Field comes on the heels of one of the most successful seasons in Rays history. The team clinched the American League East division title on September 22, the earliest division-clinching date in franchise history, a milestone Hoodline previously reported included starter Drew Rasmussen carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning.
But the Rays' long-term future in St. Petersburg is far from secure. In August, the Tampa City Council and Hillsborough County Commission approved a public-private financing package for a new $2.3 billion ballpark in Tampa, with Hillsborough County committing $796 million and Tampa adding $80 million toward the project, according to the Associated Press. The deal formalizes the team's planned departure from St. Petersburg by the 2029 season.
That relocation agreement followed the collapse of an earlier $1.3 billion redevelopment plan at St. Petersburg's Historic Gas Plant site, which the Rays pulled out of in March 2025 after Hurricane Milton's damage created financial and timeline delays. St. Petersburg's City Council formally cancelled that stadium agreement in July 2025. The storm had torn the fiberglass roof off Tropicana Field in October 2024, prompting the city to spend an estimated $57 million to $60 million on repairs and to double the stadium's storm insurance coverage limit to $50 million, as Hoodline detailed in its report on the Trop's insurance overhaul.
For now, though, the partnership between the department and the ballclub remains visibly intact, with Holloway's office projecting hometown pride as the Rays chase a championship in what may be among their final postseasons playing home games in St. Petersburg.
