St. Petersburg’s leaders took a gamble ahead of the 2024 hurricane season by reducing insurance coverage limits for Tropicana Field, according to a resolution passed in March.
The budget decision lowered the coverage limit – or the maximum amount an insurance company will pay out for a covered claim – on Tropicana Field from $100 million to $25 million for wind or flood damage in the event of a named storm, like Hurricane Milton.
The proposal, secured by Brown & Brown Inc., was initially presented to the city’s Budget, Finance and Taxation Committee on March 7.
“So this option would be to reduce the named windstorm and flood specifically on Tropicana Field to $25 million keeping all other terms and conditions the same,” insurance broker Tony Leavine pitched during the budget meeting.
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Leavine said taking on more risk would save the city $275,000 in annual premiums for the coverage period of April 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025.
St. Petersburg’s risk manager, Blaise Mazzola, assured city council members that a lower coverage limit should still protect the ballpark in the event of a 250-year storm, according to the latest modeling. In March, he estimated a new stadium roof would cost around $39 million.
In October, Hurricane Milton caused historic damage to Pinellas County and destroyed the Teflon-coated fiberglass roof of Tropicana Field.
An initial claim has been filed, but official damage estimates are not yet known, according to a city spokesperson.
During the March budget committee meeting where council members moved to lower coverage limits for the stadium, some raised concerns about the aging roof.
Council member Ed Montanari pointed out an item on the slide deck that read: Tropicana Field’s “unique aging roof construction, lack of historical and actuarial loss data makes insurers uncomfortable.”
Some insurance industry experts told WUSF it’s not clear whether the city will have insurance coverage for the loss of the stadium roof if the damages exceed the $25 million coverage limit. The city also must pay a $22 million deductible before it receives any insurance money.
If the cost to repair the roof exceeds that deductible plus the coverage limit, the city could be on the hook for the remaining expense.
There’s also other damages under the city’s general property policy to consider.
Internal records obtained by WUSF show there are 59 locations with reported damages covered by the city’s general property insurance.
The coverage limit for all general property, which includes Tropicana Field alongside other city-owned buildings, like Albert Whitted Airport and City Hall, is $441 million. That’s an overall increase in insurance coverage from a $430 million limit last year.
General property is one of three buckets of properties that make up the city’s entire insurance portfolio. The others are the Water Resources Program and the Highly Protected Risk Program.
Mazzola and Leavine have not responded to a request for comment.
