Sale Discussions Could Put An End To Soap Opera And Place Rays In Tampa

Seems like Tampa Bay Rays fans who chanted “sell the team” Opening Day at Steinbrenner Field may receive their wish. If so, it has been quite a journey to get to this point even when the scope is limited to the past nine months.

Within that timeframe, Hurricane Milton severely damaged Tropicana Field, the Rays announced they would play in Tampa, St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch tweeted about burned bridges, the Rays issued a statement noting the team was engaged in talks about the “possible sale of the team” to a group led by a Jacksonville-based developer and, on Monday, according to The Athletic, there is an agreement in principle with said group for Stu Sternberg to sell the club for $1.7 billion.

In a report published in March, Forbes listed the Rays’ value at $1.25 billion, 29th among MLB teams and ahead of only the Marlins. Tampa Bay’s operating income was listed at $32 million.

A group led by Sternberg initially purchased 48 percent of the team in 2004 and bought out 15 percent held by then-managing general partner Vince Naimoli following the 2005 season, which is when Sternberg took charge. It has been reported that Sternberg paid a total of $200. At that time, Forbes valued the Rays at $145 million.

While hurdles may arise through the vetting process – 75 percent of MLB ownership approval is required — it seems there might finally be much-needed good news for Major League Baseball as it pertains to Tampa Bay, or perhaps more specifically, Tampa.

During the Rays/Tropicana Field/St. Pete soap opera – thank you Yankees for the Rays’ venue transition in a refreshingly smooth manner – MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has repeated his desire for the team to remain in the Tampa Bay market. It appears the preference of the group led by Patrick Zalupski, founder of Dream Finders Homes, is to do just that, and on the Tampa side of the bay.

“Looks like there’s going to be new owners, and a good possibility that the team will be moving to Tampa,” said Tampa mayor Jane Castor on Tuesday.

Of course, a stadium is needed. Repairs to Tropicana Field, or least the prep work, began earlier this summer. According to Bill Walsh, the team’s chief business officer, installation of a new roof would begin in August. With the Rays unable to play in St. Pete this season, the lease agreement with the city was extended for one year through 2028. Hence, the team could return to the Trop for three more seasons (2026 to 2028) before occupying a new venue.

While such details will come to light should a sale come to fruition, which could be as soon as September according to The Athletic report, the team could cross Tampa Bay three times in five years. The hope, of course, is that it does not take on water somewhere along the way. After all, nothing ever seems certain with the Rays, does it?

Things seemed to be looking up when giddiness overflowed at the Trop with a “Here to Stay” campaign revealed in September 2023. Sternberg, Welch, and assorted team, city and county officials engaged in plenty of back-patting having agreed to a $1.3 billion ballpark as the centerpiece of a redeveloped Gas Plant District within which Tropicana Field resides. Hurricane Milton tore those plans apart with the ease it did the stadium’s roof.

The campaign seemed to put an end to a stadium charade that included a dog-and-pony show for the ages in June 2019 at the Dali Museum on the St. Pete waterfront. That was when the St. Pete/Montreal split city plan left many with splitting headaches. The proposal was touted a year after the Rays released details of a $900 million stadium in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood.

Speaking of stadiums and Ybor City, earlier this summer the Tampa Bay Sun unveiled plans for a 15,000-seat venue as part of a development that would include the headquarters of the United Soccer League. Costs and constructions dates, though, were not revealed. However, Ybor City appears to be back in play for a possible baseball stadium.

Perhaps Zalupski will put an end to a circus that essentially began to perform when the Trop was completed in 1990 without a tenant, and certainly in the summer 1992 when the cash-strapped San Francisco Giants agreed to sell the club to a Tampa Bay ownership group. Of course, that did not happen and the then-Devil Rays took the field in 1998 as an expansion club. Talk of a new venue and where the team will play has since been a popular and often divisive topic. Perhaps it will all come to an end soon and with the team remaining in the Tampa Bay area.