Main League Baseball house owners have formally accredited a gaggle led by Patrick Zalupski as the brand new house owners of the Tampa Bay Rays, studies Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Instances. Topkin notes that the official switch continues to be pending the formal closing of the sale, which is predicted later this week. Earlier reporting has indicated that the workforce is being offered for someplace round $1.7B.
“It’s good to go,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says.
It was initially reported again in June that Sternberg was in “superior” talks a couple of sale to the Zalupski-led group which is able to quickly take over the bulk stake of the workforce now. These negotiations got here on the heels of Sternberg receiving stress to promote from each the commissioner’s workplace and different house owners all through the league. Sternberg will retain a minority stake within the Rays however will take a backseat after proudly owning the membership since buying it for $200M again in 2004.
Zalupski is the CEO of Dream Finders Houses, a publicly traded, Jacksonville-based developer that has constructed greater than 31,000 houses throughout ten states. Again in June, Forbes estimated his internet price at $1.4B, whereas his firm’s valuation rested at $3.4B. It’s not solely clear what number of different buyers are part of the group. Sportico reported over the summer season that Ken Babby, who owns a number of minor league groups and is the son of a distinguished NBA agent, and Invoice Cosgrove, CEO of the Union House Mortgage Group, are among the many others concerned within the incoming possession group.
The brand new possession group is predicted to maintain the Rays within the Tampa Bay space, although Zalupski’s imaginative and prescient is for an eventual stadium in Tampa correct, somewhat than the Rays’ longtime residence in St. Petersburg. That’d imply a transfer from Pinellas County to adjoining Hillsborough County and would additionally imply negotiating with a distinct assortment of native authorities officers than the Pinellas County officers who often clashed with Sternberg all through his quest for a brand new stadium.
In the meanwhile, in fact, the Rays are taking part in in Tampa. They’ve quickly relocated to George M. Steinbrenner Discipline — the spring facility and Class-A house for the Yankees — within the wake of large injury to Tropicana Discipline by the hands of Hurricane Milton final offseason. The Rays are hoping that they’ll be capable to return to Tropicana Discipline for the 2026 season. They nonetheless have one other three seasons remaining on their prior lease there, and now that new possession is all however in place, that interval may function a bridge to the development of a brand new stadium — although there’ll clearly be quite a few hurdles to clear as the brand new administration commences talks with the requisite governmental our bodies in Tampa and appears to safe funding.
Broader questions on what the change in possession means for the Rays will persist for the foreseeable future. Longtime followers will dream of bigger payrolls serving to to gasoline a membership that’s managed to be near-perennially aggressive regardless of spending lower than the overwhelming majority of the league. Nevertheless, new possession just isn’t all the time a path to exponentially bigger payrolls. That could be the case for Steve Cohen’s Mets, however one want solely have a look at the Marlins, Royals and Orioles to seek out lately offered groups which have but to considerably put money into bolstering participant payroll. An eventual new stadium could possibly be a significant step in that route, however that’s years down the highway.
Presumably, there will likely be another turnover inside the group. Rays presidents Matt Silverman and Brian Auld are departing as soon as the sale is finalized, nevertheless it’s by no means clear what, if something, a sale may imply for the baseball operations or dugout workers. (Silverman was as soon as Tampa Bay’s head of baseball operations however has been on the enterprise aspect of operations since 2017.)
President of baseball operations Erik Neander is signed by means of a minimum of the 2028 season, whereas supervisor Kevin Money’s most up-to-date extension carries him throughout 2030. That pair is among the many most revered within the trade at their positions, and one would presume that their presence is a promoting level for incoming possession. Different modifications may nonetheless ensue, however till the deal is official and Zalupski first meets with the media, there will likely be a minimum of some stage of uncertainty relating to issues of this nature.
