Major League Baseball owners on Monday unanimously approved the $1.7 billion sale of the Rays to a group led by Patrick Zalupski. A much more difficult road lies ahead, though, as the Florida developer and his partners will need to solidify the team’s uncertain future in the Tampa Bay area.
Three months after the Zalupski deal first came to light, he will take over the franchise from Stu Sternberg, who held the team for just shy of 20 years. During those two decades, the Rays went to the playoffs nine times and reached two World Series, typically with payrolls at or near the bottom of the league. The team, however, is now starting from scratch on a new venue after Sternberg earlier this year walked away from a deal to build a $1.3 billion ballpark in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Zalupski’s ownership group will also include Union Home Mortgage CEO Bill Cosgrove, Heartland Dental founder Rick Workman, DEX Imaging CEO Dan Doyle, Augusta National Golf Club chair Fred Ridley, and Ken Babby, founder and CEO of Fast Forward Group, which operates two minor-league teams. Babby is expected to be the team’s CEO.
Sternberg and his partners will initially retain a minority stake of about 10%, but a full divestment is expected later. Closing on the Zalupski deal is expected later this week.
That group is expected to look on both sides of Tampa Bay for a long-term stadium site, though the Hillsborough County side closer to the NFL’s Buccaneers and NHL’s Lightning is likely more preferable. In St. Petersburg, where the Rays have been based since their inception, the club continually struggled as one of the least attended in MLB.
A news conference is expected in the coming days in which the new owners will outline their vision in more detail.
In the meantime, repairs continue on the hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field, and the 2026 MLB schedule contemplates the Rays getting back there after playing this season at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring training home of the Yankees.
Looking to the Future
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, for his part, has been steadfast in his support for the No. 11 media market, but also confirmed last week at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit that the team will be operating with a “blank slate” on a new stadium. He lauded the incoming owners, though, and the opportunity in front of them.
“The situation in Tampa has a lot of promising developments,” he said. “The sale to a group that has huge, deep roots in Tampa would be a definite positive. … Things are looking up in Tampa and are headed in the right direction.”
The core of the Rays baseball operations staff, including president Erik Neander, is expected to stay in place. The two leaders on the club’s business side, co-presidents Matt Silverman and Brian Auld, will conversely shift to advisory roles.
