Embattled Rays owner Stu Sternberg is closing in on a $1.7 billion deal to sell the MLB franchise to a group led by Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski, Front Office Sports has confirmed.
The agreement, though not done, involves a signed letter of intent and arrives just months after Sternberg walked away from a deal with St. Petersburg, Fla., and Pinellas County to build a $1.3 billion ballpark, citing additional costs he was not willing to bear.
The deal, first reported by Sportico, is nearly identical in price to a separate purchase of the Orioles last year by David Rubenstein.
As Sternberg has fallen heavily out of favor with local officials, the agreement is poised to give the Rays a fresh start as the franchise seeks to figure out its facility future, both in the short- and long-term. Tropicana Field is still being repaired after extensive hurricane damage last fall, and the Rays are currently playing at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring training home of the Yankees.
The Rays made a brief statement Wednesday afternoon confirming talks to sell the franchise to the Zalupski-led group.
“The Tampa Bay Rays announced that the team has recently commenced exclusive discussions with a group led by Patrick Zalupski, Bill Cosgrove, Ken Babby, and prominent Tampa Bay investors concerning a possible sale of the team,” the Rays said. “Neither the Rays nor the group will have further comment during the discussions.”
Zalupski is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Dream Finders Homes, and has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. Cosgrove is the CEO of Union Home Mortgage. Babby, meanwhile, already has an extensive track record in baseball, currently serving as the founder and CEO of Fast Forward Group, owner of Fast Forward Sports Group, which operates the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and Double-A Akron (Ohio) RubberDucks. It is one of the most successful ownership entities in Minor League Baseball.
Sternberg led the Rays for 20 years, winning two American League pennants, but after the demise of the stadium deal, his tenure had been thought locally to be essentially untenable. Before the start of the season, though, Sternberg and other Rays officials had consistently pushed back on sale rumors that had swirled around the franchise for years.
“Thank you Stu,” said Pinellas County commissioner Chris Latvala, a frequent and outspoken critic of Sternberg, in a social media post on Wednesday.
It is expected that the team will stay in the Tampa area should the sale be completed, though the club’s ballpark plans remain unsettled. MLB has had a keen interest in keeping the Rays in the region, particularly as it has grown to become the No. 11 U.S. media market.
