A Telling FAREWELL for Rays Owner, Stu Sternberg

A Telling FAREWELL for Rays Owner, Stu Sternberg

Here’s Brody Brazil. Literally as I’m recording this, the Tampa Bay Rays are playing their final home baseball game of this regular season. That’s right. They’ll be done at George Steinbrunner Field. We think like we’re pretty sure Tropicana Field’s going to get taken care of and the roof should be done by December. We hope there’s no delays and they can just kind of go back to business as normal. but done with the interim stadium situation and also saying farewell to their owner Stu Sternberg after 22 years. It’s been an interesting kind of mix of emotions and feelings and the way that all of this has transpired. Down on the bottom left there of this thumbnail, that was on Friday night. Stu was a ball boy for the Red Sox Rays game in Tampa, right? So, the owner outgoing decides that he wants to be a ball boy for a night. Never maybe had the opportunity to do it before. now he’s going to do it before he relinquishes that primary ownership role. And then on the top left there, that’s Stew on Saturday night in that game. He got a pregame kind of ceremony and tribute video. And the team actually wore those Stew uh version branded raised caps. Like they made hats for the owner and a person who for many years they were upset with and frustrated that he wasn’t spending enough and that he couldn’t get a stadium deal done. And then he had a stadium deal all lined up and then he backed out of it. People were angry at Stu Sternberg and the entire ownership group. But it’s interesting, right? Because they asked him to sell the team and move on. He’s done that partially. He’ll remain on as a 10% owner for a certain p period of time, but he’s done that. And now look at the reception that he got. This is players. This is fans. This is Stu getting a little emotional right there. Tip of the cap to Stu Sternberg. The fans all of a sudden instead of yelling at him in the luxury suite like they were at the beginning of this season, he’s getting hugs, he’s getting cheered, he’s getting a standing ovation and applause in front of the home crowd in Tampa. Like, isn’t that amazing how all of that has shifted? We also now know some other updates surrounding this situation. The co-presidents of the Rays, Matt Silverman and Brian Ald, they’ll both be stepping down from their current and respective co-president roles. Al is going to remain on on staff during the transition because Sternberg, he’s actually going to retain a 10% ownership piece for a certain period of time. Now, I would suspect that quotes are going to come out and more details are going to come out as soon as all of this becomes official. And I’ve said all along, it makes pretty much zero sense to do this during the baseball season. This is something you like to get hashed out in the first week after you’re done. So maybe in the first couple days of October, basically after next weekend, a lot of these details and information, this should all come out, including maybe some quotes from Stu. Why’d you do it? What changed your mind? You didn’t want to sell the team for so long. You talked about different directions and you’re going to figure it out. And then all of a sudden there’s a sale that’s intact. And you know what? It’s it’s a certainty. Like pretty much you don’t go through this weekend. You don’t take that standing ovation. You don’t do the ball boy thing unless this is a certainty. And for a lot of weeks and months of recent times, we thought anything could still happen. And I believe that it could have. Maybe there was a change of heart. This is a big decision. It’s a lot of money, but it’s a lot of also blood, sweat, and tears that Sternberg had put into this. Now he’s simply getting out of this. By the way, I also didn’t know this about the sale. It also includes the USL’s Tampa Bay Rowdies. So, a soccer team and a baseball team. Now, you’re you’re wondering why would STU be getting out of the the sports business kind of entirely here in Tampa and St. Pete? The biggest reason why is because if there is going to be a brand new outdoor or some kind of multi-purpose stadium built at the Eore Harbor site at downtown Tampa and maybe this new group is part of it. Maybe it’s a twofor one situation, right? Maybe it makes a lot of sense to have um co-tenants of the brand new stadium wherever it’s built, however this is built or maybe as part of a complex. But yeah, maybe for the bigger and better picture of everything, the rowdies are also going to get a serious upgrade here as part of this sale. So these are some details and information that uh before the weekend and before the last couple weeks, I don’t know that everybody was aware of. But again, more to come on the detail side of things because I really do feel like once the season is over, that’s when we’re going to get to know a lot more. Here are my takeaways. And number one, again, if you’re Stu Sternberg, you don’t show up here. You don’t have this ceremony. You don’t let the fans give you a standing o. You don’t have the team make caps unless you were okay with this and unless this was partially your decision. I don’t think you show up here if you’re being forced out. Now, a lot of people said, “Hey, baseball and Manfred, they gave him an ultimatum and they said you’re out of here.” See, I don’t think it went down that way. At least that’s not how I’m interpreting it here after witnessing the final home stand and the final weekend of Stuart Sternberg’s ownership. It feels like he wants to show up. He kind of wants to say goodbye. He’s okay with the good reception that he got. If it was a situation where he was being forced out and he absolutely didn’t want to be part of this, he just wouldn’t show up. It’s not that hard. Trust me, I’ve seen other owners in the final games of a team’s evolution or of a team’s existence in a city just not show up. Ask Arizona Coyotes fans about that. Ask Oakland A’s fans about that. So, that makes me think that Sternberg was okay with this, that it’s part of his decision. This makes me believe and and maybe he’ll respond to some questions about this. This makes me think that he was not forced out of owning the team. But it’s amazing how all the bad feelings and all the sell the team chance and all the, you know, again, there was a situation earlier this year. It was caught on video where a fan was yelling at Sternberg sitting in one of the luxury suites at Steinbrunner Field and it was just a bad situation. They had just backed out of the stadium deal and there was a lot of uncertainty and question about the Orlando Dreamers. Would the team relocate all of a sudden? Were there better options elsewhere? But it’s amazing how all of that tension and bad feelings is replaced by, “Hey, actually, thank you. Thank you for selling this team to a new ownership group, the Zelepski Group, who’s going to keep it in Tampa, who’s going to work on a brand new stadium in Tampa, and you recognize that maybe you were timed out of this or you were burnt out of this, and somebody else can step in and try and finish the ultimate job.” Now, a lot of people would look at the Rays, too, and say during the Sternberg years, you know, they were not a terrible baseball team. Like, they were not the Pittsburgh Pirates of the last 22 years, who I think only had three winning records during that entire span. Heck, I think it’s 33 years that the Pirates have had three winning record seasons during that span. The Rays made the playoffs. The Rays had some really good players. Now, they didn’t keep them forever. They never sustained anything for a long period of time. They never were were one of the higher payroll teams in baseball. They also did things like invent the opener. Did you really ever want that for Major League Baseball, but you can look at the Rays and say they overachieved during Sternberg’s time? They won a lot more games than they spent towards. But was some of that possibly in spite? Was some of that because the players look around and say, “Well, if we’re going to do this, there’s only one way to do it, and ownership’s not helping us, so we’re on our own here.” or does it revolve around a lot like the athletic situation? Low payroll but tremendous front office in terms of scouting and talent evaluation and acquisition. It’s one of those situations. The Rays were not a bad team necessarily during during Stu Sternberg’s ownership, but they weren’t great for the long term. Didn’t secure a new stadium. Didn’t open up windows of opportunity. Didn’t pay players. You can kind of see it both ways. But in the end, Tampa fans don’t lose their team. Tampa fans might get a brand new stadium out of this. Tampa fans might get a ballpark in Tampa proper rather than St. Pete, which I know has been a big complaint down there over the years trying to cross that bridge and go to Tropicana Field. Yes, Tropicana Field is still going to be expensive, maybe 60 plus million dollars for just the next three years, but maybe they use it for five more. I don’t know. I just hope that the fans in Tampa, the citizens of Tampa and the whole region, they get this right. They build a stadium that works, maybe even for the soccer team, too. But all of this is a great story and a great ending because Tampa gets to avoid the absolute worst case scenario. Interesting how it happened like this in Tampa because again, you look at hockey with the Arizona Coyotes. Couldn’t get a couldn’t get an arena. Couldn’t get an arena. Very similar to this, not spending on players. the league comes in and gives ownership there a little bit of time and flexibility to try one more time and then they couldn’t get it done. Then the league came in and said, “We’re not only gonna ask that you sell the team, we’re going to buy it from you and we’re going to turn around and sell it to a group in Utah in Salt Lake City or in baseball itself with the Oakland Athletics. Tried for a stadium, tried for a stadium, couldn’t get one. will leave out the fingerpointing of who exactly is at fault there of why a new stadium couldn’t come to fruition but couldn’t get a stadium and then the owner says well you know what I think I’d rather move and there’s a unanimous vote to let that happen what if this raise situation came to that same vote for Orlando would it just happen would anybody say no in this case I guess we’ll never know we’ll never have to find out about that but I just want to paint that picture for Rays fans how lucky you are that this sale happened that Sternberg can go out in a good light. I mean, imagine these situations like again with the Coyotes if it were Alex Marillo and he could come back to a Coyotes game 10 years from now because they’re still in the desert. He sold the team. Somebody else built the arena. He’s still kind of a bridge person that got you there. Same thing with John Fischer and the A’s. He would have been a bridge person that helped the A’s find a new home in Oakland and in the Bay Area. Instead, both of those individuals are not very much liked because they’re the reasons those two teams aren’t there anymore. the Rays with Sternberg, they are staying in the Tampa Bay area. So, a very interesting, again, farewell. It went from all these sour feelings to all these sentimental feelings and it all came out on display over the course of this weekend. And again, the other biggest takeaway, yeah, the the sale, it’s not even a question anymore. It’s definitely happening. It seems like right now all the tees have been crossed and all the eyes have been dotted. Let me know what you think about all this in the comments section below. Also, thumbs up while you’re here. I’d appreciate that. Helps me this video and this channel. And don’t forget to hit that subscribe button so I can definitely see you back here next time.

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At first, Stuart Sternberg was caught up in images of the past. Sitting among family, friends and Rays executives by the home dugout at George M. Steinbrenner Field after the first inning of Tampa Bay’s 6-3 loss to Boston on Saturday night, he looked out at the scoreboard and saw video of his younger self being introduced as the club’s principal owner.

Then came the images and footage from his 22-season tenure with the franchise. The introduction of the “Rays” name. Sergio Romo introducing the “opener” to MLB. Community events. Award presentations and postseason celebrations. Drafting a young Evan Longoria, then slipping on a No. 3 jersey at his retirement ceremony earlier this year. Game 162. The last out of the 2008 American League Championship Series.

Read More: https://www.mlb.com/news/stuart-sternberg-honored-by-rays-as-team-ownership-nears-its-end

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