See how Steinbrenner Field looks as Yankees are visiting team vs. Rays
The Yankees are at Steinbrenner Field for the first time as visiting team as they play the Tampa Bay Rays.
Jacksonville billionaire Patrick Zalupski is “in advanced talks” to buy the Tampa Bay Rays. Memphis hedge fund manager Trip Miller also has reportedly submitted a bid.The Rays’ future has been in doubt since Hurricane Milton tore the roof off Tropicana Field in October 2024.MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said previously he wants the Rays to remain in the Tampa area.
The Tampa Bay Rays are in the process of selling the team to a group led by a Jacksonville billionaire. Does this mean the Rays are moving to Jacksonville?
It’s still early in the process, but Patrick Zalupski, CEO of Dream Finders Homes, is heading a group in exclusive talks with Rays ownership about buying the MLB franchise. Another one of the group members is Ken Babby, who owns two Minor League Baseball teams, including the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. The deal isn’t final though, as Memphis hedge fund manager Trip Miller also has said he’s submitted a cash offer for the team.
It’s the latest chapter in the drama around the Rays and Stu Sternberg, who has owned the team for two decades. The Rays’ short- and long-term future has been a point of debate since a hurricane blew the roof off Tropicana Field and set in motion events that led to the team’s new $1.3 billion stadium getting scrapped and the Rays playing the 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field, spring training home of the New York Yankees, arguably the most popular team in Tampa.
While MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has been strident that the Rays should stay in Tampa Bay, the team’s future remains up in the air. Could this mean the Jaguars are getting a big-league neighbor? Here’s what we know about the Rays sale, including potential places the team could move to:
Sportico was the first to report Wednesday, June 18 that the Rays were “in advanced talks” to sell the team to a group headed by Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski. The reported deal values the team at $1.7 billion. The Rays acknowledged discussions were ongoing, and principal owner Stu Sternberg addressed staff Wednesday morning, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The Times also reported that a St. Petersburg spokesperson said the Rays had not discussed a potential sale with city officials.
Why are the Rays being sold?
Sternberg bought the Rays for $200 million in 2004, and while the team has been successful over that time — its 1,751 wins since are seventh most in MLB — that hasn’t led to much engagement from the local fanbase. The Rays’ average attendance in 2024 was 16,515, third-lowest in MLB, and it’s been that way for decades. The team has averaged no more than 19,000 in game attendance since 2013 and hasn’t ranked outside of the bottom-5 in baseball for attendance since 2010.
That’s due in large part to two factors. First is an inability or unwillingness to retain star players: Their only contract worth more than $30 million in team history went to Wander Franco, who signed an 11-year megadeal after the 2021 season and hasn’t played since August 2023 because of charges of sexual abuse against a minor.
The other is the state of Tropicana Field, the team’s home stadium since coming into the league in 1998. The peculiar dome with a translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass roof that would billow in strong wind was constantly ranked among the worst ballparks in MLB, and Sternberg’s attempts to secure public financing for a new stadium were frequently declined. The Rays finally secured a location for a $1.37 billion stadium in the nearby Historic Gas Plant District they were supposed to move into for the 2028 season. Then Hurricane Milton hit.
Where do the Tampa Bay Rays play? What happened to Tropicana Field?
See Tropicana Field before, during and after Hurricane Milton damage
The roof at Tropicana Field sustained major damage after Hurricane Milton made landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast.
The night of Oct. 9, 2024, Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm. Winds recorded at over 100 mph tore the roof off Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, doing more than $55 million worth of damage to the 35-year-old stadium. The field was deemed unplayable until at least 2026.
St. Pete officials approved $22.5 million to repair Tropicana Field, and the team is playing this season at Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ 11,206-seat capacity spring training stadium across the bay in Tampa. Plans for the new stadium at the Gas Plant District were canceled after the city and team got into a spat over who should shoulder the costs to fix the Trop. The squabbling also led to reports that Commissioner Rob Manfred and other owners were pressuring Sternberg to sell the team.
Did Patrick Zapulski buy the Tampa Bay Rays?
Not yet. The Jacksonville developer is in “exclusive discussions” over buying the team, but it’s a long way from being set in stone. Sportico reported that while Zapulski has signed a letter of intent, there’s no guarantee the deal will be completed.
If it is not finished by the letter’s expiration date, that re-opens the possibility for competing bids. Memphis hedge fund manager Trip Miller told the Tampa Bay Times his group has made an “undisclosed cash offer for the team” and that they are “financially prepared if needed to bid more.” The Orlando Dreamers group also could make a play for the Rays, with co-founder Jim Schnorf telling WESH in March that “Orlando is going to get a team either through the expansion slot or relocation of an existing team.”
Are the Tampa Bay Rays moving?
That’s unclear at this point, in part because the team might not sell to the Zapulski group. But even if it does buy the team, the expectation is for the Rays to stay in the Tampa area. Manfred has stated on numerous occasions that MLB is committed to keeping a team in the Tampa Bay market. The Tampa/St. Pete area ranks 11th as a TV market in 2023-24 and 17th for population size in 2023, while Jacksonville is 41st and 38th, respectively.
On top of that, while the group does include two prominent Jacksonville ties with Zapulski and Ken Babby, who owns the minor-league Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Rays also said “prominent Tampa Bay investors” are involved. The Tampa Bay Times hinted one of those is likely Dan Doyle Jr., the CEO of a Tampa-based office equipment company who has been involved in previous attempts to buy the Rays.
If the Miller group winds up winning, the Rays likely would remain in the area, though he didn’t rule out Orlando as an option in comments to The Athletic.
Where could the Tampa Bay Rays move to?
Just because the Rays aren’t expected to leave the region doesn’t mean they’re destined to stay in St. Petersburg forever, even if the Gas Plant District plan gets revived. Tampa city officials might be more willing to negotiate with new ownership over, for instance, the Ybor City project that was first negotiated with the Rays in 2016.
If they do end up moving out of Tampa Bay, where could they end up? Here’s a rundown of possible locations:
Jacksonville: Zalupski and Babby have their aforementioned ties to the city, and Trip Miller also has a home in Jacksonville if that group winds up with the team. Jacksonville already fields an NFL team in the Jaguars, so it’s shown it can support a major sports franchise. The Rays likely would need a new stadium built, though they could temporarily play at the newly renovated VyStar Ballpark, home of Babby’s Jumbo Shrimp.Orlando: The other prime choice is Florida is in the shadow of the Magic Kingdom. The Orlando Dreamers group has been pushing for an MLB team in Orlando for years, with Hall of Famer Barry Larkin as part of the movement. They say they have more than a billion dollars in private money to build a domed stadium, as well as a location near SeaWorld and the Orlando Convention Center. The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Disney could be a short-term home.Nashville: Like the Orlando Dreamers in Central Florida, the Music City Baseball group has been pushing hard for an MLB team there alongside the NFL’s Titans and NHL’s Predators. Rob Manfred said in April that Nashville is “a good candidate” for a future MLB franchise, but the thinking is he’d rather put an expansion team there than relocate. That said, a Memphis billionaire potentially buying the Rays could turn the team’s attention to Tennessee.Charlotte: The Queen City is another that’s been brought up as host of an MLB franchise. It would join the NFL’s Panthers and NBA’s Hornets, but the push hasn’t been as strong in recent years.
Contributing: Niles Garrison, USA TODAY Network – Florida