A $1.7 billion Tampa Bay Rays takeover bid is set to face final approval in the coming days.
Long-time owner Stu Sternberg, who first purchased a controlling interest in the MLB team in 2004, agreed to sell to a group led by developer Patrick Zalupski earlier in 2025.
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Sternberg is close to selling the Tampa Bay Rays to a group led by developer ZalupskiCredit: Getty
According to a report from The Athletic, he will not walk away immediately, with the new-look ownership group expected to give Sternberg and other current partners a 10 percent share of the club at the outset.
Major League Baseball‘s ownership committee is reviewing the $1.7bn deal, and if approved, the purchase will be submitted to owners for final approval.
The sale of the Rays is now expected to be completed near the end of the regular season — which concludes on Sunday, September 28.
Where will the Rays play under new ownership?
Once the sale is finalized, Tampa Bay’s new owners will need to tackle the biggest issue facing the team: Where will they call home?
After the roof of their St. Petersburg-based Tropicana Field ballpark was destroyed by Hurricane Milton in October 2024, the Rays have been playing their 2025 season at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
The temporary home has a capacity of just over 11,000, compared to the 25,000 of Tropicana Field, which has long been the subject of relocation speculation anyway.
The Rays are not the only MLB team facing doubts over their future location.
Current ownership has stated that the Tropicana Field ballpark does not generate enough revenue, and that its location in St. Petersburg is too far from Tampa’s primary population center in Hillsborough County.
As the 11th-ranked TV market in the United States, and the 17th-largest metropolitan area in the country, Tampa Bay is a favored location for MLB owners.
Commissioner expects Rays to restart ballpark site search
Speaking last week, league commissioner Rob Manfred suggested the Rays will likely start a new ballpark search in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area after the sale of the team is confirmed, removing a major obstacle.
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MLB Commissioner Manfred believes the right move is to keep the Rays in FloridaCredit: Getty
“With new ownership, I think you have to assume it’s kind of a clean slate,” Manfred, who recently opened up on possible future for baseball in UK said.
“They’re going to decide about location, they’re going to have to build and make relationships and contacts with people throughout the region to decide what’s the best place for the ballpark in order to make the Rays successful over the long haul.
“The situation in Tampa has a lot of kind of promising developments.
“I think the potential for the sale to a group that has huge, deep roots in Tampa would be a definite positive development in terms of the long term for the franchise.”
Manfred added that the right call would see the Rays remain in Florida.
“I think Florida is the right place for that team. I think that there are opportunities in the Tampa Bay region that can be exploited in order to get a new stadium and keep the team there,” he concluded.
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The Rays are playing their 2025 MLB season at George M. Steinbrenner FieldCredit: Getty
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It has long been expected that the Rays will leave Tropicana Field, which is damagedCredit: Getty
“They’re going to have the same options that the prior owner had in terms of one side or the other.”
Where could the Rays build a new ballpark?
Per BallparkDigest.com, the feeling is that a ‘more inviting climate-controlled ballpark in a better-situated location’ than Tropicana Field will give the team a financial boost.
The report states that a location within Tampa and Hillsborough County, instead of St. Pete and Pinellas County, which has ‘better access to the I-4 corridor’ and Orlando, is preferred.
A potential site at the Dale Mabry Campus of Hillsborough College — situated next to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ Raymond James Stadium — is reportedly being considered.
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New Rays owners are said to be exploring a ballpark near Raymond James StadiumCredit: Getty
The likely new owners have also looked at putting a new 32,000-seat stadium on the Ybor Harbor site, to the east of Raymond James Stadium, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Orlando relocation bid faces major blow
With the Rays takeover group preferring to remain in the Tampa area, any potential relocation bid to Orlando has hit a major stumbling block.
The Orlando Dreamers organization, which is seeking to bring an MLB franchise to the city, confirmed on September 10 that two investors have pulled out of the project.
Dr. Rick Workman, founder of Heartland Dental, has removed himself an anchor investor for the prospective MLB team acquisition.
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Any relocation away from Tampa appears unlikely for the RaysCredit: Getty
He has joined the new Rays ownership group, alongside Zalupski, and a statement from the Dreamers suggested his decision came as a ‘surprise’.
Another investor, local attorney John Morgan, then decided to ‘opt out for now’ given the circumstances around the investment.
“I am out. The fix is in,” Morgan said in an email, per the Orlando Sentinel.
“What I believe will now happen is this group will seek a sweetheart deal in Tampa, while stringing the prospects of Orlando as a bargaining chip.
“Get lots of free land and entitlements and make a real estate profit on the surrounding land at the taxpayers’ expense.”
In a spin on ‘For the people’ — law firm Morgan & Morgan’s famous slogan — he added the likely Tampa deal was ‘certainly not for the people but for the rich people.’
With the Rays takeover set to be confirmed in the coming days, any potential 100-mile relocation to Orlando now appears highly unlikely.
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