Tampa Bay Rays Have Entered Into Exclusive Negotiations To Sell The Team
For several years now things haven’t been going well off the diamond for the team. They have struggled to get a ballpark built to replace Tropicana Field. And then in October 2024 Hurricane Milton roared through and ripped through large portions of the fiberglass roof, leaving them without a home. However that hasn’t stopped a potential new ownership group from moving forward. The Tampa Bay Rays have entered into exclusive negotiations to sell the team. Tampa Bay released the following statement:
“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 team said in a statement. “Neither the Rays nor the group will have further comment during the discussions.”
Therefore, principal owner Stuart Sternberg has entered exclusive negotiations to sell the Tampa Bay Rays to a group led by Patrick Zalupski. Zalupski is a developer based in Jacksonville, FL who specializes in new construction for first-time homebuyers. According to Sportico, “Zalupski has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to purchase the team. An LOI is not a purchase agreement, and the deal ultimately might not be completed.” They also reported that the deal has a team value of $1.7 billion. And Forbes stated that the most recent valuation ranks the Rays 29th out of 30 with a value of $1.25 billion.
However, if the Zalupski group does purchase the Rays they will immediately be faced with the issue of a new ballpark. Both the MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and several owners were irritated with the Rays when they backed out of a deal to build a new ballpark on the Tropicana Field site. They cited increased costs as the reason. But a new ballpark for the Rays is the last impediment to league expansion. Hence the irritation of the commissioner and owners.
Tampa Bay Rays Have Entered Into Exclusive Negotiations To Sell The Team
At the time of the deal falling through the MLB released a statement saying: “the league “remains committed to finding a permanent home for the Club in the Tampa Bay region for their fans and the local community.”
Despite their ballpark woes, the outlook isn’t all gloom and doom for the Rays. As Sportico pointed out, they “have made nine playoff appearances since 2008. And possess a winning percentage of .545 during that time. Only the big-market, free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees have won more games.”
If the group completes the sale then they’ll have to get to work on a new ballpark quickly. Currently the Rays are using the Yankee’s Steinbrenner Field. But for now, we’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out.
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