(The Center Square) – Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays could be sold to a Jacksonville developer, according to a statement by the team.
A deal could keep the team in the Tampa Bay area and possibly reignite discussion over a new stadium for the team, whose ballpark deal expires in 2028.
“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 released to media. “Neither the Rays nor the group will have further comment during the discussions.”
Media reports ay the sale would be for $1.7 billion, a nice return on investment for Rays’ owner Stuart Sternberg, who bought the team for $200 million in 2004.
Any deal, for which a letter of intent has already been signed, will need to be finalized and then approved by a majority vote of Major League owners.
Zalupski is based out of Jacksonville and is the founder, president and CEO of Dream Finders Homes, which has constructed 35,100 homes in 10 states. He is also a member of the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees, appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis with a term that expires in 2028. Dream Finders went public in 2021.
The Rays pulled out of a deal in March for a new $1.3 billion retractable roof stadium in St. Petersburg’s historic Gas Plant District as part of a larger $6.5 billion mixed-use development.
At the time, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said new ownership would be needed for the city to consider a new stadium deal. He said “that bridge had been burned.”
The Rays’ existing domed stadium, Tropicana Field, had its roof shredded by the Category 3 winds of Hurricane Milton in 2024. The City Council voted to repair the roof in April at a cost of more than $22 million and have it ready for baseball by the 2026 season.
Under the existing stadium agreement between the Rays and the city, each year Tropicana Field remains unusable adds another year to the agreement that was originally to sunset in 2027. Now it’s been pushed out to 2028, and depending on when repairs to the roof are complete, possibly longer.
The Rays have gone through four unrealized stadium plans in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area and are playing their home games at George Steinbrenner Field this season in Tampa. Steinbrenner Field is the spring training home of the New York Yankees, the Rays’ American League East rival.
The team is one of two Major League clubs that are playing at minor league facilities. The Athletics are in Sacramento during a transition from Oakland to Las Vegas.
