In the middle of July, Stu Sternberg agreed to a sale of the Rays to Jacksonville-based real estate developer Patrick Zalupski for around a $1.7 billion purchase price. Sternberg won’t immediately leave the organization completely, however.
Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report that Sternberg and other current partners will retain an approximate 10% stake in the franchise in the short term. Sternberg is still expected to eventually depart the organization entirely, but that won’t happen concurrent with this month’s sale.
The transaction has been expected to be finalized in September. That timeline is still in place. Drellich and Rosenthal write that the sale should be complete around the end of the regular season. Zalupski’s group is expected to keep the franchise in the Tampa area, preferably with a new stadium to be built in Hillsborough County. (Tropicana Field, located in St. Petersburg, is in Pinellas County.) Nina Moske of The Tampa Bay Times wrote this afternoon that one site under consideration is at Hillsborough College.
The Rays’ previous stadium deal with Pinellas County collapsed after the team sought additional funding following delays after last fall’s hurricanes. That proved an impetus for Sternberg to turn to selling his majority share. The club’s lease at Tropicana Field runs for three seasons from whenever The Trop becomes playable — hopefully by the beginning of next season.
Lol. Rays fan here, I love this. It’s stupid. It’s possibly petty. It’s probably the amount he should have had from the start.
How would Hillsborough be travel wise for Rays fans?
Other worldly… it will increase exposure to many many many more fans within an hour drive.
A significant improvement.
Yes because your support of the team in Pinellas has be so stellar. The solution has been obvious for 20 years
In theory, it should be better. In practice, Monday’s game drew 8155 fans which is about 81% of the capacity of George M Steinbrenner Stadium. That same facility is a sell out for every spring training game. Part of that is fans and part is weather. Even with overcast skies, the humidity can be tough in September at GMS, BayCare Ballpark, or TD BallPark.
The local RE chatter has been the new owners are looking to the east towards Ybor City. That would allow fans from Orlando much easier access to games.
I think it may help a bit, but the reality is many fans have relocated to the area and are fans of other teams. That is true for my wife and I. She is a Blue Jays fan, and I am a Braves fan. We catch Rays games when those teams are in town.
BTW, we are in Pinellas. It is about the same time and distance to drive to the Trop or GMS from our home. The Trop has the advantage of an interstate running by it.
Will
Add at least an hour drive depending on where in Hillsborough county the new stadium is. Could be longer. It will take an hour just to drive over the bridge to get to Tampa in rush hour traffic.
That’s from the St. Pete perspective. For folks who live in the more populous Tampa, it shortens the drive considerably.
That’s exactly right. The Rays have an attendance problem. Even when they are winning. A big part of that attendance problem is the location of the current stadium. St Petersburg has a population well under 300k. More than that. the city is located on the bottom of a peninsula. It is a relatively small city surrounded by water on three sides. There is no draw of support from the metropolitan area. Tampa on the other hand has more than 400k people. Hillsborough county has more than 1.5 million. And depending on where in Tampa they build a new stadium, they can potential draw some support from the Orlando area.
St. Petersburg is a great city. It is also no place for a major league stadium.
Gho5t: You love it but it’s stupid? Why?
The fact that they’re fixing a stadium which will cost millions for 3 years of play is kinda stupid if you ask me. Itll sit there like the Astros dome for a while after I guess?
What’s the alternative? Have the Rays continue playing in a minor league stadium for the next 3 years? Also, the City is contractually obligated to fix the stadium, so if they don’t, they’ll be paying the Rays damages (and those damages will probably exceed the cost of fixing the stadium).
I get that. Ive read the articles about it, just seems like a waste. Who knows maybe they have some minor league team play there afterwards or use it for concerts. The A’s are planning on playing in a AAA staduim til Vegas is finished. I haven’t heard (that I know of) any Rays players complaining like Luis Severino? Doesn’t mean its not happening though. On a positive note, by a college for the new stadium seems like a good idea to me.
Any news on where Rays will call home longterm? Are they still planning to move the team to Tampa proper?
They’re staying in the area. Manfred wants the balling rolling on two expansion teams by 2029.
They literally talked about it in this article
C’mon….be nice. This is the first time I’ve heard about the HCC site, which is right next to the Yankees ST site they’re playing at now. As a Rays fan, there’re much better options but it’s not my money.
Is there still a chance the rays move out of Tampa or is there no way they abandon the hills borough plan?
I remember when clay Bennett bought the sonics he said he’d keep them there but look what happened
The Sonics moved because Bennett never intended to stay there. Seattle voters also wouldn’t approve public funding on a new arena or stadium improvements. MLB has properly vetted the new Rays’ owner before the approval of the July sale. Tampa residents and city officials want the team to stay. There is a lot of old money in that area.
Sounds like you want the Rays to leave the area…
They’ve always wanted to get a new stadium on Hillsborough county.
Yep. More people and more businesses with more money to spend. It’s where the Rays always should have been.
There is a group that is pushing for Orlando and the new owners are from Jacksonville, but I think both of those are longshots.
I think it’ll depend on if the new owners are willing to spend a healthy chunk on the new stadium because Hillsborough has been pretty firm about not wanting to break the bank to help build a new stadium. The good news is the new owners haven’t burned all their bridges like Stu has in the area. I don’t think anyone would trust a deal Stu made.
Stu is almost as bad as John fisher the only difference between the two was that Stu hired the right guys that knew baseball and fisher hired yes-men in his org
It is my understanding that the drive to Tropicana Field is a pain and is part of why attendance is low. This new site, is this better Rays fans?
If better you mean attendance might exceed 12,000 – yes
The drive to the Trop from Hillsborough gets a lot of press, but the problem has also always been that the Trop sits away from EVERYTHING. It’s surrounded by parking lots, interstates, and poor neighborhoods. For those who don’t go to games regularly, it’s not an inviting location The new location discussed in this article is somewhat centrally located, just outside the Westshore District that is seeing massive growth (both residential and business), near a central downtown corridor for travel, and within walking distance from Raymond James Stadium (Bucs Stadium) and Steinbrenner Field (Yankees MInor League), so it should be a good location overall for those wanting to see a game. There may be better sites in the area (e.g., Ybor location just outside of Downtown), but many are no longer available (or were never available). My fear was always that they’d put the Rays back in St. Pete or somewhere that was doomed to fail for many reasons the Trop failed (like the Fairgrounds area), so this is better. It’d be great if the Yankees minor league team wasn’t in the area competing for visitors though. Longterm, MLB has to do something about that.
Contract the Yankees?
Stu need to be out 100%!!! If he keeps his foot in the door, he is going to give his input about signing (or most likely NOT SIGNING) top tier free agents, he will try to keep the team in St. Pete where nobody wants to travel, and he might put some bad ideas in the new ownerships heads. Does anyone want Manfraud having a 10% part of the Commissioner job when he finally leaves?
This is all nonsense.
The Trop is in the middle(ish) of an up and coming area. There is new construction surrounding it on 2 sides and a new night time walking/party district that has attracted a younger residential base.
The issue with a Tampa location is the traffic and parking issues.
The Trop has 30000 parking spaces and they could build parking garages and sell off the outer lots for development.
An HCC location is not bad, but then again you would have the conflict of the Buccaneers games with Rays traffic. (Several Rays games were changed due to Buccaneers games conflicts. The Rays are using Bucs parking for 2025). The Ybor non parking is unacceptable.
Love the Trop and all of its quirks and the 72 degree weather inside with no rain outs or delays.
The traffic getting in and out of the Trop is a breeze compared to Tampa.
(You can’t convince me other wise. I’ve lived in Tampa for over 40 years and frankly it’s a disaster)
You can’t drive into Tampa at game times without a backup on the bridges or interstate. Conversely, getting into St Pete is a breeze.
Yes, when the game lets out there is always a clog, but it quickly clears and there are several city streets to bypass the interstate clog nearest the stadium.
I usually go to 40-50 games at the Trop each season. At Steinbrenner, less than 20. I hate that facility and the Tampa Traffic snarls.
There have been no true sellouts (except for opening day) at Steinbrenner. There have been tickets available for all games through the Rays website or secondary markets for every game.
You will never catch me at Steinbrenner Field after this regular season. Not for spring training or any other reason. period.
I think the Rays are destined for a location outside of Tampa Bay, I’ll miss them, but we’ll still root for them.
There are many issues with St. Pete. How many times have you been accosted by bums begging for money walking from your parking spot to the Trop? It will be at least half that in Tampa or anywhere else? Name a place you’ve wanted to go to before or after the game in St. Pete other than Fergs or maybe a nearby sports bar? There are plenty of things to do in Tampa that won’t be in a bad part of town like the Trop is. Tampa is in a more centralized location. Most of a stadiums ticket sales come from a 50 mile radius from the stadium. Instead of begging fish from the Gulf to come to Rays games, a Tampa ballpark will now lure in existing St. Pete fans, more Tampa fans, Orlando fans, a few more from Daytona who might go to 4 or 5 games with the 30-45 minutes shaved off of the drive. It adds up. I-4 and 275 have been a nightmare from the beginning. Maybe with a park in Tampa, it will finally push the state to build toll lanes or another route altogether. Sorry, no help from me there. Finally, the reason $teinbrenner Field isn’t selling out is that $ternberg doubled the ticket prices so he could have half of the capacity of the Trop come to the games but still make the total amount of profit. $tu has always been about the money and profit and always will be. People will come to games if they have affordable ticket prices like the Trop had. I live 3 hours away in DeLand, and I’m boycotting the 1-4 games I go to per year until this new ownership group comes due to the raise in pricesand $tu’s profit loving. I know other Rays fans are as well. Comparing 2025 to 1998-2024 averages at the Trop isn’t a good comparison unless $tu has ticket prices the same or similar. Besides the Trop being in a bad area, the team isn’t marketed well either. Name the last time you saw a Rays billboard or sign 1000 feet away from the Trop. It’s been ages for me. Get $tu out of the picture, and find a way to move the Yankee$ out of Tampa. Buy them out of $teinbrenner and let them have your space in Charlotte. Or sell Charlotte, buy them out of Tampa, and let them find a new home. Actually start extending players and when player jerseys and not team jeserys start selling, promise the Yankee$ a share of the profits for 10-15 years in exchange for the Tampa rights. Tampa can work for the Rays. They just need a new owner who is invested in bringing the city a title and not in lining their own pockets.
You’re obviously a fan of the Trop, and that’s good. Support the team and the city. But you can’t compare Steinbrenner to the Trop or attending a Rays game in a ML domed stadium in Tampa. We have had a HOT summer and I have been happy (relatively speaking) to watch games at home this year rather than melt in the 100+ degree heat index we have seen at many games this year. And while I have no problem driving to St. Pete on occasion to take in a game, I know most hate the experience. It is what it is. You may think it’s great, but in my personal experience, I often had difficulty finding clients to attend games with me for free (ie: I drove, and paid for the tickets and all food and drinks at the game). I never had that problem when taking clients to Lightning games. So I suspect the Rays will see a decent bump in attendance overall by moving to Tampa, and a much larger bump in suite purchases and corporate advertising. It’s all about the money after all.
Well Karen, I’ve never been approached by a street person at Tropicana Field- and I’ve been a season ticket holder for 17 seasons.
Stu is a businessman. Of course it’s all about $. if I owned a piece of the team, I’d expect to make money too.
The Yankees will never move from Tampa. Hillsborough/Tampa has given them a sweet deal with all the Dale Mabry land rights and tax breaks..
Put the Rays in Ybor and you won’t see me there. Talk about an unsafe area and no parking to be found.