Rays Reportedly In 'Advanced Talks' to Sell MLB Team at $1.7B Valuation

The owners of the Tampa Bay Rays are engaged in "advanced talks" over a sale that would value the franchise at $1.7 billion, according to Sportico's Scott Soshnick and Kurt Badenhausen.

Patrick Zalupski, a developer based out of Jacksonville, Florida, is leading the group that would buy the team.

Rays fans have longed for the day that principal owner Stu Sternberg sells the team. Tampa Bay has consistently maintained one of MLB's lowest payrolls, while the need for a new stadium was clear long before Hurricane Milton made Tropicana Field unusable.

Sternberg isn't getting squeezed by just the fanbase, either. The Athletic's Evan Drellich reported in March that he "is being pressured to sell his team by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and some other owners."

The final straw appears to have been the Rays' decision to abandon plans for a new stadium in the Historic Gas Plant District of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Renderings for the proposed venue were released in May 2024, while the St. Petersburg City Council approved the sale of public bonds that December to help fund the venture.

Chris Latvala, a Pinellas County commissioner, told Drellich he thought Sternberg would paint himself into a corner by rejecting the agreement.

"If Stu walks away from this deal, I think the owners and Major League Baseball will see that he either has an unwillingness to do a new stadium in Tampa Bay, or he has a financial issue that prevents him from doing a new stadium in Tampa Bay and there needs to be an ownership change," Latvala said. "I do believe that we'll have new ownership with the Rays at some point in the near future."

While Tampa and Jacksonville aren't exactly neighboring cities, a new owner with Florida ties will likely ease a lot of the concerns about the Rays' long-term future in their current market, too. Relocation has long been a source of speculation, including one idea of having them split their time in Tampa and Montreal.

Of course, there are no guarantees a new ownership regime would significantly increase spending on player payroll.

The Miami Marlins continue to be thrifty after Bruce Sherman purchased them from Jeffrey Loria in 2017. The honeymoon period for David Rubenstein has already ended with the Baltimore Orioles struggling on the field following a quiet offseason.

Still, Rays fans are probably in unison with the idea it's time for Sternberg to go.