Change of Owner for the Tampa Bay Rays: A New Chapter in MLB
Stu Sternberg, owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, has reached a preliminary agreement to sell the franchise for $1.7 billion. The buying group is led by Patrick Zalupski, a Florida-based developer. The transaction is expected to be finalized in September. Zalupski, a home builder in Jacksonville, intends to keep the team in the Tampa area, instead of moving it to St. Petersburg. Sternberg acquired the Rays in 2004 for $200 million. According to his online biography, Zalupski is the founder, president, and CEO of Dream Finders Homes. The company was founded in December 2008 and closed the sale of 27 homes in Jacksonville the following year. Currently, with an expanded presence in various parts of the United States, Dream Finders has closed the sale of more than 31,100 homes since its founding. Additionally, Zalupski is on the board of directors at the University of Florida. The new ownership group also includes Bill Cosgrove, CEO of Union Home Mortgage, and Ken Babby, owner of the Akron RubberDucks and Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, both minor league teams. A year ago, Sternberg had an agreement to build a new stadium in the Historic Gas Plant District, a renovated recreational, commercial, and residential district in St. Petersburg, which would replace Tropicana Field. However, after Hurricane Milton, which damaged the stadium roof last October, forcing the Rays to seek temporary facilities, Sternberg changed his mind, arguing that the team would have to assume additional costs not foreseen in the budget.In March, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and other owners began to pressure Sternberg to sell the franchise. It is not yet clear what measures the Zalupski group will take, if the purchase is finalized and approved by the MLB owners, regarding a permanent stadium. Currently, the Rays play at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, located at the spring training facilities of the New York Yankees and home to their Class A team, the Tampa Tarpons.“After careful consideration, we have concluded that we cannot move forward with the new stadium and development project at this time,” Sternberg stated in March. “A series of events that began in October, which no one could have anticipated, led to this difficult decision.”
Stu Sternberg
