ATLANTA — Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday he expects the $1.7 billion sale of the Tampa Bay Rays from Stu Sternberg to Jacksonville, Fla., developer Patrick Zalupski to move forward. Sportico broke the news that the two sides were in advanced talks in June.
“I have no reason to quibble with or dispute the rumors that are out there about the Tampa sale,” Manfred said during his annual pre-All-Star Game briefing with members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
As far as the process is concerned, Zalupski must be vetted by MLB’s owners committee, which will pass its recommendation on to the 29 other owners for a vote. As in all ownership issues, 75% of that group must approve the franchise transfer.
Manfred would not comment on the current status of the sale process. Sternberg bought the team in 2004 for $200 million.
Sternberg has previously scuttled two deals related to ballpark projects on both sides of Tampa Bay. Most recently, the team pulled out of a projected $1.3 billion ballpark deal in St. Petersburg adjacent to the hurricane damaged Tropicana Field earlier this year. Manfred had urged Sternberg to sell the Rays after that.
The Rays are playing this season in 11,000-seat Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees. The team will remain in the Tampa Bay area for at least the next three seasons by virtue of their lease with the city of St. Petersburg, Fla., and depending on when the facility is reopened. A new home will be addressed when and if the team is sold.
Manfred said he expects the renovated facility to be ready by the start of the 2026 season, but MLB has contingencies if that doesn’t happen.
“Look, we think we’re going to be ready to play 2026 in the Trop,” Manfred said. “I’m not going to get into details, but we do have contingency plans if the Trop is not ready to go in 2026. This is not the Rays telling us we’re going to be ready. We have our own engineers on site monitoring construction, so we do believe we’re going to be ready to go.”
The St. Pete City Council voted in April to apportion $22.5 million to reconstruct the roof of the ballpark, which is made of Teflon slats that were destroyed last October by Hurricane Milton. By contract, the government entity is legally required to maintain Tropicana and repair it in the case of catastrophic damage.
The roof slats are being manufactured overseas and are not expected to be installed until after the current hurricane season.
More funds will be needed to fix flood damage inside the ballpark, which is expected to become more severe throughout the rest of the summer. The entire repair could cost in excess of $50 million.
As far as where the Rays might play postseason games in 2025 if they happen to make the playoffs, Manfred told the Tampa Bay Times that it will be at Steinbrenner Field.
The Rays are currently fourth and 5.5 games back in the American League East and fourth in the AL Wild Card race, 1.5 games behind Seattle in the third spot.
“Our rule has always been that people play in their home stadiums during the World Series,” Manfred said. “And I’m not of a mind to change that rule. I understand it’s a unique situation. It’s different, but that’s where they’re playing. That’s where they’re going to play their games.”
