Potential buyers circle as Rays owner faces pressure from MLB to sell
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Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg is reportedly under pressure from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to sell the team as he mulls whether to pull out of the $1.3-billion stadium deal.
Why it matters: If Sternberg doesn't establish a long-term plan for the Rays, whether through a sale or new stadium development, the MLB could slash the team's revenue-sharing funds, The Athletic reports.
Catch up quick: Plans for a new stadium and surrounding mixed-use development known as the Historic Gas Plant District looked like a done deal over the summer, but negotiations took a nosedive after the region's back-to-back hurricanes.
- Rays leaders have repeatedly said that the county's delays in approving the bonds drove the project's costs beyond what the team is comfortable spending.
- City and county leaders have said they wouldn't commit any more taxpayer dollars to the deal. Sternberg has a March 31 deadline to prove the team has the funding and has made the required progress to proceed.
Zoom in: Tampa businessman Joe Molloy — a former New York Yankees executive — leads a local group that is interested in buying the Rays. The group includes a member of the DeBartolo family, which owns the San Francisco 49ers, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
- Tampa businessman Dan Doyle Jr. — who withdrew from a 2023 bid to purchase the Rays — is part of another interested group, per The Athletic.
- Tampa attorney Carter McCain said he represents a third group that is seeking local minority ownership, per the Times.
By the numbers: Sternberg paid $200 million for the Rays in 2004 and the team is currently valued at $1.25 billion, per Forbes.
The big picture: The Rays could make more money on the sale if the team relocated, but MLB wants them to remain in Florida — with Ybor City or downtown Tampa as options if St. Petersburg doesn't work out, per The Athletic.
Friction point: Left in limbo amid the politicking of local officials, the Rays and MLB higher-ups is the fate of the Gas Plant District, an effort to rebuild a historically Black neighborhood that was razed to build the Trop.
- The current plan called for the construction of a live-work-play district with an African American history museum and affordable housing along with the new stadium.