The Tampa Bay Rays remain in “unique conversations” with a financial investment group in Florida about a prospective sale of the group.
” The Tampa Bay Rays revealed that the group has actually just recently begun unique conversations with a group led by Patrick Zalupski, Expense Cosgrove, Ken Babby and popular Tampa Bay financiers worrying a possible sale of the group,” the company stated on Wednesday.
Forbes has actually the Rays valued at $1.25 billion, which is a lot more than the $200 million Stuart Sternberg spent for the MLB franchise in 2004.
CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXBUSINESS.COM
The Rays are a group that is presently displaced from their home of Tropicana Field following the damage Typhoon Milton did to its roofing system in October 2024. They have actually been utilizing the New york city Yankees’ spring training center, George M. Steinbrenner Field, as their home field this season.
The franchise at first had strategies to construct a new arena in St. Petersburg, which is where Tropicana Field lives, however that $1.3 billion advancement job was ditched in March after Sternburg stated the group would be withdrawing that arrangement.
TROPICANA FIELD ROOFING FIX COULD BE DONE BY RAYS’ 2026 SEASON; MLB GROUP WILL REQUIRED TEMPORARY HOME FOR 2025
Rather, St. Petersburg is investing around $55 million to fix the Tropicana Field roofing system in hopes the Rays can return in 2026. Nevertheless, the city and the Rays have a contract that runs for 3 years to dip into “The Trop,” leaving the group’s future home still in limbo.
Brand-new ownership was raised by St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch when the Rays withdrew from their previous arrangement in March
” If in the coming months a brand-new owner, who shows a dedication to honoring their contracts and our neighborhood concerns emerges, we will think about a collaboration to keep baseball in St. Pete,” Welch stated at the time. “However we will not put our city’s development on hold as we wait for a collective and community-focused baseball partner.”
While thought about a little market compared to the other groups in their AL East department, the Rays are an appealing group every season due to the fact that of their advancement group in the minors who continue to generate brand-new skill to affect the big league level each season.
The Rays have the 28th-highest payroll in MLB this season ($ 76.22 million, per Yahoo Sports), yet they get in Wednesday’s schedule with a 40-33 record– 2.5 video games back of the Yankees for the department lead, while owning the leading AL Wild Card area.
Tampa Bay has actually likewise made 5 playoff looks because 2019, consisting of a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2020 World Series. Their 80-82 record in 2024 was the worst record under.500 because 2017 where they completed with the very same mark, making them a franchise that plainly understands how to finish the job on a budget plan.
Possibly a brand-new ownership group can pump more cash into payroll when a brand-new arena scenario is determined.
The Associated Press added to this report
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and sign up for the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter
Source: Fox News.
