The Tampa Bay Rays are under pressure from a group of Major League Baseball owners to and commissioner Rob Manfred to either sign the stadium deal with Pinellas County and the St. Petersburg or sell the team.
Drellich also noted that Tampa businessman Dan Doyle Jr. is part of an interested group. Doyle was part of a group looking to buy the Rays in 2023, though he reportedly pulled out of the buying process.
Several minority investors are being courted by Sternberg, per Drellich.
MLB wants to keep the team in the Tampa Bay area, according to Drellich, and has specifically eyed the Ybor City neighborhood outside of Tampa if the team doesn’t stay in St. Petersburg.
Drellich also noted that the franchise moving to Orlando is a last-ditch option but a very long shot.
Should Sternberg sell the team, the Rays would be the fourth team to be sold since 2019. The Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets and Kansas City Royals have all been sold in the last six years. Pinellas County commissioner Chris Latvala, who is a critic of Sternberg, envisions the owner selling.
At the center of the issue is Sternberg and the city have focused on a $1.3 billion proposal for a new stadium at the site of Tropicana Field, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Milton last year. It is called the Gas Plant project and besides a new home for the Rays it would have residential housing, retail and an entertainment project.
Sternberg reportedly is balking at fulfilling several obligations toward the proposal. For example, while the team planned to provide $700 million to the stadium, Sternberg is blaming the county for a delay in the process that is raising costs.
“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.”
It’s not a matter of money, Rays president Matt Silverman said.
“It’s not a question of whether we have the funds. We do. The question is whether it’s a good use of those funds to commit us and MLB to this ballpark for the next 30 years,” Silverman said.
If the team is sold MLB would not be upset if the Rays ended in Tampa. But all this rests on if Silverman will sign the Pinellas County and St. Petersburg project which is financially backed by local government.
The team’s home games this season, and perhaps beyond, will be played in Tampa, at the Yankees’ minor league complex.
