The Tampa Bay Rays may lastly reside as much as their namesake.
A bunch led by Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski is predicted to purchase the franchise for a reported $1.7 billion as early as September, and it desires to maneuver the group from St. Petersburg to Tampa, in keeping with The Athletic.
Present Rays proprietor Stu Sternberg bought the group for $200 million in 2004.
There was strain on Sternberg to promote the group, because the Rays have been making an attempt to construct a brand new stadium for nearly twenty years. His most up-to-date plan was to construct a $1.3 billion stadium in St. Petersburg, however Hurricane Milton thwarted these plans and broken the roof of Tropicana Subject within the course of.
“After careful deliberation, we have concluded we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this moment,” Sternberg mentioned in a press release in March. “A series of events beginning in October that no one could have anticipated led to this difficult decision.”
As an alternative, the Rays have gotten a style of Tampa this season as they’ve performed their house video games at Steinbrenner Subject, the Yankees spring coaching ballpark.
Rays followers in Tampa have seemingly proven help for the group as they fill nearly 90 % of the 11,000-person capability stadium on common. Evaluating these numbers to final yr at Tropicana Subject, they might solely handle to fill 38 % of the 45,300-seat stadium on common.
Zalupski, founder, chairman and CEO of Florida-based homebuilder Dream Finders Properties, is not any stranger to proudly owning baseball groups. He already counts minor league franchises the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and Akron Rubber Geese as a part of his portfolio.
Now, he’s on the point of including a significant league franchise, and possibly even getting them an extended sought-after house in a brand new place.
