The Tampa Bay Rays have a new owner.
Per The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard and Evan Drelich, MLB owners unanimously approved the sale of the team to a Patrick Zalupski-led ownership group, and the sale is expected to be finalized later this week.
In July, Rays owner Stu Stenberg agreed to sell the team in principle to Zalupski, a Jacksonville-based developer, for nearly $1.7 billion.
Drellich reported in March that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was pressuring Stenberg to sell the team after he struggled to secure a new stadium. Stenberg responded to that pressure by saying that “the team is not for sale.”
Ultimately, Stenberg agreed to give up his majority ownership stake in the Rays.
Stenberg purchased the team in 2004 for $200 million, and while he’ll no longer be the majority owner, he and his partners will remain minority owners, according to Lockard and Drellich, retaining a 10 percent share of the team. Lockard and Drellich noted that Stenberg and his group “are expected to fully divest their investment in the club in the coming years.”
The Rays found some success under Stenberg’s ownership, reaching the World Series in 2008 and 2020, but never established themselves as a perennial contender. Tampa Bay is fully in rebuilding mode now, sitting at 76-80 on the season.
The Rays have played their home games during the 2025 campaign at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the spring training stadium of the New York Yankees, due to damage to their own stadium during Hurricane Milton last year.
The team was supposed to get a new $1.3 billion stadium in St. Petersburg, but did not move forward with those plans after the hurricane. Lockard and Drellich noted that Zalupski’s group will continue to try to find a new stadium, but will return to Tropicana Field in 2026.
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