Tampa Bay Rays sale: MLB owners unanimously approve Patrick Zalupski deal reportedly worth $1.7 billion

The Tampa Bay Rays are one step closer to having a new majority owner. On Monday, Major League Baseball’s other owners unanimously approved the group led by Jacksonville real estate developer Patrick Zalupski, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Zalupski is expected to close the formal purchase of the franchise (reportedly worth $1.7 billion) later this week, officially obtaining the Rays franchise from Stuart Sternberg, who had overseen the club since October 2005 when he bought the team for roughly $200 million. Sternberg will retain a minority stake in the team. The Rays are not expected to relocate as part of the purchase.

Zalupski’s first major order of business will, ostensibly, be landing an agreement to build a new ballpark — something that Sternberg repeatedly struck out on, including earlier this year, when the Rays announced they would not proceed with plans for a $1.3 billion stadium.  

Last week, two of the Rays’ team presidents Matt Silverman and Brian Auld both stepped down from their positions ahead of the ownership change. Silverman will remain on an advisory board while Auld will stick around as a senior advisor to ownership. It’s unclear who Zalupski intends to insert in those vacated team president positions.

It’s also unclear what Zalupski’s presence means for manager Kevin Cash and top baseball operations executive Erik Neander, though one presumes both remain in the franchise’s long-term plans given their past success.

The Rays, who entered Monday with a 76-80 record, will finish out a trying season later this week. They’ll miss the playoffs for consecutive years for the first time since 2017-18. The Rays have spent this season playing all their home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees, after a hurricane damaged Tropicana Field’s roof last fall. The Trop is expected to be ready for action come the 2026 season.