The team’s previous owner, Stu Sternberg, bought the team in 2004 and took over operations in 2005.
Photo by Irena Mesa | The Crow’s Nest
By Irena Mesa
After two decades as the owner of The Tampa Bay Rays, Stu Sternberg officially passed the mantle off to a group led by Patrick Zalupski. The team finalized the approximately $1.7 billion deal on Tuesday.
“It’s an incredible honor to become the stewards of the Tampa Bay Rays, a franchise with a proud history and a bright future,” Zalupski said in a statement on X. “We are especially privileged to have been chosen by Stu Sternberg as his successors, and we’re all energized by the responsibility to serve Rays fans everywhere and this great game.”
Bill Cosgrove and Ken Babby will join him at the executive level, with Cosgrove serving as the co-chair and Babby as the chief executive officer. Erik Neander was with the team before the transition and will remain in his role as president of baseball operations.
Zalupski is also joined by numerous other local investors such as Dan Doyle who is the CEO of DEX Imaging and chair of the University of South Florida Board of Trustees Will Weatherford.
The transition comes at a crucial moment for the Rays, with their future home hanging in the balance.
In July of 2024, St. Petersburg City Council and Pinellas County Commissioners approved the $6.5 billion deal to completely redevelop Tropicana Field and the surrounding Gas Plant District. In March, however, the Rays pulled out of the deal, citing the team’s inability to absorb additional costs after back-to-back hurricanes delayed the stadium’s completion by one year.
A deal to repair Tropicana Field was approved by the St. Petersburg Council in August, the field’s contract ends in 2028.
“Despite our years of effort, we were not able to bring a new ballpark to life. We tried hard, and I truly believe we had found a solution last year,” Sternberg said in a statement. “But sometimes circumstances beyond our control intervene, and it will now be up to others to carry that work forward.”
Zalupski is no stranger to construction and development as the founder of Dream Finders Homes, a Jacksonville based company that has built 35,000 single-family homes since the company’s creation in 2008.
With many members of the new ownership group having ties locally, Zalupski and his team are hopeful that they can keep the team in the Tampa Bay area.
