MLB Trying To Force Tampa Bay Rays Owner To Sell
The Tampa Bay Rays are in no man's land.
With the 2025 regular season just weeks away, the Rays are set to play their home games this year in the New York Yankees' spring training stadium. Through no fault of their own, Tropicana Field was effectively destroyed by a hurricane, necessitating a move.
What is their fault though, is that it's taken this long for them to find a new home. All while pocketing tens of millions in revenue-sharing dollars from other MLB teams.
Tropicana Field was outdated when the franchise started in 1998. And through a series of owners, there's been precious little progress on fixing it. While it seemed in 2023 and 2024 that the Rays would finally have a new building, in partnership with the city of St. Petersburg, even before the hurricane, those talks had seemingly stalled. Now there's no end in sight, no new stadium on the horizon, more years of low payrolls. And it seems like the league has finally had enough.
Sep 19, 2023; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg talks with media as the Tampa Bay Rays announced today that a historic agreement has been reached with the City of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County to move forward with a new state-of-the-art ballpark at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Rob Manfred, Other Owners Could Force Rays Into Sale
According to a new report from The Athletic, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is under increasing pressure from the other owners to force current owner Stu Sternberg to explore a sale of the franchise. With the last straw apparently being his willingness to walk away from the stadium deal with St. Petersburg and Pinellas County because of increased costs.
Several Tampa-based businessmen are already interested in a purchase, if Sternberg is forced to sell.
When The Athletic reached out to Sternberg, he told them, "I’m interested to read about what industry partners have told you about our franchise and its future."
This might also come to a head soon; the Rays face a March 31st deadline to meet several commitments as to their new stadium deal with St. Petersburg. With the organization signaling they're unlikely to do so, they could go right back to square one. Looking for a new deal, or another city in the state that will give them even more taxpayer dollars.
Per the report, the Rays receive $60 million in revenue sharing from MLB, which could be jeopardized if the Sternberg doesn't move forward with a new stadium. About time.
For too long, most of the league's small market owners have happily pocketed tens of millions in revenue-sharing dollars from the Yankees, Dodgers and Mets, while saying they're unable to pay for players or stadium improvements themselves.
The Rays, for example, have an estimated payroll of $72 million this season. With $60 million in revenue-sharing payments simply for existing. MLB, and Rays fans, deserve better. Like an ownership group that actually wants to take the competitive enterprise of baseball seriously, and not use teams as a vehicle for pocketing easy profits.