The sale of the Tampa Bay Rays has officially closed just days after Major League Baseball owners greenlit the transaction.
The team, in a statement the afternoon of Sept. 30, said that the deal to sell the team to a group led by Jacksonville businessman Patrick Zalupski closed earlier in the day.
The Rays did not disclose the sale price nor respond to specific questions about what it sold for. There have been reports that the team was valued at $1.7 billion.
“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 says in a statement.
“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.”
The timing of the closing is not surprising. The deal has been essentially done since the owners gave their blessings last week, leaving only logistical hurdles, among them transferring the more than $1 billion the team sold for.
The deal also includes the sale of the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team.
With the sale complete, the Rays can now move on to more pressing concerns that dogged the previous ownership for two decades, building a new stadium while keeping a competitive team on the field.
About two hours before the official announcement was made, the Ray’s president of operations Erik Neander sat down with reporters to discuss the disappointment of the past season, the challenges the organization faced in the past year and the future.
Neander says he’s spoken with the new owners but that organizational and philosophical decisions about how it will approach running the team will be made in coming months.
“Getting a forever home and winning a championship are the two things at the forefront of everybody’s mind,” Neander says. “That goes for them, that goes for us. And, you know, we’ll do everything we can to make that happen.”
Jumbo Shrimp owner’s role
The new ownership group is headed up by Zalupski, who founded Dream Finders Homes in 2008 and built it into a Fortune 1000 company with $4.4 billion in revenue last year.
Also part of the group are Bill Cosgrove, CEO of Ohio-based Union Home Mortgage, and Ken Babby, founder and CEO of Fast Forward Sports Group.
Fast Forward owns the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the AAA-affiliate of the Miami Marlins, and the Akron RubberDucks, the AA-affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians.
According to the Rays, Babby will be the CEO and oversee the day-to-day business of the team. Neander, who has been with the organization for 19 years, will stay on as president of the baseball operations.
“Baseball is about joy, connection, and community,” Babby says in the statement.
“I’ve seen firsthand how a ballpark can bring people together, and I’m honored to help create those moments paired with a continued culture of winning here in Tampa Bay.”
Zalupski will serve as MLB Control Person for the team. He and Cosgrove will be co-chairs.
The two men will also establish an executive advisory board made up of wider group of investors in the ownership group including Rick Workman, Doug Hertz, Will Weatherford, Robert Skinner, Dan Doyle, Jr. and former Rays president Matt Silverman. Fred Ridley will serve as an independent member of the executive advisory board.
The Rays say that a group of limited partners “with deep connection to the Tampa Bay region” will join the ownership group in the future.
Third ownership group for Rays
Zalpuski’s group will the third for the team since it became a franchise in 1995.
The first was Vince Naimoli who died in 2019. Namoli sold the then-Devil Rays to Stuart Sternberg who became principal owner after the 2005 season.
Sternberg helped transform the franchise into one of the best on-field organizations in baseball, winning two American League Championships, four American East division titles and making nine playoff appearances during his tenure.
Overall, it has the third-best record in baseball since 2008.
But, despite several attempts and near misses, he was unable to get the team what it needed most to draw fans and increase revenue: a new ballpark.
That task now falls to the new owners.