The Rays’ sale from current owner Stu Sternberg to a group led by Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski for about $1.7B “has been agreed to in principle and is expected to be completed as soon as September,” according to a source cited by Drellich & Rosenthal of THE ATHLETIC. The source said that Zalupski is “expected to keep the team in the Tampa Bay area, with a strong preference to be in Tampa rather than St. Petersburg.” The Rays in a statement last month said that they were “in exclusive talks with Zalupski’s group.” Drellich & Rosenthal write the sale “could hasten a conclusion to the Rays’ long-running search for a new stadium.” For two decades, Sternberg has “tried to find a new home for the Rays other than Tropicana Field.” An agreed-upon $1.3B deal to build a new park in St. Petersburg “went by the wayside this spring.” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and some owners this spring were reportedly “pressing Sternberg to sell” (THE ATHLETIC, 7/14).
