{"id":174914,"date":"2025-09-22T22:52:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T22:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/174914\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T22:52:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T22:52:06","slug":"group-led-by-jacksonville-based-billionaire-gets-ok-from-mlb-to-purchase-tampa-bay-rays-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/174914\/","title":{"rendered":"Group led by Jacksonville-based billionaire gets OK from MLB to purchase Tampa Bay Rays: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville-based billionaire has been given the green light to move forward with the purchase of the Tampa Bay Rays, according to the Tampa Bay Times. <\/a><\/p>\n

On Monday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the news outlet that a group led by Dream Finders Homes CEO Patrick Zalupski was unanimously approved by team owners to purchase the Rays for about $1.7 billion. <\/p>\n

The purchasing group also includes Ken Babby, who owns two Minor League Baseball teams, including the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. <\/p>\n

RELATED: Who is Patrick Zalupski? The man behind a fast-growing Jacksonville-based company who could become the Rays next owner<\/a><\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Times added that current owner Stuart Sternberg and his partners will retain a 10% stake in the team. Sternberg bought the Rays in 2004 for about $200 million. <\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg gestures as the baseball team announced plans for a new stadium during a news conference Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo\/Chris O’Meara) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

The news, which was expected after reports came out in June<\/a> that Zalupski signed a letter of intent to purchase the team, comes at a time of uncertainty for the Rays regarding their future home. <\/p>\n

In October 2024, Hurricane Milton destroyed Tropicana Field<\/a>, the St. Petersburg-based stadium that the team had called home since 1998. <\/p>\n

Due to the damage, the Rays played their 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field, the same place where the New York Yankees conduct their spring training. <\/p>\n

FILE – The roof of the Tropicana Field is damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton hit the region Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez, File) (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved)<\/p>\n

Before the hurricane, the Rays and the city had agreed on a plan for a $1.3 billion stadium development project next to Tropicana Field. In March, Sternberg said the club was withdrawing from that agreement.<\/a><\/p>\n

Presumably, the first order of business for Zalupski and his partners will be to figure out the team\u2019s stadium situation. The Tampa Bay Times writes that Zalupksi\u2019s group has already visited two sites near Steinbrenner Field<\/a> — Hillsborough College and locations in the Ybor harbor area.<\/p>\n

The Rays are currently in agreement to play at Tropicana Field, once repairs are complete, through the 2028 season. <\/p>\n

In previous months, there had been speculation that the group could be interested in moving the Rays to Orlando<\/a>, or even Jacksonville<\/a>, but it seems like the new ownership group is looking to maintain its 813 area code. <\/p>\n

Zalupski\u2019s purchase makes the Rays the most recent Major League Baseball team to be sold, which comes about a year and a half after the Baltimore Orioles were purchased by a group led by private equity billionaire David Rubenstein<\/a> for a little over $1.7 billion. <\/p>\n

The sale, which will require approval from the Federal Trade Commission, is expected to be formally completed this week.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville-based billionaire has been given the green light to move forward with the purchase…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[28,2808,363,91319,99,974],"class_list":["post-174914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-mlb","tag-patrick-zalupski","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}