Media report: MLB Commish Pushes Tampa Owner to Sell

Posted on: March 10, 2025, 03:39h. 

Last updated on: March 10, 2025, 03:44h.

Mark Keast Read More
Expertise: Canadian Gaming, iGaming, Las Vegas, Sports Betting, NFL, Boxing, UFC.
  • Deadline on new stadium coming up on March 31
  • $2 billion stadium complex on the line
  • Hurricane Milton in October tore the roof off Tropicana Field

Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg has a deadline on next steps for a new stadium coming up March 31, with a media report today casting doubt on whether he can pull it off.

Tropicana Field in St. Peterburgh was severely damaged by a hurricane last fall. The owner of the MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays is being pressured to sell the team, according to media reports. Image/Pixabay

$2 Billion Ballpark on the Line

The Athletic reports that the Rays ongoing stadium issues have MLB commissioner Rob Manfred pushing the Rays owner to sell the team.

The Rays have had stadium challenges for decades, of course, with several projects that have never come to fruition.

The Pinellas County Commission last year voted to share in the financing of a new $1.3 billion ballpark, that would keep the team in St. Petersburg, with the Rays agreeing to fork over $700 million, but now there’s a dispute between both sides about cost overages. March 31 is the deadline for Sternberg to meet obligations for the current new ballpark plan to go forward.

Then there’s the current stadium, Tropicana Field, with the MLB season about to start. Hurricane Milton in October destroyed the stadium, with cost over-runs on extensive repairs estimated to be over $150 million. Some estimates have the Tropicana not being ready until 2029. The Rays are set to play home games at the spring-training ballpark of the New York Yankees in Tampa for the 2025 season.

Rays Forced to Play at Yankees’ Spring Training Home

We’d like to keep the franchise in Tampa Bay,” is what Manfred said in February. “We think the market is big enough and there is passion for the game. Having said that, it is challenging.”

Sternberg did say in another media report that the team would not be able to cover the further cost overruns for Tropicana alone, and The Athletic story reported he has been courting minority investors.

We will have to see if Manfred pushes Sternberg to sell the team outright. The report says MLB will push to keep the team in the St. Petersburg area, Tampa or Orlando. The media report added Edward DeBartolo, Yankees minority owner Joe Molloy and Tampa businessman Dan Doyle Jr. are among the interested parties to buy the team.

Rays +750 to Win the AL East

According to a Reuters wire story in February, Sternberg said: “If it was (for sale), people would know it. I’ve always been, and I will continue to be, pretty transparent about our intentions. And not pretty, but very honest about them. And I have been.”

At FanDuel today, the Rays are +4500 to win the World Series. +750 to win the AL East. News reports over the weekend focused on the Yankees and star starting pitcher Gerrit Cole, out of the lineup with an elbow issue, and Tommy John surgery mentioned as a possibility, news which impacts betting on every team in the Al East.