John Romano: The wish of Rays fans? An owner with a wallet as big as our dreams.

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on Jul 16, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. — More than any other sport, baseball requires patience.

The game is played without a clock, and its calendar stretches from Valentine’s Day to Halloween. Historically, Major League Baseball invites fewer teams to the postseason than the NFL, NHL or NBA, and prospects take years to work their way through the minor leagues.

Yearning is ingrained in the fan experience, and suffering is a source of pride.

Which brings us to the Rays, and news of an impending sale.

Is Tampa Bay’s patience about to be rewarded?

After all the insults, shortcomings and sad departures, is it possible that a state-of-the-art ballpark and an ownership group with deep pockets will finally be a part of Tampa Bay’s baseball experience?

Because those are your missing ingredients. Well, that and sellouts.

We have had All-Stars and award winners, we have cheered pennant winners, we have won more regular-season games in recent seasons than a lot of century-old franchises, and we have even seen two local products elected to the Hall of Fame after the final touches of a career were played in Tampa Bay.

But an enviable stadium?

And an uber-rich owner?

For most of the past 30 years, those have been fantasies viewed from afar.

Vince Naimoli will always be remembered as the hardscrabble businessman who finally forced MLB’s hand and brought a team to Tampa Bay, but penny-pinching was in his nature.

Stuart Sternberg recently has fallen out of favor after failing to follow through on the construction of a stadium for economic reasons. But his near-20 year stewardship of the club was exemplary in terms of front office hires, cutting-edge concepts and onfield success despite spending less on payroll than any other team since 2005.

Essentially, Tampa Bay never has had an owner whose bank account could attract free agents, absorb mistakes and overwhelm common sense.

That’s the hope with Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski.

It’s unrealistic to imagine an owner in Tampa Bay with the resources of, say, Mets boss Steve Cohen, but it would be revelatory if the Rays could approach league average when it comes to payroll. Based on a salary database at Baseball Prospectus, the Rays have never been higher than No. 22 in payroll in the past two decades. For the most part, the Rays have been ensconced in the bottom three of payrolls with the likes of the Marlins, Athletics and Pirates.

Now, it’s become fashionable to assign all the blame to Sternberg when it comes to finances but the market shares in that disappointment.

Despite nine playoff appearances since 2008, the Rays consistently have been near the bottom of the league in attendance. The lack of an appealing ballpark is surely part of the problem. So is the stadium’s location. And the dearth of corporations that drive season ticket sales and sponsorships. Maybe even the inability to tap into what makes this market tick.

Can Zalupski’s group fix all of that?

It’s a lot to ask, but that’s the dream. And it starts with forging a new relationship with politicians and business leaders in Tampa. The Rays first began talking to officials in Hillsborough County about building a stadium in 2016 but never came close to finding common ground on a deal.

Pointing the finger of blame at Sternberg might be comforting — and might be totally accurate — but neither current mayor Jane Castor nor past (and potentially future) mayor Bob Buckhorn ever wanted to expend much political capital on a stadium venture. That’s not necessarily an inappropriate stance for a mayor to take considering other needs in a community, but it could ultimately decide the franchise’s fate.

The assumption is that Zalupski’s group would prefer to build in Tampa (as Sternberg once did) but we do not yet know how much he might be willing to invest in a ballpark. With a cost in the $1.5 billion range, it would likely take a creative financing package with taxing districts and maybe some real estate developers buying in because it’s hard to see Tampa/Hillsborough coming up with a ton of public funds.

The bottom line is this sale needs to happen.

It doesn’t guarantee that the Rays will remain in Tampa Bay — only a new stadium does that — but it creates a pathway that did not exist once Sternberg pulled out of the Gas Plant District redevelopment project at the Tropicana Field site.

A lot of fans have sat through nearly 30 years of baseball in a subpar stadium in an imperfect location with a bargain bin payroll and loved nearly every minute of it. Let’s hope this deal is the reward for their patience.

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