Real estate developer Patrick Zalupski has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to purchase Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays.
According to a Sportico report sourced from “multiple sources who asked not to be named because the details are private,” the deal values the team at roughly $1.7 billion. The LOI is not a purchase agreement and the deal runs the risk of not being completed.
The team’s principal owner, Stu Sternberg, acquired the franchise for $200 million in 2004. The potential sale follows the team’s problems in securing government funding for a new $1.3 billion stadium. The Rays are now playing at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the training home for the New York Yankees, while repairs are underway on their St. Petersburg home at Tropicana Field, which was damaged last fall by Hurricane Milton.
Zalupski is the founder and CEO of Dream Finders Homes, which is focused on new home construction for first-time home buyers. He joined by several partners in the purchase plan including Bill Cosgrove, CEO of Union Home Mortgage, and Ken Babby, the owner of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and the Akron RubberDucks Minor League Baseball teams.
Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays
