Pressure mounts among local leaders for Stuart Sternberg to sell Rays

Pressure appears to be mounting among local leaders for Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg to sell the Major League Baseball team, following his announcement Thursday that the team won’t go through with the $1.3 billion stadium and redevelopment deal in St. Petersburg.

Even some who have been staunch supporters of the Rays indicated that Thursday’s announcement was enough disappointment to warrant a change in leadership.

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, who has staked much of his legacy in the office on getting the agreement with the Rays, didn’t explicitly say Sternberg should sell. But he made clear he was done negotiating with the team’s current leadership.

“I have no interest in working with this ownership group,” Welch said at a news conference. “That bridge has been burned.”

Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan said he has “championed the Rays” and been a leader in support of the team for 15 years. But in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times on Thursday, he said, for him, any further discussions about keeping the team in Tampa Bay should be without Sternberg.

“Our team looks forward to sitting down with a new ownership group and discussing a framework for a Rays ballpark in Tampa,” he said. “Regarding conversations between the Rays and Pinellas County, at this point, I can only assume the focus is on repairing Tropicana Field.”

In the past week, two groups have come forward with interest in buying the team. Sternberg has not said he intends to sell, but The Athletic has reported he’s facing pressure from Major League Baseball to do so.

Matt Silverman, one of the Rays’ presidents, pushed back against these whispers.

“The team’s not for sale,” he said on a radio show Thursday. “These rumors are going to exist until there’s a resolution with the stadium.”

Silverman said there is “impatience” in the league to improve the financial vitality of the Rays, but the franchise is still committed to staying in Tampa Bay and coming to a successful solution without rushing.

“The emotions are raw on all sides,” he said. “Some of those raw emotions may die down a little bit, and we can have some measured conversations.”

Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala has long been vocal about his disagreements with the Rays leadership, who he has said are lying to residents about the budget shortfalls they are facing. On Thursday, he reiterated his call for Sternberg to sell.

“When Stu sells perhaps he can pay back the taxpayers of Pinellas/St. Pete for the all the money that was spent on this deal,” he wrote on the social media site X.

This was just one of Latvala’s tweets of the day aimed at Sternberg and the franchise, including a graphic that changed the team’s logo from “Rays” to “Sell.”

Others in the community also weighed in on social media.

“Just be honest with the fans, and not blaming the hurricane,” wrote one commenter on X. “Maybe it is time to get more investors or dare I say, sell the team.”