The Rays are for sale and that’s great news. But this ain’t over yet

TAMPA — If Tropicana Field had a chimney — or a roof — there would be white smoke this morning.

Finally, officially, thankfully, the Rays are for sale. This is not simply good news, it is necessary news if you want the Rays to remain in Tampa Bay beyond the next few years.

Because we are at the point in this decades-long saga where two things are abundantly clear:

1. The team needs to build a new stadium in a hurry.

2. There will be no public money for Stuart Sternberg to build one.

Selling the team would seem to be the only path forward if the Rays are to remain in Tampa Bay, and Sternberg has been coy about his intentions since pulling out of the Tropicana Field redevelopment deal earlier this year. As recently as three months ago, team president Matt Silverman emphatically said the Rays were not for sale, even though potential ownership groups seemed to be cruising eagerly around the ballpark.

So, yes, the announcement that Sternberg is willing to step aside — albeit for an obscene profit from his original investment — is a positive sign.

But there’s still a lot of ground to cover between today and the popping of champagne corks.

Specifically, the funding of a stadium. Also, the timing, location and design of a stadium. But, c’mon, the funding.

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has, thus far, been Tampa Bay’s guardian angel, repeatedly saying he does not want the Rays to move from this market. But the commissioner’s patience, and influence, only goes so far.

Beyond the possibility of a short-term lease extension at the Trop, Manfred fully expects to see cranes and bulldozers working on a new ballpark in the very near future. And that could be problematic around here.

The suspicion is that the ownership group headed by Jacksonville homebuilder Patrick Zalupski would like to build in Tampa. Sounds great, right? Except Tampa and Hillsborough County politicians have never been overly enthusiastic about providing public funds for a baseball stadium.

When Tampa was given exclusive rights to negotiate with Sternberg on a new stadium project in Ybor City from 2016-19, the plan fell apart without coming close to a resolution. At the time, the Rays said the city/county plan lacked specifics or commitments for financing. Hillsborough politicians countered that Sternberg refused to commit to footing the bill for half of the stadium’s cost, or even saying how much he was willing to invest.

There were subsequent attempts at working with private developers around Ybor, but they’ve all fizzled out.

That led to Sternberg embracing a plan to capitalize on the revenues from redevelopment at the Trop site to help fund a new stadium there, but he pulled out of that deal following the Trop’s brush with a hurricane and squabbles with local politicians.

So what does all of that mean today?

At this point, it’s still hard to say. Maybe, if Sternberg is out of the picture, elected officials in St. Pete and Pinellas will consider revisiting the Trop redevelopment plan that would have provided about half of the construction costs ($600 million) plus another $130 million in infrastructure money.

Or maybe Tampa politicians will finally come up with a plan that is enticing enough to woo a new ownership group.

The only certainty is that one side of the bay or the other will need to step up for the Rays to remain.

Otherwise, it’s hard to believe a potential owner would spend around $1.7 billion to buy the team, and then cough up another $1.3 billion or more for a new stadium. Not in a market that has struggled to put fans in the bleachers despite having a team consistently in the postseason.

Imagine, two years from now, that a new owner still hasn’t found an amenable stadium deal in Tampa or St. Pete.

Do you think Manfred would be happy to see the Rays in a deteriorating Tropicana Field indefinitely? Do you think, at that point, a stadium in Orlando or elsewhere might become a real possibility?

So, yeah, there’s still work to be done. Heck, the team hasn’t even been sold yet.

Trip Miller is another big-pockets investor who has already told the Tampa Bay Times’ Colleen Wright that he’s willing to outbid Zalupski’s group. Considering that some have suggested Sternberg often moves the goal posts while negotiating deals, it wouldn’t be shocking to see a potential sale dragged out.

But, I suppose, those are worries for another day.

Right now, there are potential solutions for Tampa Bay’s interminable stadium stalemate. That’s good news. Potentially, great news. And the possibility that Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is friendly with Zalupski, might chip in with state money for infrastructure costs is another promising sign.

You want to know the two sweetest words a fan can hear in Tampa Bay today?

It’s not “play ball.”

It’s “for sale.”

John Romano can be reached at jromano@tampabay.com. Follow @romano_tbtimes.

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