Jacksonville homebuilder Patrick Zalupski leads the group of investors purchasing the Tampa Bay Rays.
Published on October 1, 2025 at 12:57 pm
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The Tampa Bay Rays officially have new owners.
The sale to a group of investors led by Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski closed Tuesday morning.
The price was not announced, but reports have placed it around $1.7 billion. Current owner Stuart Sternberg will remain as a limited minority owner.
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The Tampa Bay Rowdies, the United Soccer League Championship team owned by the Rays, is included in the transaction.
Zalupski, 44, is the founder, president and CEO of Jacksonville-based Dream Finders Homes, which builds single-family houses in Florida, and other states. Forbes lists his net worth at $1.4 billion.
“It’s an incredible honor to become the stewards of the Tampa Bay Rays, a franchise with a proud history and a bright future,” Zalupski said in a news release announcing the closing. “We are especially privileged to have been chosen by Stu Sternberg as his successors, and we’re all energized by the responsibility to serve Rays fans everywhere and this great game.”
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READ MORE: MLB owners approve sale of Tampa Bay Rays to Jax group
Also in the group is Ken Babby, founder and CEO of Ohio-based Fast Forward Sports Group, a sports ownership and management company that owns the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, and Akron RubberDucks, the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians.
In both cities, Babby used a formula of quirky branding, affordable tickets, ballpark upgrades and family fun to improve attendance and turn the teams into popular community assets.
“Baseball is about joy, connection, and community,” said Babby, whose Jacksonville team won the Triple-A national championship this week. “I’ve seen firsthand how a ballpark can bring people together, and I’m honored to help create those moments paired with a continued culture of winning here in Tampa Bay.”
In addition to Sternberg, minority investors include Bill Cosgrove, president and CEO of Union Home Mortgage, which has headquarters in the Cleveland area, and Rick Workman, founder of Heartland Dental. Workman had been a member of a group working to bring an MLB team to Orlando but joined the Zalupski group this month.
“Baseball has always been a part of my life, and now I get to join an ownership group for a team I’ve admired for years,” said Cosgrove, whose company has been a longtime sponsor of the Union Home Mortage Gasparilla Bowl, played annually at Raymond James Stadium. “It’s humbling, and I can’t wait to share this journey with the fans and the Tampa Bay community.”
Dan Doyle, the CEO of DEX Imaging, a Tampa-based office technology company, has also been reported as a minority owner.
Additionally, the news release listed “select investors” that include Will Weatherford, chair of the University of South Florida Board of Trustees and former speaker of the Florida House; former Rays co-president Matt Silverman; Doug Hertz, chairman and CEO of United Distributors, an Atlanta-based beverage distributor; and Robert Skinner, founder and managing partner at San Francisco-based IEQ Capital.
That group, along with Workman and Doyle, will serve on an executive advisory board set up by Zalupski and Cosgrove. Fred Ridley, a Tampa attorney and chair of Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, will serve as an independent member.
And there are others.
“A robust group of limited partners with deep connections to the Tampa Bay region will join the overall ownership team and be announced in the near future, further strengthening the group’s commitment to the future of the Rays,” the release said.
READ MORE: Dream Finders CEO in talks to buy Tampa Bay Rays
Silverman stepped down as a co-president last week, along with co-president Brian Auld, who has been retained in an advisory role.
Zalupski will serve as MLB control person and co-chair for the Rays. Cosgrove will also serve as co-chair. Babby is the CEO overseeing the day-to-day business operations. Erik Neander, the Rays’ top-ranking baseball official, will continue in his role as president of baseball operations.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred welcomed Zalupski and his partners to the ownership ranks.
“Their collective experience and passion for the game will serve the Rays well as they enter this exciting new chapter,” Manfred said.
A new start after a nightmare year
The transaction closes a roller coaster era for the team, which saw more than its share of success on the field but continues a two-decade quest for a stadium to replace St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field.
It’s now up to Zalupski’s group to settle on a location in the Tampa Bay area or elsewhere. Major League Baseball prefers the team not move due to its large and growing population, a ranking as the 11th largest TV market, media revenue potential and the high disposable income of many residents.
The Rays have been looking for a new home for when their contract at Tropicana Field ends in 2028. They played their home games this season in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field after Hurricane Milton ripped off the stadium’s fabric roof last year.
St. Petersburg is spending about $59 million to repair the ballpark, and work is expected to be completed in time for the Rays to play there this spring.
Before the hurricane, the Rays, St. Petersburg and Pinellas County had agreed on a plan for a $1.3 billion stadium development project next to Tropicana Field. In March, Sternberg said the club was withdrawing from that agreement, citing the hurricane and delays that likely drove up the proposal’s cost.
The decision didn’t sit well with many city and county leaders, who said Sternberg — a Wall Street investor with a New York City address — never embraced the region.
On Sunday, the outgoing owner said the public and political fallout from the decision led him to consider selling the team to someone who “might have a better path” to securing a stadium deal to keep the Rays in the region.
In June, the Rays confirmed the team was in “exclusive” sale negotiations with the Zalupski group, and in July, Sternberg and Zalupski had formed an agreement in principle.
READ MORE: Sternberg reflects on decision to sell Rays before his final game in charge
Sternberg purchased a 48% share of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays from founder Vince Naimoli for $65 million. Naimoli retained a 15% stake, while the remaining 37% was held by other limited partners. By October 2005, Sternberg had acquired full control of the team, becoming the managing general partner.
Big-ticket item: A ‘forever home’
Under Sternberg’s leadership, the franchise dropped the “Devil” from the name and rebranded the franchise with more traditional uniforms while investing to make the Trop more baseball-friendly. Another major change: The team began to win after a moribund opening decade.
Using sabermetrics, a strong farm system and the strong leadership of general manager Andrew Friedman and field manager Joe Maddon, the Rays reached their first postseason and World Series.
Sternberg’s Rays made the playoffs nine times, won four division titles and clinched two American League pennants. In 2021, they won a franchise-best 100 games.
Despite that success, the Rays have historically struggled at the gate, often ranking near the bottom in attendance among MLB teams.
Hence, the need for Zalupski to land the right stadium deal in the Bay area while other markets — including Orlando — await a chance to offer him a sweetheart deal.
His final season at the helm was chaotic from the start after the stadium deal fizzled and the hurricane ripped apart the Trop. Playing in the outdoor heat at Steinbrenner Field, the Rays finished 77-85, a second straight year with a losing record and no postseason.
Neander, whose been with the organization for 19 years, held a news conference Tuesday to look back on the season and plans for the next. He offered little about the sale but did touch on the stadium quandry.
“There’s two big-ticket items that need to be accomplished here to really put a cherry on top of everything the way this organization transformed over the last 20 years,” said Neander. “There’s a forever home that’s not here; it needs to be figured out. And a championship to be won.”
The “forever home” rests in the hands of his new bosses. But Neander said despite the Rays’ status as a “lower revenue team,” he is confident there is organizational alignment is getting the team back in the playoffs.
“There’s an expectation to win. Our expectation is to win. We’ll go about our business this offseason, getting to learn one another, understanding what’s most important to them. But the desire to win — what’s most important to us appears to be most important to them. And by all accounts, (they’re) really, really good people to work with.”
