“If Stu walks away from this deal, I think the owners and Major League Baseball will see that he either has an unwillingness to do a new stadium in Tampa Bay, or he has a financial issue that prevents him from doing a new stadium in Tampa Bay and there needs to be an ownership change,” Latvala said. “I do believe that we’ll have new ownership with the Rays at some point in the near future.”
Team president Matt Silverman said Sternberg’s access to the money is not the issue, however.
“It’s not a question of whether we have the funds. We do,” Silverman said. “The question is whether it’s a good use of those funds to commit us and MLB to this ballpark for the next 30 years.”
A more powerful deadline, however, might loom at the end of 2026, during collective bargaining between MLB and the players’ union. MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association could, at that time, agree to ways to lessen the team’s share in revenue sharing or put contingencies around it.
The Rays, however, believe they should not be committing to a stadium project where they don’t think they can thrive, people briefed on the possibility of the team’s sale said. The Rays feel that fellow club owners should be glad the team does not want to sign up for 30 more years of middling success — because it would mean they’d still be propped up by revenue sharing. The team also feels singled out compared to other smaller-market teams that have been less successful on the field, including in comparison to the Miami Marlins.
But if Sternberg walks away from the deal in St. Pete at the end of the month, it might be difficult to revive.
“I don’t know what there would be left to negotiate,” Latvala said. “We have a deal, and it’s on the table. I’m certainly not going to give them more money, so I don’t really know what’s left to negotiate with them.”
Construction in Tampa might only be more expensive, which could make it hard for the team to pivot there while he remains the owner. New investors in the team could change that dynamic, but it’s unclear how Tampa politicians would receive Sternberg after this episode in St. Pete.
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