Rays announce start of negotiations to sell team

The Tampa Bay Rays announced Wednesday that they have begun exclusive negotiations concerning the possible sale of the team, according to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

The Rays statement identified the interested group led by Patrick Zalupski, Bill Cosgrove, and Ken Babby, and "prominent Tampa Bay investors."

It stated no further comments would be made from either party during their discussions.

Zalupski, a Jacksonville developer, has signed a letter of intent to purchase the Rays in a deal that values the team at roughly $1.7 billion, sources told Scott Soshnick and Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico.

A letter of intent is not a purchase agreement and does not guarantee the completion of the deal, Soshnick and Badenhausen added.

It was reported in March that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and several team owners were pressuring Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg to sell the team amid concerns surrounding its long-term future.

Tampa Bay is playing its home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, one of the New York Yankees' minor-league stadiums, while Tropicana Field is being repaired from damages caused last year by Hurricane Milton.

The Rays' current ownership backed out of a proposed deal to build a new stadium in St. Petersburg as part of a larger development project in March.

A Sternberg-led group originally bought the Rays in 2004.