1:07pm: Major League Baseball issued the following statement in the wake of the Rays’ announcement:
“Major League Baseball remains committed to finding a permanent home for the Club in the Tampa Bay region for their fans and the local community. Commissioner Manfred understands the disappointment of the St. Petersburg community from today’s announcement, but he will continue to work with elected officials, community leaders, and Rays officials to secure the club’s future in the Tampa Bay region.”
10:58am: As the Rays continue to deal with the lasting impact of damages to Tropicana Field during Hurricane Milton, owner Stu Sternberg announced this morning that his club will no longer be moving forward with the previous tentative plans to construct a new ballpark in St. Petersburg. The team’s statement reads as follows:
“As we all recover from impacts of the hurricanes, we are incredibly grateful for the support from our fans and the wider Tampa Bay community. … After careful deliberation, we have concluded that we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this moment. A series of events beginning in October that no one could have anticipated led to this difficult decision.
Our commitment to the vitality and success of the Rays organization is unwavering. We continue to focus on finding a ballpark solution that serves the best interests of our region, Major League Baseball and our organization. The City of St. Petersburg is currently advancing plans to restore Tropicana Field for the 2026 season. We are thankful for their efforts and are excited to return to our home field next spring.”
Last summer, the Rays reached a tentative agreement to construct a new $1.3 billion stadium — part of a larger $6.5 billion redevelopment project in the historic Gas Plant District site near the existing Tropicana Field. The closed-roof, 30,000-seat stadium was set to open in 2028, and the development plan had been agreed upon by the Rays, Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg. The city council and county commission still needed to sign off on the plan, and various benchmarks needed to be hit along the way to ensure the stadium plans would remain on track.
Mother nature, of course, had other intentions. Hurricane Milton wrought immense damage on Tropicana Field, leaving the Rays without a place to play for at least the 2025 season while they evaluated the cost of repairing Tropicana Field’s shredded roof. The Yankees agreed to allow the Rays to host their home games at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field — home of the team’s Class-A affiliate — for the upcoming 2025 campaign. That plan remains in place.
Even a short-term move to a location outside of Pinellas County rankled some on the county commission, however. The time needed to sort out logistical nightmare stemming from the hurricane damages, coupled with November election cycles that changed the composition of the boards set to approve the necessary bonds to move forward with the project, led to delays in what was already a tightly scheduled development plan for the new facility. Those delays also eventually led to a contentious back-and-forth between the Rays (Sternberg and president Matt Silverman) and Pinellas County that has played out over the offseason. Sternberg acknowledged back in November that relocation was a possible outcome in light of renewed squabbles with local government.
The abandonment of the exiting plan for the 2028 stadium and surrounding development comes against the more recent backdrop of reported pressure from not only other owners but also MLB commissioner Rob Manfred for Sternberg to sell the franchise. Evan Drellich of The Athletic wrote over the weekend that Major League Baseball hopes to keep the Rays in Florida, with a focus on either remaining in St. Petersburg or constructing a new facility in Ybor City near downtown Tampa — a location the Rays have previously explored. Orlando has also been mentioned as an alternative, per Drellich.
At this juncture, the team’s focus is clearly on returning to Tropicana Field for the 2026 campaign. That seems a short-term solution, at best, however. The Rays’ lease at their longtime home only runs through the 2027 season. The now-scrapped construction of their new Gas Plant District home was set to dovetail with the expiration of their lease at Tropicana Field. Both Drellich and ESPN’s Jeff Passan have reported within the past week that there are potential buyers lining up in the event the franchise is put up for sale, but Sternberg has in the past made clear that he does not intend to sell the club.
“If it was (for sale), people would know it,” Sternberg told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times last month. “I’ve always been, and I will continue to be, pretty transparent about our intentions. And pretty — not pretty — but very honest about them. And I have been.”
Sell the team.
Tampa Bay Rays = Nashville Stars
They already have a team name, logo and potential stadium deal in Nashville. Plus, it will cut down on travel time for all AL East teams. The only question is whether or not Stu will have to sell the team in order for them to move there. It’s a perfect solution to the current issues in St Pete.
MLB/Manfred wants a new expansion team potentially there. They don’t want the Rays to relocate to TN.
I heard that too but is MLB healthy enough to expand another 2 franchises? I know the owners want it because they’ll all get paid a bunch of money from an expansion team but MLB has a real attendance problem for at least 5 current teams, if not more. The owners/MLB have to support these teams with revenue sharing and extra draft picks. I’d prefer to see them pull both franchises out of Florida and relocate them to markets that can support a team.
Just look at the Rockies. One of the worst teams in baseball, but yet they are always in the Top 5 in attendance. There are markets out there who will support their teams, win or lose. Let’s relocate some of these ‘failed’ franchises to markets who will be happy to have them and actually show up to watch the product before considering further expansion.
Not sure how enthusiastic the owners, at least some of them, are to expand. They’ll have to divide the national TV contracts with two more teams, and the same with revenue sharing. Still stunned the other owners allowed the A’s to move from Oakland to a smaller market.
Agreed that Tampa, and Tampa Bay can’t support a team in terms of attendance, but they do have fans for what it’s worth.
The region has practically no highways to move its 3 million+ people, and between the politics and the weather, it never will.
While the current stadium location is the worst possible, there are no good local options that can get 30,000 fans to a weekday night game with any regularity.
It’s not simply baseball that should relocate, but any buisness or person is better off away from the excess sulfur and rain of the region.
Correct. I’m part of a much larger fanbase that absolutely hates going to watch a game in the tincan warehouse.
Economically if Trump keeps destroying the economy the only way to get a team would be to relocate Tampa rays to Nashville
TDS
They might want their share of that $2 billion expansion fee though. Expanding to 32 teams would only drop their revenues from $60 million to $56 million annually from the national TV revenue..
Genuinely curious why the St Pete location is so bad for Tampa fans? Is an hour drive in rush hour traffic really that much of a detriment to fans wanting to see their team play?
Sincerely,
A NY fan in a NY suburb 90-120 minutes from my team’s stadium…
TRS
Vegas promised the A’s all the home games will be sell-outs.
Obviously, they’ll be comping tix at all the casinos.
I love when they make the playoffs & the Trop still looks like someone called in a bomb threat. Ahahahahahaha!
MAGAt
MA GA = Make Authoritarianism Great Again
There is no question that there are markets that will support their teams, win or lose. Neither Florida team has ever drawn decent crowds, never mind great ones, especially the Rays. I know about the bridge issue, but even weekend games are lucky to draw 20,000, and the Rays almost always put together a competitive team. Move both teams out of Flordia, one to Nashville and one to Montreal or Salt Lake City.
R for Reality
Have you been to Oakland? More teams equals more demand and bigger contracts for the players. This is what the Players Union will want, and they’re the ones running the game.
TDS is real
@Dorothy_Mantooth, Colorado hasn’t been top 5 in attendance since 2001.
You beat me to it Dorothy! We are ready for baseball here in Nashville!
mlbmusiccity.com/
I dig that logo! The 5 minute video about the history is well worth watching too.
Again, as I’ve said more times than I can count. The Rays are moving anywhere outside of the central Florida market. MLB will not move from the 11th ranked media market to the 26th. Should MLB expand, Nashville is one candidate among many. There is a franchise fee of approximately $2 billion to be shared among MLB for the expansion draft.
This has always been a ploy by Sternburg to extract money. The Trop damage gave him a perfect, to him, reason to backout. I’m sure big news is coming in the next few weeks.
The proactive choice is to move. Middle Tennessee is a rabid sports fanbase that actually supports the Titans and Predators with attendance. The Preds sellout and even the recently piss poor Titans, still generate strong season ticket sales. And just because the TV market is larger in central Florida, doesn’t mean the fanbase has more value. They don’t show up for games (on either coast), which is hardly inspiring to taxpayers asked to pony up a ton of money for a new stadium. Now, the Sternburg. element is admittedly unpredictable but will always be based on whatever makes him the most money… The stadium is a dump and is going to be a giant headache moving forward. And I don’t think the pressure from other owners and the league office to sell, is smoke and mirrors- Even if it means moving out of that market.
@alwaysgo – The size of the media market has little to do with the success of a MLB franchise or its value. Cleveland has the 19th largest media market in the US, but they can’t get fans to show up and they rely on revenue sharing from MLB to stay afloat.
Meanwhile a smaller media market like St. Louis (22nd media market) draws a ton of fans and their franchise is quite healthy. In fact, the Cardinals are valued at 2.45 billion dollars while the Cleveland Guardians are valued at 1.35 billion dollars. If it’s all about the size of the media market, how do you explain a team in a bigger media market (Cleveland) being worth nearly 45% less than a team in a smaller media market? It’s all about the fan base and their support, both in person and by television subscriptions to their local networks / streaming services.
Again, as I’ve said more times than I can count. The Rays aren’t moving anywhere outside of the central Florida market. MLB will not move from the 11th ranked media market to the 26th. Should MLB expand, Nashville is one candidate among many. There is a franchise fee of approximately $2 billion to be shared among MLB for the expansion draft.
This has always been a ploy by Sternburg to extract money. The Trop damage gave him a perfect, to him, reason to backout. I’m sure big news is coming in the next few weeks.
Echo…. Echo… echo
> MLB will not move from the 11th ranked media market to the 26th.
A’s are in the process of moving from the 5th ranked market to the 29th.
Your argument is invalid.
always – maybe stop saying it. No one seems to be listening to you.
Oh you can bet the baby’s milk money it’s coming & it’s coming in hot! Ahahahahahaha
“A’s are in the process of moving from the 5th ranked market to the 29th.”
Difference is that the Giants remain in that Oakland market after they left, so MLB still has that market tapped. The Rays moving out of state would leave no team in that market, and MLB won’t allow that to happen. The Rays will end up in either an Ybor City location in Tampa or in Orlando.
Rays backed out of the St. Pete deal two weeks earlier than they needed as well… I would actually think we get news regarding Tampa or Orlando relatively soon… something made them back out of a done deal with St. Pete, and I’m guessing it wasn’t just because they had initial chats elsewhere. Something is up.
Oh…so EVERYONE thinks that they’re moving? Sadly for you, they’re not.
Careful, the Nashville crowd doesn’t like common sense. The only reason they have issues is the absence of available fans in that area, transportation issues, and the pitiful stadium itself.
As others have said, the Rays aren’t moving out of that part of the region. They will either re-visit the Ybor City location or Orlando. Either one of those would greatly help them with attendance. Being in St. Pete was always the issue as people didn’t want to cross the bridge over there.
Nashville is more likely to get someone like the White Sox if they can’t get a new ballpark or an expansion team later on. Zero percent chance the Rays move out of that region.
Orlando is a good idea. It is already a destination city like Vegas is. You will get locals as well as a lot of out of towners that wouldn’t mind going to Orlando for a series and check out Universal.
Sternberg using every excuse to squeeze out every last dollar.
MLB obviously is annoyed too, hence the pressure to sell.
The Montreal split season scam eliminated any trust I might’ve had nearly 6 years ago.
Yep, time to sell. If Stu can’t build a stadium after being given $600 million by the city and county, then maybe he just isn’t rich enough to own a team.
^Relocate the team.
Why…this sounds like local politics in Pinellas County having lots to do with changing their minds as much as an owner looking for public funding just like every other owner….Nashville will probably just get an expansion team….
Because no one cares about the team and a new stadium would be a waste of money. Just like the Marlins new stadium was a waste of money.
@Rocky – Pinellas County stuck with the original deal and approved the bonds. They delayed the vote by five weeks because a hurricane rolled through town and the Rays owners complained because supposedly that raised costs significantly. There was a lot of in-fighting between county commissioners and Stu, but you can’t blame the county for changing their minds and sinking the deal. Stu agreed to cover any overage costs in the original deal, so if it wasn’t this hurricane that sunk the deal and raised costs due to delays, it would’ve been the next one.
Sell the team
Who was $1.7 B that’s billions. Will be curious to see who steps up with the cash
What idiot would buy under the current conditions? Ask the Angels, Nationals and Twins how that went.
Edward DeBartolo Jr is one name mentioned among others but he has the deepest pockets.
Well…not surprising
Except to Gomer Pyle
What us this 1963?
Surprise surprise surprise
Shazam! Ahahahahaha!
It was a good gear up statement that should have ended off by stating: “Montreal, we are back baby!”
Sell the team $tu.
Pressure to force a better deal
Even nature could not help the Rays get a decent ballpark.
Back to playing in a circus tent…
Translation: the team is getting sold and relocated.
A black eye on the face of our beautiful game
Manfred is the biggest black eye that ever occurred in the game.
Stu wants credit for the attempt while the city puts a band-aid on the problem. I’m not sure who looks worse to the franchise rn, Stu or Wander.
Nashville Rays. Here they come or Bama Rays
Why would a team ever want to move to Alabama?
anyone* fixed
I am in AL and there’s at least 4 better SE cities more worthy of a team. Nashville OR Charlotte, but not both. Just please get baseball out of FL. They don’t deserve 2 teams, and I don’t care how good an opportunity there is in Orlando with all the tourists.
Some people are just bigoted towards people from Southern states. Pay them no mind.
Or anyone. Maybe Forrest Gump.
The Rays AAA team is the Durham Bulls. So… Charlotte Rays
Of course if they move to Charlotte they’ll have to change the spelling to Charlotte Raes. That’s just the facts of life.
Underrated comment.
What you talkin about Willis
Yes!!
Not underrated. He’s got 9 upvotes downthread in the first hour that’s not over yet. Good job!
gen x’ers appreciate this comment
rays need to take it one day at a time as they’re movin’ on up to charlotte. happy days and good times await them in north carolina. something something barney miller…
Got that bassline going now. Thanks!
should have 1,447,330,299 by now. Id say 9 is underrated
they could build a little stadium on the prairie.
montreal would have a btter shot than alabama,lol and montreal aint happening either.
There’s no city in AL large enough to support a MLB team. Birmingham has the history (Barons) that just hosted 2024’s Rickwood Field game, but the city can’t support a team. Huntsville has become the most populated AL city, but still only 225K compared to Nasville’s 2.1M. They just got a AA-team (Trash Pandas-LAA) a few years ago in nearby Madison. While the state has popular baseball bases in Bama, Auburn and Braves, among others…there’s not enough concentration to warrant anything more than a minor league team.
No more house of horrors is good for baseball.
That’d be cool if they had Leatherface and Freddy and Jason running through the stands next season.
Couldn’t get enough free money huh?
Shan’t be cheering for him, but the fallout will be enjoyable.
Let me guess. United Kingdom.
Please move this team to a city that will support it
Oh…I know…Nashville. We love baseball here.
First sign Daniel Vogelbach then move the team to Macon, Georgia and change the name to MACON BACON!
Untill other fans start hitting the pocketbooks of their own owners, nothing will change. The rest of the the owners could oust John Fisher and Stu Sternberg. Just got to give them a reason. Stop attending games, stop watching it on TV. I think a good month of that would get the point across.
So unless ya’ll wanna do that, quit complaining and just roll with it.
We boycott games and protested outside the stadium to get rid of Frank McCourt and it worked. And now look at the Dodgers.
The stadium is a dump just take this as a sign to sell the team
Sell the Team & move them to Orlando.
Ewwwww…
Fine, I’ll take Salt Lake City as a back up to Orlando.
I’m in Orlando and would love a move here, but that’s incredibly improbable and nobody here is holding their breath on that. I’d trade both our pro soccer teams for a minor league baseball team again though! (RIP Fire Frogs)
Well don’t be surprised if Montreal, Nashville, Salt Lake City become talked about. I know Portland is already building a stadium.
Here in Nashville we will welcome you to our beautiful city
Connie Britton left so I don’t know.
Yes, come here. They would do well.
mlbmusiccity.com/
“that no one could have anticipated”
Umm… your team is located in Florida. Hurricanes should always be anticipated in Florida.
Move out of Florida.
More pressure on Stu to sell the team. I’m betting that the Rays get a new owner before the Twins do at this point.
Sell the team.
NASHVILLE!!
The Yankees should double the rent to keep playing at Steinbrenner Field.
Payment accepted in dollars or starting pitching.
I’m not even sure the Trop will be repaired by next April.
I have a feeling that this is going to result in Sternberg selling the team. The commissioner and several other owners are rumored to be pressuring him to sell. This gives clarity on the stadium situation in the short term and the new owners can deal with the issues with a new stadium.
Relocation is a possibility but MLB really does not want the Rays to relocate. That takes a city away that would be ripe for expansion and ripe for paying the $2B+ expansion fee.
NEW ORLEANS!!
@realrangerfan
New Orleans is good enough for the Superbowl but doesn’t even warrant discussion for the Tampa Bay Rays?
Correct, It doesn’t. The Super Bowl is a one time event that is supported by people traveling from all over the country.
Baseball has 162 games every summer that has to be supported primarily by the local community. They had a AAA team there that moved – to Wichita! – in 2019. Since then, they haven’t even succeeded in luring a AA team to replace it.
Havana Cuba would support baseball.
Dead team walking
Manfred is hellbent on keeping MLB in Florida, but the numbers just aren’t there. Move both those teams somewhere else and be done with it.
Here comes the same old posters like that constantly complaining reds fan and Samuel saying how these billionaires aren’t making enough profit and need more tax payer money to build them new stadiums.
It’s funny because the Rays can’t even fix their roof but teams like the Dodgers do massive renovations many offseasons and never take a $ from tax payers. Parks like Wrigley, Fenway and Dodgers stadium are always rated as the top experience in the game despite being older than most others. Then you have Sternberg, Reinsdorf and Fischer shaking down tax payers with the threat of relocation.
It’s kinda funny to think of Dodger Stadium in the same context as Wrigley and Fenway.
That said, yes. I visited Dodger Stadium a few years ago when I did a West Coast baseball trip. That was one of the more enjoyable stadium experiences.
Sternberg is not a billionaire.
I would think MLB would want a good team in Nashville rather than an expansion team.
IMO, the best solution is Sternberg selling the Rays to the Nashville Stars group.
There is no need to have two teams in Florida.
I agree. No need for two teams in Florida when neither one can draw crowds. Florida’s appeal will always be spring training and maybe minors ball.
They want that expansion fee!
And two other cities will gladly pay it, such as Portland, Salt Lake City, or Montreal.
third new york team NOW
I always wanted the Rays to move to Brooklyn, and if it weren’t for territorial rights, it could have happened.
Yes, it’s true that all MLB teams have territorial rights.
^ This!
You don’t need a Cap…you have to dilute the 10 Million population centers of LA and NY.
LA and NY are almost 4 Times the population density of 3rd largest Chicago. The rest of the 24 teams are so much further off.
Dilute the large markets!!
This is probably the best outcome. Staying in st. Pete, new ballpark or not, won’t change anything, just ask the marlins. They need to move asap.
This is why the league is pushing him to sell. He has no interest in spending money on a new stadium and probably figures since the Trop is getting renovated so to speak (new roof, replacing whatever else was damaged) why spend on a new ballpark.
Explain to me how Oakland loses their team in what was essentially a trash dump that ownership allowed to fall into disrepair but Tampa can drag their feet all they want.
The lease is not over yet.
Poor city management, have you ever been to Oakland? Really nothing good to say about the city, not exactly a diamond of a city. Just poorly run city. You can’t really blame the A’s, they lasted longer than the Raiders, Warriors in trying to make it work before they said we can’t do this anymore.
So long Tampa
Dear Rays,
It’s not you. It’s me. We had a good time together, but …
Sincerely,
MLB
Come to Sacramento! Let’s make it a 2 team city!
We are witnessing the end of new similar, major developments in the state, moving forward. The cost of insuring something like that with the escalation of massive climate change events…it’s over.
LOL, or maybe just don’t build any more stadiums with trash bags for ceilings….
It’s odd how both Florida teams struggle in terms of revenue and attendance.
Not considering how bad the ownership is with both teams.
Florida is a football state. No one cares about baseball.
MLB needs to force this guy to sell the team. Like tomorrow.
His antics over the delay in voting on the bonds has been total amateur hour. Dude is collecting $60m a year in revenue sharing, investing peanuts back into the team and seems put out that the city will “only” pay for half of his new stadium.
Bye Stu.
Its time to just relocate the Rays too, Nashville clearly has to be the #1 destination with how fans support the Preds, Titans there, they would sellout every game for sure
Probably good news for those hoping he sells the team. The Rays will have more value to the next owner without an agreement to keep the team in place. New owner can then bargain with multiple sites for the biggest and best taxpayer subsidy. Manfred knows this as well, and he, too, wants the biggest public giveaway. But he’s worried about the Rays leaving Florida.
Florida will always only have hardcore support for college, pro football
Leave the Gasparilla Pirate Fest alone though
honestly the marlins and rays are basically AAA teams already, just demote them and add a couple more mlb teams in Nashville/Charlotte and Portland and move on.
The Nashville-Charlotte-Portland Rays! Sorta like the Kansas City-Omaha Kings!
Florida shouldn’t have teams
Orlando makes more sense than St. Pete/Tampa since it’s a central location in the state, but it’s probably not the best option overall. I just hope they don’t decide to stay at the Trop long-term. Such a depressing ballpark.
I don’t understand why MLB teams in Florida get so little fan support…is the ownership for the Rays and Marlins that bad? The Rays always seem to be at least competitive and the Marlins just have never been able to do anything long term.
Nashville would be a great city for MLB and the people there would support them tenfold. Other cities that might be possibilities,,, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City but please not a team in Portland, Oregon…that place has turned into a garbage dump.
@3 finger split,
Like individual compost, recycling, and trash areas, or everything just mixed together?
Maybe it’s because of all of the games and different teams that play Spring Training games in Florida. A lot of Florida residents are transplants from other states and some may go to a lot of these spring games to see the teams from their former areas and when the Regular Season starts, all of their favorite teams have returned home and the local Florida baseball fans have no interest in the local Florida teams! A lot of the Regular Season attendance may be from visiting teams that have a lot of fans that travel well to away games.
Uh oh, Spaghettios.
That seems like that then.
MLB is going down the path of having two teams playing in minor league ballparks. That is not a good look, how long will the A’s be aloud not to even break ground in Las Vegas, they keep delaying as the cost keep going up. Tampa Bay is going back to playing in the Trop in 2026 and for how long, they don’t draw there, terrible place to watch a game. Have a deal worked out for a new venue now they don’t, playing in a minor league park that only seat 15,000 plus the weather conditions. Now it seems that a new park is at least 5 years away for both teams.
Honestly, smart move by the Rays in this case. The team and stadium in St. Pete wasn’t the problem… it was the fact that it was in St. Pete. This sucks for the city, but they need to move into Tampa (Ybor City) or move to Orlando.
99 win team in 2023 that finished 27th in attendance. The location being in St. Pete was ALWAYS the issue.
Neither of the teams in Florida can draw fleas to a flea market. MLB may have poisoned Miami beyond repair. Twice they have gone to the top of the mountain and twice they have promptly dismantled those teams. Thats not the only time they had fire sales. Between Huzienga, who always sells his assets, Loria, and now Sherman…what can I say that hasn’t already been said.
Uhh… they have a permanent home already and it’s apparently being repaired.
What about a move to Orlando?
Orlando is now the 15th largest media market, larger than Minneapolis.
Orlando has the NBA as its only sports competition.
Orlando has the same favorable Florida tax laws.
Anybody have any idea about potential stadium sites and/or problems that I don’t see?
He sucks so bad, worse than Bob Nutting. I at least think Nutting would spend a bit more if he had a winning team, Rays do and still hardly spend.
Please move them to Nashville! I could finally get to go see some MLB games in person!
I get that people like the idea of a Nashville team, but the city is not ready. Politics has turned infrastructure into a nightmare. The traffic of downtown is INSANE. There’s no parking, the city transit system is a joke, traffic accidents are as high as cities with 3 times the population. They just don’t have their act together enough to expand this fast. Speaking as a resident.
I’m going to continue to beat this drum until I’m blue in the face. I’ve lived it for 27 years and I was at the Inaugural game in ’98.
Baseball in Florida is tough. There are 15 teams here every Winter and minor league year round. The histories of the teams that play in this state are extremely deep and the fan bases are rabid and most have refused to support the local teams. We have tremendous NHL and NFL support, but the teams that have played here before the Rays, have the hearts of the local residents. We have mass populations from the northeast and I know I’m generalizing here, but I don’t think many would disagree that they’re stubborn when it comes to their sports teams. I am too, but when I’ve lived in other states, I support the local team and when Tampa comes in, I root for them, but that’s just not the case in the Tampa Bay area.
They’re more likely to succeed in Tampa or Orlando or somewhere in between. The growth of the youth fan base is there, even though it’s slow, but I think it will grow more rapidly if the stadium is in a new area.
Simply not a particularly desirable sports franchise to own. Really wouldn’t even scratch the Billionaire Vanity Project itch. Spending billions on a Florida MLB team would be akin to a Sisyphean punishment in the underworld.
Boot the owner and move the team to a better area, like Nashville.
Move them to Nashville, realign the league in a few years with two new expansion teams and put them in the NL so they can develop rivalries with Atlanta and Cincinnati.