I moved to Tampa in 2005 and quickly adopted the Devil Rays as my team, just as Stuart Sternberg was stepping in as the team’s Managing Partner.
Now, as he prepares to hand the team over to Patrick Zalupski
and a new ownership group, I’ve been thinking about what his tenure has meant for my Rays fandom.
I know plenty of fans are ready to see him go — tired of the low payroll, the tearful goodbyes to stars hitting arbitration, and the endless stadium drama.
But I see Sternberg differently.
I think he truly believed that putting a winning team on the field would boost attendance, grow sponsorships, and political support behind a new stadium.
I too would have thought that equation would have worked. I still don’t know why it hasn’t. I’m skeptical that new owners can do much better.
Stu and me, two Brooklyn kids
I admit I have a soft spot for Sternberg. He and I were both born in the same place (Brooklyn) in the same year (1959) and spent our fledgling years rooting for the same team. Indeed, I’ll bet if I asked, he could join me in singing “Meet the Mets” and like me he’d know all the words.
Apart from those personal connections, I appreciate how hard it is to change an organizational culture, which is exactly what he did for the Devil Rays. When he took over, he brought focus, professionalism, and a new fan-friendly culture. He didn’t personally make the roster moves that turned the team into a contender in 2008, but he hired the people who did — and kept them here by being the kind of boss people want to work for.
As for payroll, I don’t see the Rays as cheap so much as realistic. With Tampa Bay perennially near the bottom in attendance, there’s only so much revenue to work with. Most team expenses are fixed — from the farm system to stadium staff — no matter how many tickets are sold. That means a lower payroll is simply baked into being a small-market team.
The never-ending stadium saga
The failed stadium quest is the biggest blemish on Sternberg’s legacy. Maybe a different owner with deeper pockets and better local ties could have made the Ybor, “sail”, or Gas Plant plans happen. There are a ton of reasons it’s hard to build a new stadium, however. You need to find 20 buildable acres in already built-up areas. You need to find a billion dollars from some mix of private and public sources. All kinds of events, from recessions to elections to hurricanes, come along and the plan that looked feasible yesterday is now in the recycling bin.
But sometimes Sternberg’s (or Auld’s or Silverman’s) comments didn’t help. It should be possible to state your interests without alienating fans, players, and politicians. Too often Rays leadership let their frustration boil over into condescension, impatience and arrogance.
The “sister city” plan probably made sense in C-suite conversations. By linking two weak baseball markets maybe you get….one financially stable team? But he and the Rays leadership never seemed to get why Tampa Bay fans weren’t excited. Then when they hung a banners and invited Montreal investors to our 2019 ALDS home games, well, that felt like nothing but betrayal. By the end, the bad blood with local officials made it hard to see him leading the team to its next chapter.
We all love Stu, the fan
But Stuart Sternberg has put a lot of himself into building this team. When he appears on broadcasts it’s hard to miss how much of a fan he is. Most would agree that the Rays staff is incredibly fan friendly, that they have contributed a lot to our community. The team’s efforts to turn Tropicana Field into a great place for baseball, despite its obvious limitations, have been impressive. Sternberg, the boss, set these priorities.
Maybe Zalupski and company will find the secret formula: fill the park, boost payroll, and finally break ground on a new stadium. But looking back, I think we were lucky that Stu Sternberg bought the Rays. Here’s hoping we get lucky again.
