Forbes annual ranking has Rays 29th out of 30.
Forbes has released their annual valuations of each MLB franchise and the Rays come in as the 29th least valuable team in the game, just ahead of the Miami Marlins. The New York Yankees are the most valuable at $8.2B and the aforementioned Marlins are at the bottom with a value of $1.05B.
The Rays are valued at $1.25B.
This is significant as a benchmark for the team as rumors swirl about the possibility of the franchise being sold.
With Tropicana Field unplayable due to the damage suffered last October during Hurricane Milton and the St. Petersburg city officials have said that they will no longer work with this current ownership group, one would think the Rays value could have decreased, but the valuation had no change from 2024.
In 2023, it was reported that Dan Doyle Jr, a previous owner of the team that Stuart Sternberg bought control from, was part of a group attempting to buy the Tampa Bay Rays. The offer was reportedly $1.85B, but plans fell through.
It is being reported that Doyle has latched onto another group that is currently trying to buy the team but that valuation has not been verified.
It will be interesting to see if team values increase next offseason if the Rays stadium situation is resolved.
Right now, it isn’t certain if Tropicana Field will be repaired, especially if the city is having to foot the bill. City, County, and Team officials have all said that they believe Tropicana Field could be repaired in time for Opening Day in 2026, but little to no work has been completed thus far and the funds have not been approved.
The St. Petersburgh City Council was scheduled to vote on repairing Tropicana Field on Thursday but have since delayed that vote until April 3rd. A further wrinkle is the uncertainty of FEMA providing relief funds to help with the cost of repairing Tropicana Field, as has been assumed would be available, which may lead to the city attempting forgo repairing the stadium altogether and leaving the Rays with nowhere to play beyond 2025.
Even though the Rays ownership and stadium situations are enormous clouds hovering over the team as the 2025 season that is set to begin Friday, and presumably the team’s ability to generate in stadium revenue, it’s not one hanging over the team’s valuation.