If the Orlando Dreamers are still a threat to poach the Tampa Bay Rays, the investment group may have to do so without Dr. Rick Workman, who was previously announced as the effort's "anchor" investor.
Workman is now part of the Pat Zalupski group finalizing a deal to buy the Rays and keep them in the Tampa area, according to a report by The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal.
According to “a person briefed on the sale,” Workman is now the third-largest investor in the Zalupski team, which is meeting this week with representatives of Major League Baseball to go over details of the transaction. The sale requires approval by 75% of MLB owners.
In July, Zalupski agreed in principle to purchase the Rays from principal owner Stuart Sternberg for a reported $1.7 billion. The deal is expected to be finalized this month or by mid-October.
As part of the deal, Sternberg and his partners would temporarily stay as a 10% investor in Zalupski’s team, “two people briefed on the transaction who were not authorized to speak publicly” told The Athletic.
The involvement of Sternberg and his partners gives Zalupski’s bid more local ties. Dan Doyle, CEO of Tampa-based DEX Imaging, and Tampa lawyer Fred Ridley, who is chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters tournament, are also limited investors.
Zalupski, a Jacksonville home builder, is the principal financier, along with Bill Cosgrove, the president and CEO of Union Home Mortgage in Cleveland.
Ken Babby, whose sports management company owns two minor-league baseball teams, is also a partner. There are other minority investors as well.
Workman cashes into Tampa group
Workman, a former dentist, founded Heartland Dental, the largest dental management company in the country with more than 3,000 providers in 39 states. He is also chair of the executive adviser team with the private equity firm New Harbor Capital. He owns a home in the affluent Orlando suburb of Windermere.
In April, Dreamers co-founder and CEO Jim Schnorf confirmed Workman was the group’s anchor investor, part of a $2 billion effort that includes John Morgan, founder of the Orlando-based Morgan & Morgan law firm.
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The group remains interested in acquiring an existing team or expansion team and building a 45,000-seat stadium near SeaWorld in Orange County. In August, Schnorf said the organization received more than $1 billion from an unnamed "major institutional partner" to fund construction.
It is unknown whether the stadium requires Workman’s involvement. As of Tuesday morning, the Dreamers had not clarified Workman’s status with the group.
A Tampa sports complex?
The plan for a new stadium in Tampa remains a work in progress, although Zalupski has reportedly settled on Ybor Harbor, a waterfront development near downtown, or land occupied by the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough College, Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan told the Tampa Bay Times.
Hillsborough College is across Dale Mabry Highway from Raymond James Stadium and just south of Steinbrenner Field, where the Rays are playing home games this season while hurricane damage is repaired at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The lease at the Trop ends in 2028.
The proximity of stadiums would create a sports complex of sorts, where the city already has an effective traffic flow plan for events. The land is owned by the State
Hagan has said Zalupski’s first choice is Ybor Harbor, a 33-acre multiuse project planned for the north end of Ybor Channel led by local developer Darryl Shaw.
In June, the Tampa Bay Sun, a women's soccer team owned by Shaw, announced plans to build a 15,000-seat stadium there. However, Hagan has said he was told by Shaw the soccer site could be used for the Rays. Tampa pitched that location to the Rays in 2018, but Sternberg turned it down over financing concerns and other factors.
The Rays, who also own the Tampa Bay Rowdies, included the men’s soccer team in the sale agreement with Zalupski. The Rowdies currently play at Al Lang Stadium, a renovated baseball facility on the St. Petersburg waterfront.
