Billionaire attorney John Morgan says he plans to meet with Rays managing partner Patrick Zalupski to discuss moving the team to Orlando if a stadium deal falls through in Tampa.
In an interview with WFTV-TV in Orlando, Morgan said he remains in contact with Zalupski, the Jacksonville developer who led the investment group that purchased the Rays last fall.
“We text each other from time to time,” said Morgan, who is semi-retired and lives much of the year in Hawaii.
“So, I'm back from Hawaii now. Patrick's gonna come down,” Morgan added. “We're going to have another lunch and talk about it. I would still put my money up for baseball, but only in Orlando.”
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Morgan previously committed $250 million to an Orlando group pursuing the Rays until Zalupski’s investors entered exclusive negotiations with former owner Stuart Sternberg in September. The reported $1.7 billion sale closed in October.
At the time, Morgan said he remained interested in investing if the team ultimately landed in Orlando.
Since then, the Zalupski group has entered a memorandum of understanding to build a $2.3 billion stadium in Tampa on property now used by Hillsborough College. The Rays would pay more than half the cost, while Hillsborough County would contribute $750 million and the city of Tampa another $250 million. Negotiations remain ongoing.
The Rays are pushing to open the stadium by the 2029 season. Their lease ends in 2028 at St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field, where the team has faced low-attendance issues throughout their 28-year existence.
Morgan said he believes Orlando would become the leading option if Tampa and Hillsborough fail to finalize financing.
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“It didn't work in Tampa (St. Petersburg). It is not gonna work in Tampa again. It's a mistake,” Morgan said. “But I told Patrick, I said, ‘If you move it to Orlando …’ ”
Morgan also said he recently discussed the Rays’ situation with former Florida Gov. and U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, who is running for mayor of St. Petersburg.
“It's not necessarily a lock,” Morgan said of the Tampa stadium effort. “They don’t have the votes over there, and the Lightning want stuff and the Bucs want stuff.”
Morgan previously said he declined an opportunity to join Zalupski’s Tampa-based ownership effort and would only invest if the team moved to Orlando, which he considers a better market for sports.
“I'm in the game only if Patrick wants me back in the game, and only if they don't get it in Tampa,” Morgan said.
Rays CEO Ken Babby has said the team is talking only with Tampa and Hillsborough. However, in an April memo to county commissioners, Babby said the organization would “evaluate alternatives” if negotiations failed to produce a deal that positioned the franchise for “long-term success.”
Hillsborough Commissioner Ken Hagan, who is part of the effort to bring the Rays across the bay, has long warned that Orlando remains a legitimate threat.
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“I believe it’s either going to be located at [Hillsborough College] or the team will be in Orlando,” Hagan told WDAE radio in January. “If a deal can’t be reached here, that’s where they’ll end up.”
Another interesting detail comes from Orlando’s previous ownership effort. After Zalupski’s group purchased the Rays and pledged to keep the team in the Tampa Bay area, Orlando “anchor investor” Dr. Rick Workman became a minority investor in the Zalupski group.
Morgan called Workman, a Central Florida resident and founder of Heartland Dental, a “fantastic guy.”
“He jumped into Patrick's group, 'cause he just loves baseball,” Morgan said. “... but I think he'd be part of it if we came back to Orlando.”
