How new ownership moves affect Rays, Quakes, Lakers fans

Last week saw several new ownership moves across American sports.

The owners of the Tampa Bay Rays, San Jose Earthquakes, and Los Angeles Lakers announced sales of, or are reportedly working on deals to sell, their franchises. 

Each of the fanbases affected by these moves have their respective gripes about the former owners, and their issues range from mild to downright insufferable. Here’s how the moves impact these fans.

It was reported last week that the Rays’ owner, Stuart Sternberg, was in talks to sell the franchise.

The news came just months after the Rays cancelled a nearly $3 billion deal for a new 30,000 seat stadium in St. Petersburg back in March. 

The Rays are an interesting story. Tropicana Field was built in 1993 as part of an effort to lure the Chicago White Sox to relocate to the Tampa area. When that failed, the stadium sat without an anchor tenant until the Rays were awarded as an expansion franchise and started playing there in 1998. That makes it the ninth-oldest stadium in MLB, but four of the stadiums below it are Wrigley, Fenway, Dodger Stadium, and Camden Yards —all icons of the stadium world, and Rogers Centre in Toronto has undergone massive renovations that will keep it around for quite some time. So when you look at it against the backdrop of stadiums that need to be replaced, it’s really the fourth oldest, just above Angel Stadium, Kauffman Stadium, and, ironically, Rate Field.

On the field, the team has also been interesting. Tampa is the epitome of a small-market team, particularly given the attendance issues often attributed to their stadium. Nevertheless, since the current ownership group took over in 2005, the Rays have the sixth best regular season winning percentage in MLB, which is nothing to scoff at.

And yet, despite that, the team’s failure to replace The Trop all of these years came to a head in March when they announced that they would not move forward with the new stadium deal that had been agreed to with the City of St. Petersburg. That led to questions about the future of the team in the area, and calls for the owner to sell the club. Which has now been tentatively announced.

The upside of this current ownership group for Rays fans is that they have been the most effective small-market team when it comes to wins per salary dollar. Sure, an ownership group that throws more money at the payroll would certainly be a great thing, but the Rays have outperformed large-market teams like the Mets, Giants, and Cubs over the last 20 years, so it’s hard to argue with the results. Whatever their payroll, they’ve done something right.

But there’s no question that the new ownership group will address the stadium issue, either by putting the previous deal with St. Petersburg back on the table, or coming up with something else. MLB seems committed to keeping the team in the area (although rumors persist about relocation, including the possibility of a regional move to Orlando). So, in terms of the fan experience at the ballpark, it is likely that a new ownership group will be a positive for Rays fans. They just need to hope that the new management team is as adept at finding budget talent as the current one has been.

Earthquakes owner John Fisher announced last Wednesday that he had started the process of selling the franchise. 

If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Fisher also owns the once-were Oakland / now-are Sacramento / soon-to-be Las Vegas Athletics. Fisher is widely reviled in Oakland, as Athletics fans accused the billionaire of intentionally tanking the team to drive down fan interest in Oakland to facilitate the move to Las Vegas (didn’t we see a famous baseball movie with the same premise?). As the A’s played their final games in the Bay Area, fans routinely protested Fisher’s ownership.

‘Quakes fans are probably relieved that Fisher is putting the team up for sale. Despite building Paypal Park in 2015 with zero public funding, Fisher’s franchise hasn’t seen that investment pay off on the field. The team has made the playoffs just 4 times in the nearly 20 seasons under FIsher, including just twice in the last 12 years. New ownership could make sweeping changes to help boost the team’s success. 

This lack of winning has translated into diminished fan interest. The team saw MLS’ fourth-lowest average attendance in 2024. New ownership moves could make a needed course correction both on and off the field to bring the ‘Quakes back to relevancy.

On the same day that Fisher stated that he’d be selling the Earthquakes, the Buss family – owners of the Lakers since 1979 – announced the sale of one of the most storied franchises in sports for a record $10 billion.

Lakers fans aren’t miserable by any means. They’ve known levels of on-court success that few other fan bases ever have. But if you look at their recent results, they aren’t quite what they once were. Under team owner Jerry Buss, the Lakers won nine championships in 35 years, including back-to-back titles in 2009-10. However, in the 12 years since Buss’ death, the team has won only one championship, and that was in the Covid-shortened 2019-20 season. 

That’s not to suggest that the current ownership group hasn’t done its best – the Lakers routinely sign star players and aren’t known for not spending money. But the results simply haven’t been there, so fans might see this as a welcome change. With the blockbuster addition of Luka Doncic this past spring, new owner Mark Walter will immediately come under pressure to win now while the James-Doncic duo is still intact.