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Afternoon Edition

March 14, 2025

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If the Rays want a new stadium, their choices are mending fences with local leaders—or finding a new home in another city. We break it down.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Rays Stadium Deal Collapse Sparks Uncertainty: What’s Next for Team? [[link removed]]

Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The fallout of the Rays’ decision to walk away from the deal to build a $1.3 billion stadium [[link removed]] contains many more questions than answers, and plenty of tough choices ahead for the MLB club, the league, and Tampa-area political leaders.

Foremost among those questions following the collapse of the ballpark deal is what happens to the Rays. There are several primary potential paths for the club, each of them riddled with complications. Here are the leading options.

A New Stadium Deal in Tampa Area

The Rays suggested a desire to construct a revised pact that “serves the best interests” of all involved. MLB, similarly, said in a statement that commissioner Rob Manfred “will continue to work with elected officials, community leaders, and Rays officials to secure the club’s future in the Tampa Bay region.” The league has long been reluctant to give up on a growing locale that has become the No. 11 U.S. media market in Nielsen rankings.

There’s immediate resistance to a new stadium pact, however, from local leaders, who in multiple cases likened the split with the Rays to exiting a bad marriage. “Why would I go back to the same [ownership] group and trust them this time?” said St. Petersburg (Fla.) Mayor Ken Welch. “That bridge has been burned.” Other area leaders such as Tampa Mayor Jane Castor struck a cautious tone, and she said any new ballpark proposal in that city “has to make sense for our taxpayers and community.”

Sell the Team

There’s already growing pressure for Rays owner Stu Sternberg [[link removed]] to do exactly that, with some within MLB growing more frustrated with the ongoing delays and drama. Welch, for his part, said he would restart the stadium talks with a different owner. “If there’s a new ownership group, I’m perfectly willing to have those conversations,” he said.

The Rays, though considering potential sales of minority club positions, insist they are not parting with a controlling stake.

“The team’s not for sale,” Rays president Matt Silverman said on WDAE-FM. “I think Stu gets a bad rap, because he is the only guy for the last 20 years who has defended Tampa Bay, who has stood up for this market, who says we need to figure something out here.”

Those sentiments haven’t stopped a growing collection of prospective bidding groups from forming and publicly expressing their interest in buying the Rays.

Relocate: Orlando? Nashville?

There have been only two MLB club relocations since 1971: the Expos moving from Montreal to Washington in late 2004 to become the Nationals, and the ongoing, two-stage shift of the A’s [[link removed]] from Oakland to Sacramento and ultimately Las Vegas.

An Orlando-based group, the Dreamers, has quietly sought an MLB club for several years [[link removed]] but are amplifying their pitch for the Rays to move by just about 100 miles. The group announced Friday it has private commitments of more than $1 billion toward a $1.7 billion domed ballpark. Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin recently joined the Orlando effort as an ambassador.

Numerous other cities such as Nashville, Salt Lake City, Raleigh, Montreal, and Charlotte have either made formal pitches for an MLB club or have been discussed as potential market candidates. A club relocation, however, could complicate long-term league expansion plans, and outside of Orlando, would also likely require a sizable recalibration of MLB’s territorial map and local media footprint—an issue that complicated the Nationals’ situation for 20 years [[link removed]].

Do Nothing

The Rays will play this season at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring training home of the Yankees, and want to return to hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field in 2026. It’s not yet certain, however, whether that repair timetable is possible. Even if it is, the team’s lease there expires after the 2027 season.

Striking even a short-term extension for additional seasons at the city-owned Tropicana Field is problematic. Without an ownership change, St. Petersburg could be reluctant to approve another lease deal, and regardless of who owns the club, the revenue-generating ability of the facility is limited at best.

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Cheryl Miller on Caitlin Clark’s Foes: ‘Big Dummies, You Getting Paid’ [[link removed]]

The Arizona Republic

Cheryl Miller feels for Caitlin Clark. She understands the feeling of being “hated” for on-court success.

Miller, a three-time College Player of the Year [[link removed]] from 1984 to 1986, dominated the women’s basketball scene at a time when the WNBA did not exist. Women’s basketball was only starting to gain its footing, joining the Summer Olympics in 1976. But her skill warranted detractors.

“I know what it’s like to be a Black woman and hated because of my color. I can’t imagine this young lady. I don’t want to use ‘hate,’ but ‘despised,’” Miller told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the All the Smoke podcast.

The Caitlin Clark Effect

Clark’s arrival in the WNBA has driven record ratings and attendance to the league:

Viewership: up 113% on ESPN, up 133% on Ion vs. 2023 season Attendance: up 47% vs. 2023 season Expansion: 16 teams by 2028 (12 last season)

This growth has put the players in position to ask for a significant wage increase in their next collective bargaining agreement that starts in the 2026 season. But it has also brought more hate, both for Clark and against her peers.

Miller called out those who have a problem with the attention the young star has received.

“Is she getting hyped? Yes. But she was in the backyard. She was putting in the same time, sometimes maybe more than you were. I can’t fault her for what she was given. … You big dummies. You [are] getting paid now, right? Everybody now has an opportunity to pull up their chair and have a seat [at the table],” Miller said.

Miller, who coached both Clark and Angel Reese at the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game, said the two “got along so well” as teammates. She recognized that the two are being pitted against each other—in part because of their race differences—but thinks it’s good for the league.

“They never got caught up into it. And those two are the foundation of the great stories and narratives coming out of the NCAA now flooding the [WNBA], which helps the [WNBA],” Miller said.

Last year, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert spoke about the rivalry between the two and, like Miller, compared it to the NBA’s classic rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird [[link removed]].

“It is a little of that Bird-Magic moment, if you recall, from 1979, when those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry, one white, one Black. And so we have that moment with these two. But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry,” Engelbert said.

But Engelbert received backlash for her comments, including from top WNBA stars and WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson.

Olympics Power Play: Trump’s Influence Drives IOC Leadership Race [[link removed]]

Yukihito Taguchi-Imagn Images

The International Olympic Committee is about to select its next leader, but it’s U.S. politics as opposed to the organization’s own that are driving much of the process.

The U.S. is assuming an even more dominant position in the Olympic movement with Los Angeles set to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, Salt Lake City to stage the 2034 Winter Olympics, and the Philadelphia-based Comcast this week extending its rights deal [[link removed]] that funds much of the competition.

Because of that, IOC president candidate Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. says forging ties with Donald Trump is critical—even as the U.S. president is sparking global angst, including in many sectors [[link removed]] of sports [[link removed]], through a heightened trade war with competing tariffs.

“It has to be a priority,” Samaranch told the Associated Press [[link removed]]. “The United States is today one of the most, if not the most, important partner.”

Trump’s current term will include the upcoming Games in Los Angeles.

Different Generations, Different Sentiments

Samaranch, the son of the late former IOC president of the same name, is one of seven candidates to succeed the resigning incumbent Thomas Bach, and a selection is due to be made next week at scheduled committee meetings in Greece. Samaranch’s openly pro-U.S. stance, however, is a notable departure from his father.

More than a generation ago, the elder Samaranch frequently clashed with U.S. politicians, particularly late Arizona Sen. John McCain, following the bribery scandal surrounding the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The U.S. Senate ultimately called Samaranch to Capitol Hill to testify about the issue, and what was viewed as harsh treatment there was later cited by the then–U.S. Olympic Committee as a factor derailing a Baltimore-Washington joint bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The younger Samaranch, however, sees an opportunity to align with Trump around the unifying power of the Olympics.

“We are a beam of hope for humanity. That is how I feel,” he said. “We were very much alone before President Donald Trump took office. Our message is more powerful than ever.”

LOUD AND CLEAR All in the Family

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

“I could never walk away. … My hope is that my kids grow up and take my place, just like I did with my dad.”

—James Dolan, who leads companies owning the NBA’s Knicks, NHL’s Rangers, and Madison Square Garden, among other assets. The executive appeared on the Roommates Show podcast [[link removed]] with Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, and was asked whether he would consider selling the sports teams. Dolan said he “[doesn’t] see that happening,” and his son Quentin is the SVP of player performance and science at Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. The elder Dolan, meanwhile, continues to battle with the NBA [[link removed]] on a variety of media and financial issues.

STATUS REPORT Four Up

The Indianapolis Star

JuJu Watkins ⬆ The USC star has signed an exclusive deal with Fanatics and Fanatics Collectibles, the company announced Friday. She’s the first female college athlete to agree to such a deal with the company. Watkins can now be featured in her USC apparel on Fanatics Collectibles trading cards.

AFC Richmond fans ⬆ The fictional Premier League team will again be featured as Apple TV+ announced Friday the return of highly popular streaming series Ted Lasso for a fourth season. A timetable for the release of new episodes is not known, but key figures such as Jason Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein, and Brendan Hunt are again involved. The renewal is the continuation of a Lasso character first introduced by NBC Sports in 2013.

Newcastle ⬆ The Premier League club will build a new stadium with a capacity of 65,000 [[link removed]] and will leave St. James’ Park, its home for 133 years, which has a capacity above 52,000, according to The Daily Mail. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia purchased majority ownership of Newcastle in 2021 [[link removed]].

Las Vegas Aces ⬆ The WNBA team has struck a multiyear rights deal with Scripps Sports to have the company’s Vegas 34 (KMCC) be the team’s official broadcast home. The agreement gives Scripps rights to all non-national games for the two-time league champion. The pact follows Scripps’s increased interest in women’s sports as well as a fast-rising number of teams across many leagues to strike local rights deals with over-the-air broadcasters.

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A little Bit More About Atlassian

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Whether it’s helping explore outer space, designing electric vehicles, or fixing bugs in code, Atlassian knows anything worth doing is impossible alone.

See how Atlassian can help your teams at Atlassian.com [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters In X’s March Madness Bracket Challenge, a perfect bracket [[link removed]] would either earn a trip to Mars on SpaceX’s Starship or receive a prize package that includes $250,000. Collin Morikawa’s caddie, JJ Jakovac, made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass during a practice round at the Players Championship. Check it out [[link removed]]. East Carolina’s Parker Byrd is back on the field nearly three years after losing his leg in a boating accident. Take a look [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Marvin Harrison Jr., Fanatics End 10-Month-Long Legal Battle [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Fanatics initially filed the lawsuit last May for breach of contract. CrossFit for Sale After Years of Drama and Attrition [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The intense fitness workout got popular in the early 2000s. ESPN ‘Aggressive’ in NBA Schedule Flexes, On Pace for Record [[link removed]]by Ryan Glasspiegel [[link removed]]This Sunday’s Sixers-Mavericks game was subbed out for Magic- Cavaliers. Advertise [[link removed]] Honors [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Shows [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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