The Rowdies Must be Sold, Like the Rays
If Major League Baseball is forcing the sale of the Rays, then USL Soccer must do the same for the Rowdies
This article will be tying together two separate sports in the same market, as we all know, the Tampa/St. Petersburg market has been a strong sports market for a very long time. From their NFL team, the Buccaneers, the Lightning of the NHL, and then the Rays of MLB.
Yet this city has developed strong soccer roots as well. From the original Rowdies of the NASL, the Mutiny when MLS began in 1996, until their contraction at the end of the 2001 season. This current Rowdies side (Originally called FC Tampa Bay) was brought back in the second version of the NASL in 2009.
This club has shown they are the heart of the area. Their support continues to be strong, playing at the former Spring Training/Minor League Baseball stadium, Al Lang, which has been magically transformed into a soccer stadium after the 2012 Championship in the Soccer Bowl; they lost at home to Orange County SC in the USL Championship Final in 2021.
Now, there are problems, and while it does involve the Rowdies, the majority of the issues are aimed at the Tampa Bay Rays. The number one problem right now involves one man who owns these two sports clubs.
Stuart Sternberg has worn out his welcome, and it's time for him to give up both clubs. The current issues with his dealings between both city governments in Tampa and St. Petersburg are well known. Every time each side of the bay thinks they have a deal for a new stadium, he pulls out of it.
When Hurricane Milton came and destroyed the roof of Tropicana Field, it caused a lot of damage from the top to the bottom of the stadium. Now we are finding out there are flood waters inside the dugouts, and mold has been growing as well. The clubhouses are also a shambles.
Watching the video podcasts of NBC Sports California pre-game and post-game Studio host Brodie Brazil who covers the San Jose Sharks of the NHL and still covering the Athletics who left Oakland in their temporary home of Sacramento, before going to Las Vegas has kept tabs on the situation of Sternberg's follies in the Tampa/St. Pete area.
This man has worn out his welcome, and because of his poor job of keeping his part of the deal working with local governments on constructing a new stadium for the Rays, his stupidity and foolishness have now affected his ownership of the Rowdies.
While Al Lang Stadium is a historic stadium for the city of St. Petersburg and is located in a lovely location along the bay, the Rowdies are currently in the final season of their lease of the stadium, and from Brazil's reporting, it sounds like the city is ready to kick them out.
They have even created renderings of replacing Al Lang with a brand new building for a different use. If this is the city government trying to get back at Sternberg for his poor relationships with the politicians, then the solution is this, he must also sell the Rowdies.
Sternberg has made all the owners and commishioner Rob Manfred of Major League Baseball upset, and they are trying to sell the Rays to one of three separate groups who are trying to buy them. I think it's time for USL Soccer President Paul McDonough to do the same thing.
Because once this season is over, I have a feeling Sternberg won't have a stadium compatible with being used within the Tampa/St. Pete area and they can't allow the possible threat of the Rowdies shutting down again. It would ruin the landscape of American Soccer and the Tampa Bay area.
Raymond James Stadium is too big, the Yankees have already allowed the Rays to use their Spring Training/minor league team stadium George Steinbrenner Field as a temporary home for this season only, who knows if the University of South Florida will allow them to use their soccer stadium on campus, or if they have one.
The point is this, all the club owners and all the front office people of USL Championship, USL Soccer must join forces with the owners and commishioner of Major League Baseball to force Stu Steinberg to sell both the Rays and the Rowdies so there is peace and calm to keep the Rowdies at Al Lang Stadium.
There should be hope to find a new owner within the Tampa/St. Pete, area, or if they need to go international to find a new owner, then so be it. The Rowdies are a staple in that region, and it would be a shame to lose that club again for no reason, all because of Sternberg's stupid way of doing business.
I never make my voice heard for an owner of a professional sports club to sell their team or teams that they own. I hope that they do the right thing and make their community happy and satisfied, but sadly, Stu Steinberg has truly failed fans in two separate sports. He truly needs to go, and for the sake of the Rowdies, it needs to happen before the end of this current season.
additionally there had been chants at the last few home games of “we want our club back” which is something we hear a lot in Europe but we never hear in the United States. Tampa Bay Rowdies fans are as sophisticated as any supporters in the United States and that chant per my interpretation can only mean one thing. And I think we know what that one thing is.
lots of moving parts here that I’m trying to piece together, but yes Brodie Brazil’s initial report was something I was able to confirm privately but I think there may have been progress between the Soccer -specific Rowdies staff and the city since then.
But still I don’t think the city is going to be that generous unless the team is sold so I do think it would be in the best interest of everybody concerned at this point especially when you consider the performance this season. What is happening thus far in 2025is a reflection in many ways of a club that has been at the very top of lower division Soccer and has more of a historic pedigree than just about any club playing this sport in this country, now being run by ownership that sees it as a secondary concern.
Also, we have to consider that the city did its part to rehabilitate Al Lang after damage from Helene. I’ve heard privately the city felt like that should engender some goodwill from the ownership and that quick rehab job allowed Tampa Bay to play this entire season in their home stadium whereas if the city had not put a priority on it, they like the Rays would’ve been forced to migrate across the bay either to Tampa or Bradenton.