AUGUST 16th: The sale of the team is complete, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The deal was approved at the owners meetings this week. The Padres are now under the control of the Ron Fowler group, which includes the O'Malley family.
AUGUST 6th: The sale of the Padres to the O'Malley group has completed, writes Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The sale price, according to Center, is roughly $800MM. That includes $200MM of up-front cash for the Padres as an advance for their upcoming 20-year television deal with FOX Sports San Diego. The deal is pending approval of other Major League owners, which could come as soon as Aug. 16 when the owners meet in Denver, according to Center.
The O'Malley group was selected to purchase the Padres one month ago today. Peter O'Malley, former owner of the Dodgers, leads the purchase group that also includes his sons, Kevin and Brian; nephews Peter and Tom Seidler; San Diego businessman Ron Fowler; and professional golfer Phil Mickelson. O'Malley's sons and nephews are expected to become "hands on" owners. There are no immediate changes to the baseball operations team known at this time.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
Good to have the family back in baseball. Wish you never left Peter; Fox & The McCourts were painful for us Dodger fans, starting with Chase Carey, Peter Chernin and the resulting Mike Piazza fiasco, all the way through McBankruptcy. Padre fan, you have a great baseball family coming in, just DON’T LET THEM SELL for crying out loud!
@Gumby65
The Padres fans have to step up now. The team will be run by a Baseball family with a proven record and will look to try to compete and put a good product on the field. That is all a fan is entitled to and deserves. Your franchise is a prime example. The Cards don’t always win, but every year they give their fans their money’s worth.
Padres fans should not wait for the new regime to win right away, they need to give the O’Malley group some encouragement and support by showing up to games.
There is nothing wrong with the fans. We don’t owe the team our allegiance. When the team invested in the product, we showed up. When they didn’t, we weren’t buying. How is that being a bad fan? Using the Cards is a bad comparison, they have a history or excellence and good ownership. We don’t. Supporting a bad product is propping up a bad owner and it perpetuates bad teams because winning isn’t required to get fan support. Being a good fan means turning your back on the team when they are not doing right by the fans. That’s my take, you can have yours.
@Ted James
My take is certainly different than yours, thank god. I would describe a fan as one who follows their team during good times and bad. Your take is more of a front runner than an actual fan. The thinking is more of “I’ll show up,when they win”, rather than support the team when its losing.
Also, you should carefully read what I posted again. Nowhere are the words bad fans nor is the thought that there is something wrong with Padres fans conveyed in my post. My point, which seems to have gone over your head, is that the new ownership should be supported as well as encouraged to make the team competitive again by showing up.
While I agree that fans should not show up when the owners don’t invest into the team, they’re not entitled to a winner, especially when they don’t support the team I’ll give you another example in the Rays, their fans are not derserving of the team. Tampa should lose the team to another city for their non-support.
My NY friend.. Are you saying that there are actually band wagon fans in this old world? i thought for 2 old fogies like us.. we had seen it all and knew that those types were like mythological creatures.. They don’t exist..
@ johnsilver
…there’s plenty of Band wagon fans around,now they come equipped with a sense of entitlement to boot!
Sweet, lets start spendin some dough. I hope they give Brynes some serious cash and let him target a couple free agent’s after this season. Pence? Hamilton… Ya right
Not thinking O’Malley group has Guggenheim money; I think they will be conservative financially, yet good sense baseball blood is back in ownership.
I think you are kidding yourself if they walk in and buck up for a BIG name. I think they certainly have been behind the scenes in signing Quentin and Street. A “splash” would be great, but I HIGHLY doubt you see it happen.
If they’re going to bring the payroll into the 70m range they can afford to make a splash or two. Not a Hamilton one, but a decent RF or Frontline Starter.
Ya that was a joke, Would like to have Melky though
how about firing Brynes first.
Why? The only trade that didn’t make sense was Rizzo/Cashner. He pulled the trigger too fast. You can’t tell me that the Latos trade wasn’t crazy good for us. At least he didn’t bring shlubs like Bartlett and Hudson in.
The Latos trade was great alone if it did not create a reactionary poor trade by Byrnes, not only is that a disaster, so is the no trade clause for Quentin and somehow thinking this team will be ready to compete next year with pitching holes all over the place.
Pence isn’t a FA until 2014, however I would still say no on him. The guy has regressed a ton and probably won’t be worth what he signs for. Likewise, I don’t think Hamilton will be either. The guy is injury prone and probably will sign for a huge backloaded deal, something way overpriced.
I do like the idea of making a splash though, however the OF market for the next two years is pretty thin. I know cases will be made against them, but I could see interest in BJ Upton, Melky Cabrera, and Michael Bourn after this season. If not, go after Jacoby in 2014. One can dream.
I think that Peter O’Malley regrets selling The LA Dodgers to Fox News Corporation. I think that a Former Dodger can be The GM, It will be Orel Hershier..
+1 on first sentence. That is all.
I like what the future holds for San Diego Padres.. Orel Hershier as a GM or Manager, Bud Black needs time to reevaluate and Orel would be a nice change
to this club.
Cool
September callup.
Hmm. Am I reading this right? The new owners are essentially already yanking $200MM of value out of the TV deal?
I think it means that the old regime had a stake in the TV deal. So the 800mil = 600 for the team + 200 Mil for their Stake in the TV deal.
Is Fowler the REAL owner?
finally!
Need a team President? Larry Lucchino is available!! Please take him away!!!!
Lucchino is the reason why the Red Sox have had the success they have had over the last ten years.
Awesome! Ok, keep Headley. Have Gyorko start playing 2B again. Send him back to the AFL. Make Forsythe the utility guy. Move Amarista to SS until we find someone better. Then, sign a RF with some power and another starter. We have the potential to be a .500 team next year if you do all that (meaning Gyorko has to pan out). I would also like to see Matt Clark brought up as our back up 1B and DH. He can play some OF at times.
So, this ownership group has enough money to buy the team. That’s good. Now, do they have enough money to draft/sign/bring in/keep players? The last ownership group seemed to never have any money to spend.
In last nights interview with Barry Bloom on x 1090. He expects Pad payroll next year to be 60 mil.
Excellent! Now sell the A’s….!
I wonder if Selig will blackmail the Padres into moving to Triple A before he gives the ok.
The owners will approve the sale of Padres, pending a switch to the PCL. “It’s what the fans want,” blurted Selig.
Peter O’Malley was totally out of touch with modern baseball when he sold the Dodgers and he will be even further disconnected todays. Odds are, remember the OMalleys were actually very cheap, one of the only reasons he wanted back in was the moves toward salary caps and luxury taxes. Peter O’Malley also did not inherit his dad’s baseball acumen. Should actually be quite funny to watch them if he has much to do with running the team.
O’Malley makes Selig look like a big spender.
Praise be to the Swinging Friar!
It’s ironic, because I seem to recall one of the reasons O’Malley sold the Dodgers to begin with was that there wasn’t anyone who wanted to continue the lineage. Now his sons and nephews are going to be “hands-on” owners.
Is the rumor of a possible 100 Mil payroll real?
Apparantly Phil Mickleson thinks so.
The O’Malley Family brings class and professionalism to The San Diego Padres. I think that The Padres will make some bold moves regarding their team. I see a possible Jim
Bowden move as General Manager and I see The Padres looking at Ex- Chicago Cubs star player Ryan Sandberg as manager.
They certainly don’t need a new GM, especially Bowden. As a Padre fan I hope they give Byrnes a chance to finish what he started this year. As well, it would be interesting to see what type of manager Black is with a team that has the pieces to win. A few small moves and less trips to the DL and this team could easily contend in the always up for grabs NL West.
Great news! Now… new ownership, move in the fences (in right field/right center field).
You and those darn fences. 🙂
I’ll move em’ in myself if need be. 🙂