Yesterday’s news that Justin and Mat Ishbia were no longer looking to buy the Twins surprised many around the baseball world and within the organization itself, though the Athletic’s Dan Hayes hears from a source that there was some indication last month that the Ishbias would instead look to increase their minority share in the White Sox rather than seek out a full purchase of the Minnesota club. Still, the Ishbias’ departure from the Twins’ process now means that “everything’s on the table” in regards to the sale, as another source puts it.
This includes the possibility that the Pohlad family could pull the team off the market entirely, if no bidder is willing to meet the Pohlads’ asking price. Hayes wrote in January that there was plenty of interest in the Twins, to the point that the Pohlads felt a sale could be arranged by Opening Day. That optimistic viewpoint could have been inspired by the Ishbias’ interest, of course, and their departure from the pursuit naturally changes the equation. In his latest piece, Hayes writes that the Twins expect to “have more clarity on the sale process within the next 30 to 60 days.”
The Ishbias were the only known bidder for the Twins, fueling to the perception that they were also the leading contenders to succeed the Pohlads as franchise owners. Justin Ishbia was the driving force behind the bid, with the plan being for Justin to become the Twins’ control person while Mat remained the governor of the brothers’ other major sports interests — the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. Both the Twins and Major League Baseball itself had vetted Ishbia, a process likely streamlined by the fact that the Ishbias (due to their involvement in the White Sox ownership group) were already a known quantity within the league.
As Hayes’ first source described things, there was some feeling among other Twins bidders that the Ishbias were “preordained” within the process, so their departure might now open things up for other candidates to step forward. The number of other bidders isn’t known, though the source said there were an “adequate” number of suitors beyond just the Ishbias. While much about the situation remains up in the air, the presence of other bidders indicates there is still momentum towards a sale, even if the process will take significantly longer than anticipated.
Maybe Arod will get a group together.
Jeter can join except he has to play third
Marc Cuban incoming…….
Is Cano’s suspension over because you know Buxton, Correa, and Royce will be on the IL by May?
He completed it when he was still with the Mets. Unless the Mexican League also suspended him, then who knows.
@yc
Yo and hope your doing well, tbh I think Cuban would be good for baseball but because his inability to be a “traditional” owner is why mlb won’t let him in. They want owners that sit in ivory towers not ones that engage with fans and actually care about the team
Hey Brodie! I hope you’re doing well also. Thought about you the other day when dealing with a Chrysler Pentastar with a blown head gasket….lol.
Anyway, wishing you and yours the best this year, my friend! I agree with you about Cuban.
Cuban is on record saying he will never again pursue MLB team ownership. He tried twice and feels he was screwed over both times, that the other owners don’t want him, so he won’t bother and won’t let himself be used to drive up the bidding.
Owners will never let Cuban have a franchise, too mouthy and controversial.
Pohlad’s can’t even sell the team properly. Just an embarrassment of a billionaire family.
Maybe Reinsdorf offered a clearer path to potential majority ownership…
rondon: Don’t toy with me. If Reinsdorf gave up majority share to the Ishbia’s or anyone else, maybe we’d have an actual baseball team on the south side of Chicago again. The party would go on for days.
Well, he’s gotta go someday. There’s hope!
I’m not sure the Ishbia ownership will be all that great either.
They’d have to work to be worse than Reinsdorf..
Reported asking price?
5 dollah
Too high.
What do prospective owners care about?
Potential growth in revenue and profit. This is generated by new stadiums and the property values around the stadium that owners buy up before the stadium is built only to sell after the boom in property value after the stadium is built. Also, revitalization of the brand and market size.
The Twins cannot be moved. The Twins are not getting or needing a new stadium for the foreseeable future. The Twins have poor, but not awful, attendance.
What do prospective owners not care about? The team’s record last year, the roster (except for long term huge contracts) the front office personnel or the farm system.
The White Sox are a far superior organization to “own.”
The Pohlad’s are the reason for the poor attendance
Everything was set up for record attendance this past year and the Pohlad’s did everything they could to ruin that excitement.
I don’t disagree that the white Sox are more valuable but the Pohlad’s have dug their grave in MN.
I agree. The Pohlads bear the brunt of attendance, but poor attendance is a GOOD thing for a team which is selling. It deflates sale price/revenues/profits while showing a new owner huge potential growth.
The White Sox have a lot more potential for revenue growth than the Twins. Lower attendance, bigger market, getting a new stadium.
White Sox will also cost at least half a billion more
martras: The Sox aren’t getting a new stadium, which is the good news. The problem is, attendance will never rise while Jr is the owner. He’s totally alienated the fans and the city. The team’s value is probably high right now in one regard (attendance is microscopic), but it would take a new owner a lot of work to make this organization respectable again.
They will get a new stadium somewhere within the next 5 years imo
I don’t think the voters are stupid enough to agree to public funding. They’ll have to work it through some sort of shady city council or state legislature vote.
I remember in 1991 ( i was living in Chicago at the time) when the White Sox built New Comiskey Park (now called Guaranteed Rate Field). It seemed like a nice park compared to the dump Old Comiskey had been allowed to fall into, but was just bland in it’s styling, materials, etc. Just blahhhh. Never was a fan of that park compared to some of the new parks that followed for other franchises.
Apparently, that stadium has not held up all that well through the years from what I’ve been told. It’s already run down.
Id like to see them take over the White Sox. No so sure about a new stadium though. Actually there’s nothing wrong with the one they have other than a terrible upper deck and the seats along the line needing a reset.
Yeah some of the best sightlines and terrific food, and Bridgeport has transitioned from the sleepy Irish neighborhood your grandparents talked about to a real gen Z hipster destination (not the suburban bowling alley arcade of Ricketsville with its $25 drinks). Tho the 78 location would be dope
“The Ishbias were the only known bidder for the Twins”. Enough said.
Anything else is just scuttlebutt put out there to try to jack up the price.
Smart people don’t back off for no reason, and anyone who has accumulated that kind of money isn’t dumb.
Cue Billy Haywood
Mack is ready to return as pitching coach also I hear. Unfortunately, O’Farrell is unavailable.
Glen Taylor has a pile of cash and no team hahaha
Please no
Wilf should get involved. He got a new stadium built while getting the state to contribute an ton and still managed to pay off the debt 20+ years early.
Nothing like going to MLBTR to read a baseball story and see some have the need to try to turn it into something political.
I wish the new owners would be a group of Bill Veeck, Bill Murray, Joe Mauer, and maybe Steve Zahn. Or any combination similar to that. Wilfs would be acceptable also with what they’ve done to the Vikings Org.
Bill Veeck has been dead for forty years, Bill Murray is 74, and even if you include Mauer there’s not a serious pot of cash in that list. Maybe Zaun has $1.4b in his Roth IRA that no one has heard about, otherwise that group will need a series of winning Powerball tickets to sit at this table.
Steve Zahn the actor? You are way out there in left field man
Guessing he or she decided to pick the most random Minnesotan possible
I hadn’t known Steve Zahn was a Minnesotan, but now that I do – Thank you for this humorous remark sir.
I’ve been thinking about putting together a consortium to purchase a majority slice of the Cardinals. I will be the front person naturally. If anyone is interested just text your dollars to this site.