It seems the process of selling the Padres is making good progress and could be completed in relatively short order. Dennis Lin and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report that there are four groups still in the bidding. It was known that Jose E. Feliciano, Dan Friedkin and Joe Lacob were leading three of the groups. They report that Tom Gores, owner of the National Basketball Association’s Detroit Pistons, is leading the fourth. The report also suggests the bidding is hot and should push well beyond $3 billion, perhaps even getting beyond $3.5 billion. The next and final round of bidding is expected to take place in early to mid-April with an agreement potentially in place before that month is over.
Gores, 61, is the founder of Platinum Equity. Gores and that company bought Palace Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Pistons and their former arena, in 2011 for $325MM. He later bought out the company’s stake to become the sole owner. His other sports ventures have included attempting to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Detroit and purchasing a 27% stake in the NFL’s San Diego Chargers. Forbes currently pegs his net worth at $10.1 billion.
It’s not currently known if any of the four groups is considered a favorite over the others but it seems as though more clarity should be forthcoming soon, giving the reported timeline. If the reports on the potential sale price come true it will shatter a record. The highest sale price to date for an MLB franchise is the $2.4 billion Steve Cohen paid for the Mets in 2020.
Lin and Rosenthal point out that such a big price could impact the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association. The MLBPA could point to the sale as a sign that the economics of the game are strong even without a salary cap. The league is expected to push for a cap this winter during the anticipated lockout. On the other hand, Lin and Rosenthal point out that the San Diego market is unique and that other clubs such as the Twins and Nationals struggled to get around $2 billion when pursuing sales not too long ago.
The Seidler family announced in November that they would be pursuing a sale of the franchise. At that time, it appeared some squabbling within the family could hamper those efforts but reporting in February indicated that some of the legal bumps had been smoothed out and that five prospective buyers had submitted bids. The field has now been whittled down to the four aforementioned groups.
Turning to the 2026 team, the Friars yesterday put Yu Darvish on the restricted list. That came as a surprise since Darvish was expected to land on the injured list, as he is going to miss the entire 2026 season while recovering from elbow surgery. That he was instead placed on the restricted list suggests he is away from the team for some non-baseball reason.
Darvish’s contract had him slated for a $15MM salary this year but players on the restricted list are not paid, so the move led to speculation the Friars could perhaps redirect some savings towards a free agent. Lucas Giolito is the top unsigned guy and the Padres have rotation questions, so it was fair to wonder about a match there.
However, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune says that framing of the situation is not accurate. Acee says the club knew about Darvish’s situation for months and it had already been factored into their offseason, indirectly helping them sign players like Michael King, Miguel Andujar and Griffin Canning.
Photo courtesy of Lon Horwedel, Imagn Images
..Owning an MLB club..Priceless! 🤣
How about owning, building the brand, and then cashing in when you sell. The Padres went from a club like the As to being a premier franchise.
They went from allegedly being a smaller market team to running very high payrolls. Just goes to show that being a small-market team is as much a choice as a condition.
Lots of rich retirees that move there for good.
San Diego is wealthy, one of the wealthiest per capita populations in the entire US. The stadium is downtown, the 1 bus runs up and down the coast, Amtrak runs daily as does the Coaster, an hour train ride from Oceanside to downtown San Diego connects La Jolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside. Train depot is walking distance to the stadium. The Coaster train is a nice ride and a roundtrip is cheaper than parking at many stadiums around the country.
Great transportation and great weather.
When I go to see the Red Sox play there I stay in a friend’s condo in Mission Valley and take the trolley right to the stadium for a couple bucks. Can’t beat that to most stadiums.
Is it just me? Every time they put “Sale” in the headline, I think there’s something in the article about Chris Sale.
No, but I thought it might be related to former Padre Mackenzie Gores.
Same. I thought I’d missed one heck of a blockbuster.
I thought they might have signed future HOFer Pedro Payroll
You know why the San Diego market is unique? Because they actually invested money into the team and game experience, which in turn has driven tremendous attendance and fan loyalty.
Sure, they’re the only major team in town now but football didn’t really overlap to compete for fan attendance. People were predicting their downfall when they first increased payroll but clearly isn’t the case…Shocker – You actually invest in the team/product and people will stick around.
Take it from this Giants fan. The Padres fans are amazing and gives them a true home field advantage. Beautiful weather, stadium and atmosphere. And I really enjoy Don Orsillo and Mark Grant. 2nd best to Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow. Lol
Don Orsillo is arguably the best investment the Pads have made. And I mean thay in a good way.
He adds value to the enjoyability of the televised product.in a way few commentators can
Hopefully they locked Orsillo up long term with no optouts and no deferrals with a 15 year Orsillo only option. He and Remy were hilarious and very knowledgeable. Orsillo and Mark Grant are also hilarious and knowledgeable too. Common denominator is Orsillo. He’ll be a HOFer somewhere down the road.
I really miss Orsillo being on the Red Sox broadcasts. That was a huge mistake letting him go.
When the Padres didnt spend and the attendance was low, people said San Diego isnt a baseball city.
That was people who did not know the situation.
Old business adage: You have to spend money to make money.
San Diego has always been a great baseball city when the present and former owners spent money and provided a watchable product for the fans.
If the fans want minor league baseball, there are teams to go watch not too far away.
Old business adage, you gotta spend money to make money!
The Padres home opener was at 1pm on a weekday and they had attendance of 45,673 in a ballpark with a seating capacity of 39,860. Nearly 6k people sitting in a park with no direct view of the game. To me an attendance of 115% of capacity shows that San Diego has extremely passionate baseball fans.
10 years ago they had revenue in the bottom 3 in MLB. Now they have passed the $500 million mark and are just outside the top 10. Part of that is corporate sponsorships that were split with the Chargers before 2017. Most of it is putting a competitive team on the field and making their ballpark one of the most entertaining to visit. I have only missed one Red Sox game in San Diego and that is one of the best if not the very best ballpark.
Not only that, the team has signed star players to long term deals so fans know who they are going to see. Don’t discount that as a draw. Teams that win a lot but have a revolving door of players like the Brewers don’t draw.
Gallager square has a huge screen streaming the games live. Walk around that area and you canm see the game om the field also.
Maybe Guggenheim can buy the Padres and let Friedman run the team. That’s the only way they get past the Dodgers.
Fact Check Fail!
The Padres have already eliminated a 111 win Dodgers team
in the 2022 playoffs
and then will do it again!
The San Diego Padres defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 in the 2022 National League Division Series (NLDS), a major upset against a 111-win team. After losing Game 1, the Padres won three straight games, culminating in a 5-3 comeback victory in Game 4 at Petco Park on October 15, 2022, to advance to the NLCS.
google.com/search?q=2022+Padres+beat+Dodgers+in+th…
Are all four of these groups pledging to keep the team in San Diego? Due to its limited TV market, the franchise would well be worth more (and certainly able to earn far more TV money) if relocated to Portland, Nashville, Raleigh or Charlotte.
They aren’t going anywhere. Attendance is bonkers, they’re developing a good rivalry with the dodgers, and they’re a perfect balance for the division.
This “ctyank7” guy (previously “ctbronx7”) said almost the same exact thing on the last article mentioning the Padres sale…
So goofy.
Follow the money. Ticket sales don’t influence a franchise’s income as much as media revenue.
@ctbronx7 Of course ticket sales/attendance matters. It’s half of a lot of teams’ revenue. The more people who walk through the gate, the more spend on concessions and merch.
All revenues are very important to the bottom line.
More important to the billionaires bidding on the team is that the Padres revenue went from $210 million in 2018 to over $500 million in 2025.
The Padres have out drawn the Yankees in attendance each of the past three seasons and people really think someone would buy them for a record setting amount and move them to another city to increase their valuability?
Doesn’t make sense.
The Padres just broke another attendance record
$45,673 home crowd for a 1 PM start time for Opening day
in the Middle of the Week!
California and San Diego have many, many entertainment options.
It is very competitive.
If your business is not competitive, then fans will spend their money
on other activitiess sports or non sports.
The key to the current Padres success is:
1) Building Petco Park Rated #1 Ballpark and Fan Experience
by USA Today at least 6X
2) Putting a very competitive product/team on the field every year
which means Ownership spending all the money coming in (from record crowds) on retaining a core of excellent players for many, many years that gives the Padres a playoffs and World Series competitive team.
3) Not having fire sales every 3-4 years and tearing down the team
like the WORST MLB OWNER FISHER AND THE A’s and Ownership spending money to retain top talent
and not conducting fire sales every 3-4 years like how John Fisher mismanaged the A’s in Oakland.
The McCourt, Fisher, Spanos models of how to destroy your loyal local market of fans, get fans ticked off and to turn on you and your franchise team are not advisable for successful operation of a Pro Sports franchise.
The last two expansion teams Rays and Dbacks are worth much less than the Padres’ current franchise valuation. It would not be well worth for the organization to relocation while having to establish a new brand and fanbase in any new city.
Add up Portland, Nashville and Raleigh’s populations and you’re roughly equivalent to San Diego City Limits. Where’s the grassroots fanbase to rival the maniacally loyal Padres’ compadres? How will said “Small-town USA” pull in $500M+ revenue overnight?
Well, Raleigh has that booming suburban town known as Mayberry to draw from.
Hank, its actually Mt. Airy in real-life. And Mount Pilot they always talk about? Real-life down the road is Pilot Mountain.
Just more random facts you never needed to know to start another fine MLB season ….
Not counting the County of San Diego population.
Exactly. I’m North County myself. 20 minute drive to a station, short 10 minute Trolley ride and then bam, at the ballpark with 45K others every day and night. Petco Park is KILLING IT in concessions. $50k in hot dogs and $500k in beer every night is CRAZY side money… and the Tri Tip nachos outsell the hot dogs! Lol
Please stop smoking the funny stuff. A team in Portland or NC would not be worth more, not even close. Portland is a war zone hell hole.
Portland is a beautiful city. Crime, both violent and property, is lower there than most major metropolitan areas. Stop watching the news. It skews your views of reality. Go visit the city instead.
The price for an expansion team not including a ballpark is going to be $2.5 billion. According to Manfred at the owners meetings last December, the total estimated value of those two teams will be in the $3 billion range depending on location.
I have been there a few times. Each time it’s been worse. First time was nice so were the people. The last time it had gone downhill a lot. I will not go back and there will never be an MLB team there ever.
I am in Portland 5-6 times every year. Its an incredibly beautiful city and one of the safest major cities in the nation. Manfred and the owners on the executive committee visited the ballpark site a few days ago. That site and funding has already been approved by the state legislature. One of the two expansion teams will be there.
Portland is beautiful, but it does not have not the population base like San Diego.
“purchasing a 27% stake in the NFL’s San Diego Chargers”
Now that typo is just being cruel to San Diego Sports fans. C’mon now.
Did he purchase that stake when they were still in San Diego?
He purchased that $750 million stake in the Chargers in October 2024. He did also get a guarantee that if the Spanos family decided to sell a controlling stake that he would get first right of refusal.
@layventsky
If he had, the correct phrasing would be the “NFL’s then San Diego Chargers”.
No.
According to online sports news reports,
It was recently since the Spanos Family was equity rich with the team and cash poor.
One of founder Alex Spanos’s daughters was suing the Estate
after Alex died and left the team to his kids
Sounds familiar?!
The the Sons and Cousins used the money recouped by selling 27% of stock in the Chargers to buy their sister/Aunt out and get the lawsuit against the other family stockholders dropped.
It was similar to the Padres situation with the surviving widow versus the brothers.
From a legal standpoint the Padres situation was very similar. The 3 Seidler brothers agreed to release control of a $3.1 billion trust to their brothers widow as a condition of her allowing the sale of the team. That trust owns 24% of the team.
“It was known that Jose E. Feliciano, Dan Friedkin and Joe Lacob were leading three of the groups.”
The team succeeding or not, depends on the owner. I mean, José Feliciano, you got no complaints.
For a second I got excited and thought they were trading for Chris Sale and Mackenzie Gore
Maybe Gores will move them to Detroit and the city can have 2 teams. Still won’t make me like the Padres.
Living up to your moniker, Karen!
LFGSD 💛 🤎
Still bitter about 1984?
No, I thought it was a great, visionary masterpiece of prose.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a better read.
@Gywnning said to call him once a final bid from each group comes in and he’ll toss in his hat.
Seems as good a time as any to proffer up the ol’ first-born right about now… free beer to all MLBTR readers in the owner’s box just became a thing!
Gwynn I’m in with you let’s do this.
Since when are the San Diego Chargers still around.
Alternate timeline… and Rivers won 3 rings.
Sarcasm alert?!
San Diego Chargers should have won at least 1 or 2 rings with Rivers.
In a few of those peak talent seasons, they had like 9-10 Pro
Bowlers on the roster.
The Front Office mades some very questionable Head Coaching hires.
The Chargers Front Office hired some Head Coaches who could not Coach in the playoffs: Marty Schottenheimer was great regular season coach who could coach up players and get teams to the playoffs.
In he playoffs, Marty froze up, (must of had brain cramps or something)and played “stone age football” and was a completely different coach who could not win crucial playoffs games.
Marty’s Offenses got way too conservative/could not close out playoffs games to get to the big dance and win Super Bowls.
Finally, GM Bobby Beathard fires Marty Schottenheimer after the team went 14-2 and missed the Super Bowl, again.
The Chargers could have had their pick of many experienced, winning Coaches that were available and would have gladly taken over the 14-2 Chargers loaded with Pro Bowlers.
So who does GM Bobby Beathart hire as Head Coach?!
Bill Parcels? Jimmy Johnson? NO
He hires Norv frigging Turner in one of the absolute
dumbest NFL Head Coaching Hires of All Time!*&^
And the Spanos family trusted their GM and didn’t overrule or give any pushback?!
Earlier in that San Diego Chargers Era, they hired an excellent Head Coach in Bobby Ross who won a National College Football Championship with Georgia,
Ross was the only Head Coach who coached the Chargers to a Super Bowl that they lost to the 49ers.
GM Beathard and Coach Ross fought like cats and dogs
and Coach Ross was, stupidly fired by Beathard.
Then Owner Alex Spanos said that the Chargers fired
the wrong Bobby. He should have fired Beathard instead of Ross.
He should buy the team. Then build a stadium for the Pistons right by the convention center. Have Rodman be the head coach and they have Wedding Dress Wednesdays all through out Dec every year.
Pistons already have a new stadium.
They have Arena sharing deal with Illitch Family and Red Wings