Padres’ Sale Nearing Conclusion
The Seidler family’s sale of the Padres franchise is nearing a conclusion, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Four finalist groups of bidders remain in the mix, and the sale price could approach a record $3.5 billion, per the report.
A sale of the franchise has been in the works since November. At the time, chairman John Seidler announced that his family had “decided to begin a process of evaluating our future with the Padres, including a potential sale of the franchise.” As of February, five bidding groups were in the mix. That’s down to four, with Lin listing a quartet of groups led by Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores, Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob, and a pair of English Premier League owners: José E. Feliciano (Chelsea) and Dan Friedkin (Everton). The identities of all four lead investors in those bidding groups were already known, but it’s notable that there are still four strong bidders with existing interests in professional sports teams.
Padres ownership has been in a tumultuous state for more than two years now. Late owner Peter Seidler, who had an aggressive willingness to spend, passed away in November of 2023. His brother, John, was eventually approved by the league’s other owners as the team’s new control person, but not before some legal in-fighting among the family.
Peter’s widow, Sheel Seidler, sued two of her brothers-in-law, Matt and Bob Seidler, alleging that they had breached fiduciary duty and committed fraud as successors of their late brother’s trust. Sheel Seidler accused Matt and Bob of selling assets to themselves at “far” below-market prices as they attempted to consolidate control of the franchise. Matt vehemently denied the allegations in a formal statement, wherein he accused Sheel of “manufacturing claims” against other trustees in an effort to secure control of the franchise herself. Sheel Seidler’s suit was largely settled outside of court back in February, paving the way for the family to accelerate efforts to sell the team.
Anything north of $2.4 billion would set a new record for the largest sale of a franchise in MLB history. Steve Cohen’s $2.4 billion purchase of the Mets from the Wilpon family back in 2020 currently stands as the all-time record. Forbes ($1.9 billion) and Sportico ($2.3 billion) have pegged the Padres’ estimated franchise value considerably south of the $3.5 billion sum referenced by Lin, though the San Diego Union-Tribune reported back in February that the Seidler family was likely to seek a price far greater than those valuations in order to sell the club.
Padres Notes: Sale, Gores, Payroll
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