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.
