Padres on verge of record $3.9 billion sale

S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , the Padres are up to be sold for a record price. We'll talk about who the owners might be and what's ahead for the team this season. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So the San Diego Padres won nine of their last ten games , sliding into second place in the National League West with a record of 15 and seven. But it's a different number that's on the minds of a lot of Padres fans right now. It's $3.9 billion , that is. That's the expected sale price of the team. First reported by The Wall Street Journal , it would be a record price for a major League Baseball team. Here. To tell us more is Ryan Finley. He's the sports editor at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Ryan , welcome to Midday Edition. Hi.

S2: Hi. Thanks for having me.

S1: Glad to have you here. Okay , so $3.9 billion. That's a lot. Put that into perspective for us.

S2: It is $1.5 billion , more than any baseball team has ever been sold for in the history of the sport. The New York Mets went for $2.4 billion in 2020. Um , this is the sixth most money. Assuming that the sale goes through and it will , it's expected to be approved here in the coming weeks. Assuming the sale to Jose Feliciano and his wife , Kwanza Jones , goes through , um , it would be the sixth highest sales price for an American sports franchise ever. Um , and , you know , the teams ahead of it include the Lakers and Celtics and Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos and Phoenix Suns. This is a seismic acquisition in Major League Baseball , and it comes at a time when people really are focusing on the finances behind the game. Really just a stunning number all the way around. Wow.

S1: Wow. So. So tell us about the new owners of the team if this deal goes through. Yes.

S2: Yes. It's a group led by José Feliciano and his wife , Kwanza Jones. We do not know who else is in their group. I mean , there's often minority owners. ET cetera. Etc.. But these are the two big names associated with it. Um , he's a billionaire. Um , he is a billionaire who owns a partial stake in Chelsea of the English Premier League. That's professional soccer team. Um , is somebody who hasn't really been linked to other , um , American sports franchises at all , which makes him different from some of the other previous reported candidates to buy the team. Dan Friedkin was one of them. He owns Everton soccer team. Tom Gores owns the Detroit Pistons. He was another rumored candidate to buy the club. And then Joe Lacob , who owns the NBA's Golden State Warriors. That was another name. So maybe a little bit of a surprise that it's the Feliciano group that won the bidding process here , but $3.9 billion turned some heads , for sure. Um , both he and his wife went to Princeton. Um , she ran track and field at Princeton. Um , they are big donors to their alma maters. Um , and , you know , really now wading into American pro sports for the first time. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. So. So , listen , José Feliciano , as you mentioned , is an owner of the English soccer team , Chelsea.

S2: You know , we've been trying to sort of read the tea leaves there. Right. Uh , the what I do know about Chelsea is that they do spend , um , that that paying for players is not something they're opposed to doing. They have not had a ton of success under the Feliciano ownership there. He also co-owns the team with another person who seems to be kind of the spokesman or the point person for the club , so we do not really know at this point what it means. Um , what ? You know. I don't know if we can gauge sort of how Chelsea plays in soccer. And guess what that means about how the Padres are going to do. But my guess is this you don't spend nearly 4 billion with a B dollars on a baseball team if you're not trying to win. And I think that that's what makes people around the Padres so excited is they see this as somebody who can come in and infuse some capital into the payroll. You know , I don't think that it's going to be a big ask to add a starting pitcher for $10 million or $15 million when you've just spent nearly 4 billion with a B to buy a baseball club. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. Well , this news of the team being sold , it does coincide with the start of a new season.

S2: Really , given some of the challenges that they've faced. You know , they're number one. Starting pitcher Nick Pivetta is out indefinitely with an elbow injury. Joe Musgrove , the San Diego native who threw their first ever no hitter. He hasn't pitched in almost a year and a half. He's expected to come back here fairly soon. Same thing goes for Griffin Canning , who was their big offseason acquisition as a starting pitcher despite being down 3/5 of their starting rotation. They're still the hottest team in baseball. They have the second best record in all of baseball , unfortunately , and this happens so often when you're talking about the Padres , they're also the second best team in their own division because the Los Angeles Dodgers are a juggernaut and the Padres will be trying to catch the Dodgers. My guess would be for most of the year.

S1: Um , also , you know , it's it's been close to a decade since the Chargers left San Diego , breaking the hearts. You know , of a lot of San Diego sports fans. I'm sure that's in the back of a lot of people's minds with this sale.

S2: Um , a city that is in love with baseball and in love with the San Diego Padres. I cannot imagine that he would want to go anywhere other than San Diego , California. And you know , that's not just me saying this is a San Diego native who's the sports editor of the local newspaper. I'm saying this as as a sports follower , there are not any larger markets out there that any baseball club could move to. There's not a better stadium out there than Petco Park. Um , I think San Diego and San Diego , and justifiably so , I think can get a little paranoid when it comes to this because of the Chargers. Because the Chargers moved to LA. But you know what ? LA was looking for a football team at the time and didn't have one. Right. Um LA has two baseball teams. They're not moving to LA. They're not going to move to Oakland. Las Vegas is getting the athletics once that stadium is built. There aren't many other markets out there that want a baseball team. And , you know , okay , if it's Portland or Nashville. Um , San Diego is a much better situation and much better setup than both of those places. The San Diego Padres are going to stay in San Diego.

S1: That's reassuring for sure. So the team is being sold by the Seidler family. Peter Seidler , the former majority owner of the team , died more than more than two years ago.

S2: I think it's it's complicated. Probably. Peter Seidler spent money and made the Padres relevant with his willingness to sort of shed this narrative that San Diego is a quote unquote small market , um , that that can't win and can't bring in star players. You know him first , Ron Fowler did it , and then Peter Seidler sort of , you know , turbocharged that spending. Um , not only did they sign Manny Machado to the largest pact in baseball history at the time , they then re-upped him for almost the same amount of money they extended Fernando Tatis Jr. Signs Andrew Bogaerts. Um , Peter Seidler did whatever he could to try to win the Padres championship , to try to bring in as much good talent as as he could the best team money could buy , right ? Um , I think that there's some debt issues there. Uh , that that cropped up. Uh , it would not have been a sustainable model long term. The Padres , shortly after Peter Sigler died , cut nearly $100 million from their payroll and still continued to win. Um , Peter Sigler will be beloved , I think , not only because of what he did here , but sadly , you know , the fact that he left us , um , at a young age and someone unexpectedly , uh , if you're a San Diego Padres fan , you will always think fondly of Peter Sigler and his family. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. You know , this news is coming as Major League Baseball is facing a potential lockout next season.

S2: You know , people have been talking already , you know , over the weekend in this morning about how owners sort of crying poverty doesn't really jive with the fact that somebody just spent nearly $4 billion to buy the San Diego Padres. And by the way , while the Padres are a wonderful franchise , you know , they're not one of the franchises in all of baseball , right ? They're not the Dodgers , the Cubs , the Yankees , the Mets. Right. These that somebody saw enough value to spend nearly $4 billion on the San Diego Padres , I think goes against the narrative that owners are getting squeezed and owners aren't making money. You don't spend that amount of money. You don't spend. You don't buy a team to lose money. And so I think that that might complicate what's going to be , I think , a fairly intense labor negotiation. I would not be surprised if next year's season started late because of it. It's going to be another sort of wrinkle in what's already going to be a really hotly contested negotiation between the players union and the owners. Yeah.

S1: Yeah.

S2: And if you're willing to spend to buy a team , you're probably going to be willing to spend to make that team good or keep that team humming. Right. So I think that they're excited about that. You know , it's not official yet. Major League Baseball has not announced anything. It's still pending approval from the other owners. We don't know a lot about José Feliciano outside of what we've talked about on this segment. I think fans are probably a little anxious the same way any of us would be if our if something we loved was sold. But I think that they're excited by the possibility of what new ownership and again , you know , a billionaire owner , the possibilities that might exist for the club going forward. Mhm.

S1: Mhm. Um , before we go , I got a couple of questions. Yeah.

S2: Um , I think that the Padres returning to the brown of whenever it was six years ago was a stroke of genius. And if it were up to me , I'd like to see them wearing brown and gold every night. I loved their previous city , Connex , because they were so garish and so easily identifiable. Right ? I have three kids , and we spent a small fortune on the last batch of city gear. The new stuff is , I think , a lot more wearable in terms of its a color people actually might wear. Um , it's I love the Dia de Los Muertos theme. I wish that there was maybe even a little bit more of it in this uniform , because I think it's so inspired and such a cool approach to what should be a fun uniform. Um , navy blue. You know what ? To me , the Padres are a brown team. They no longer wear navy blue. I don't love the idea of a navy blue jersey , but , uh , they sold more of , what , a million and a half dollars worth of merch on the day it came out. Um , every Padre fan who I know already has the hat. Uh , it sounds like they've made a pretty smart , very lucrative decision by switching their City Connect jerseys up.

S1: All right. I appreciate that assessment.

S2: Well , what do you think ? I want to know your thoughts.

S1: I like it , I like it. You know , I'm I'm a fan of the colors and the arts , and so I can't complain with that. But , you know , we'll see. We'll see also what happens with this sale because it's not final yet. This is something we'll continue to watch. Uh , I've been speaking with Ryan Finley , sports editor with the San Diego Union Tribune. Ryan , thanks for being here , I appreciate it. Oh.

S2: Oh. Thank you anytime.

S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.