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Diamond Baseball Holdings, one of the most powerful and overlooked roll-up stories in sports this decade, is taking advantage of an “opportunity to rewrite the rule book” in Minor League Baseball.
Speaking at Tuesday’s Front Office Sports Asset Class event in New York, DBH CEO Peter Freund said the Silver Lake–backed company is seeking to bring a new level of efficiency and scale to the minors.
After MLB relaxed team ownership rules following a 2021 takeover and reorganization of MiLB, allowing for larger holdings of multiple clubs, DBH has amassed a portfolio of 49 of the 120 affiliated clubs in less than five years. Beyond just quantity, those holdings also include top performers such as the High-A Dayton (Ohio) Dragons, owners of the longest sellout streak in U.S. pro sports and the 2026 MiLB attendance leader, and the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.
“We’ve had an opportunity to sort of rewrite the rule book and bring best practices and scale to Minor League Baseball,” Freund said. “Before, these were generally mom-and-pop owners [holding] these teams. But it’s been a great run, and we’ve started to see the synergies from these clubs.”
There is not a specific targeted number for DBH’s future number of owned clubs, Freund said, but he said the unprecedented scale has brought improved operations across MiLB.
“This is a scarcity proposition. There are only 120 affiliated minor-league teams, and only four per major league team,” he said. “Obviously, we’re interested in any or all of them, but really, we believe we’ve created enough scale at this point to really dig in and operate these.”
Future growth, meanwhile, will increasingly incorporate real-estate ventures in and around ballparks, mirroring the development wave sweeping across professional sports and modeled in part by the heavily influential Battery in Atlanta.
“The opportunity to activate these ballparks 365 days a year is a huge part of our thesis,” Freund said.
