Drew Brees, Joe Lacob Among Interested Padres Suitors

The ongoing Padres sale process is escalating quickly, and is increasingly poised to garner a MLB record-setting price. 

Five bidding groups are said to be in the mix for the franchise, according to industry sources and multiple reports, with three of them now known:

• Warriors owner Joe Lacob 
• Dan Friedkin, principal owner of Serie A’s AS Roma and the Premier League’s Everton
• Jose E. Feliciano, co-owner of the Premier League’s Chelsea and founding partner of Clearlake Capital.

Meanwhile, a pairing of former NFL quarterback Drew Brees and Vuori CEO Joe Kudla have also shown interest in being part of a bidding group. Brees, who began his pro football career in San Diego with the Chargers, is part of this year’s induction class for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The sales process is moving quickly, and it’s possible a sale agreement could be in place by MLB’s Opening Day on March 26. Steve Cohen’s 2020 purchase of the Mets, worth $2.4 billion, is the current league record, but it’s quite likely the Padres deal will surpass that.

The Padres franchise has posted considerable operating losses in recent years  and MLB could be facing an extended work stoppage in 2027 depending on the outcome of what are expected to be fractious labor negotiations this year with the MLB Player Association. The Padres, however, are a local force, with the franchise record attendance in 2025 of 3.43 million ranking second in the league behind only the Dodgers. Nearly 22 years after its opening, Petco Park also remains a jewel ballpark.

The scarcity of available franchises—as well as overall increases in MLB attendance and viewership and rising global fandom—have further positioned the Padres, and baseball overall, as a growth property. 

“We’ve had tremendous interest,” Padres chairman John Seidler said.

Angels owner Arte Moreno, who previously moved to sell his own franchise before ending that process, concurred, saying recently, “There’s just a lot of people wanting to buy a baseball team right now.”

Family Matters

The Seidler family put the Padres on the market last fall, two years after the death of former lead owner Peter Seidler. Soon after beginning that sales process, the family reached a legal settlement with Peter Seidler’s widow, Sheel. John Seidler has been insistent the Padres will not be relocated out of San Diego when the sale happens. 

If Feliciano were to prevail in the race for the Padres, he’d be competing with Todd Boehly, his Chelsea partner. Boehly is part of Guggenheim Baseball Management, the ownership group of the Dodgers, San Diego’s top rival.  

Lacob, meanwhile, has previously and unsuccessfully pursued several other MLB franchises in the past, including the A’s, Angels, and Dodgers.