The Twins have been for sale since October, and reports last month indicated the process had stalled. However, the sale effort is picking up steam and a source tells FOS there’s “momentum” towards a deal at the Pohlads’ $1.7 billion asking price.
Following a slow start to the season that included lackluster attendance, Minnesota is playing better baseball on the field and moving toward a sale that is expected to be at or near the Pohlad family’s asking price of $1.7 billion.
“There is momentum,” a source familiar with the process tells Front Office Sports.
There is truth to the idea that the sale process stalled earlier in the year due to complications that arose from Mat and Justin Ishbia’s ultimately dropped pursuit of the Twins, the source says. But the Ishbias are out of the fold—they reportedly chose to increase their stake in the White Sox instead of seeing the Twins process through—which has opened up the door for other suitors.
“There’s been steady momentum since then,” the source tells FOS. And while no formal offers have been made yet, “it’s been picking up.”
The White Sox declined to comment on the size of the Ishbias’ stake, and the brothers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In recent weeks, several prospective suitors have traveled to Minnesota, toured Target Field, and met with the Pohlads, the source confirmed to FOS. The Star Tribunefirst reported that suitors were touring the stadium and meeting with the family.
Previous reports have indicated the Pohlads’ asking price of at least $1.7 billion was too high (others have reported that the asking price is $1.5 billion). But the source confirms to FOS that the family previously rejected a bid that was at a $1.5 billion valuation, and says there has been positive momentum on that front. “They’re not going to do a transaction at $1.5 billion,” the source says.
The sought-after $1.7 billion valuation is $50 million higher than the Twins’ valuation as calculated by CNBC, which last month said the Twins are worth $1.65 billion, 22nd out of the 30 MLB teams. The Pohlads are asking for a price that’s about in line with the value of the most recent MLB team sale; the Orioles were purchased last year by billionaire private-equity executive David Rubenstein at a valuation of $1.725 billion.
The Pohlads bought the Twins for $44 million in 1984. The patriarch, Carl Pohlad, died in 2009, at which point his son Jim took over the team. In 2022, Jim’s nephew, Joe Pohlad, assumed primary administrative duties while Jim remained the controlling owner.
The team was put up for sale in October and is working with Allen & Company on the process.
After starting the season 7–12, the Twins are now 30–24, good for second place in the American League Central division and fourth place overall in the American League. As the team’s play has picked up, so too has attendance at Target Field, which earlier in the year was dramatically down. As of mid-April, the Twins were averaging a little fewer than 18,000 fans per game, which was seventh worst in the league. Today, that average per-game attendance has risen to roughly 18,840. They have leapfrogged a few teams and now have the 18th-best average attendance in MLB.
Two significant roster pieces, center fielder Byron Buxton and right fielder Matt Wallner, are getting closer to returning from injuries. The pitching rotation has been strong—Twins pitchers have a collective ERA of 3.25, tied for fourth best in the league. Free-agent signings like Harrison Bader and Ty France are playing well.
Twins SVP of communications Dustin Morse declined to comment on the sale process, but he expressed enthusiasm about the team’s performance.
“Good baseball right now,” Morse tells FOS. “The pitching staff has been near the best in the league, and both Buxton and Wallner are making progress.”
Alibaba Founder Jack Ma, Model Karlie Kloss Join Liberty Ownership
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The New York Liberty keep winning. The defending WNBA champions have brought on a number of notable investors, from Alibaba founder and billionaire Jack Ma to supermodel Karlie Kloss.
The investment values the franchise at $450 million and represents a record valuation for a professional women’s sports franchise, Front Office Sportsconfirmed last week. The investors are putting money into just the Liberty, not the Brooklyn Nets or BSE Global, the holding company that owns the Liberty, Nets, and Barclays Center, a source familiar with the matter tells FOS.
In addition to Ma and Kloss, the group includes Karen Finerman, CEO of hedge fund Metropolitan Capital and a well-known panelist on CNBC’s Fast Money; Thasunda Brown Duckett, president and CEO of retirement-focused financial services firm TIAA; Gabrielle Rubenstein, cofounder of private-equity firm Manna Tree and daughter of PE giant and Orioles owner David Rubenstein; and Samantha Lasry, who primarily focuses on philanthropic work and is the daughter of billionaire investor Marc Lasry, who previously owned the Milwaukee Bucks.
The money will be put toward the development of a recently announced $80 million, 75,000-square-foot practice facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which is expected to open in 2027.
Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, majority owner of the Nets, have a history investing together, including through Blue Pool Capital. That’s Tsai’s family office, which also reportedly oversees some of Ma’s fortune (Ma has a nearly $40 billion net worth, according to Bloomberg). Blue Pool has invested in sneaker and apparel company Golden Goose, as well as media platform Just Women’s Sports and Premier League Lacrosse.
In Tuesday’s statement, Tsai, who is alternate governor for the Liberty, described Ma as a “trusted business partner.”
“He is a passionate supporter of women’s sports and I know he is excited to help us build an enduring franchise,” Tsai said.
The Liberty investment must still be approved by the WNBA’s board of governors, a time frame for which was not disclosed.
Ma and Kloss aren’t the first high-profile investors to join the Liberty ownership group recently. Last year, Julia Koch, the widow of David Koch—who owned a majority stake in Koch Industries—bought a minority stake in BSE. Terms of that agreement were not disclosed, but Sportico reported the deal was for a 15% stake in BSE, and that it valued BSE at $6 billion.
The Liberty, who on Tuesday blew out expansion franchise the Golden State Valkyries, 95–67, are off to a 4–0 start this season.
Representatives for the individual investors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Liberty declined to comment further than what was included in the press release.
Former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry believes NBA franchise valuations will continue to go up, but not at the explosive rate recently witnessed.
Lasry, who alongside Wes Edens bought a total 50% stake in the Bucks at a $550 million valuation in 2014, sold his 25% stake in 2023 at a $3.5 billion valuation. That means the Bucks’ value increased by more than 218% over the course of their ownership.
“I don’t think you’re gonna have the growth that I had, where you paid a dollar and you got paid $8 ten years later,” Lasry told Front Office Sports in the latest episode of Portfolio Players.
The stark difference between what Lasry and Edens paid and how much they sold for illustrates how dramatic the pop in NBA team valuations has been over the last decade.
The last five NBA team sales paint a picture of a league with room for unlimited growth. In March, the Boston Celtics were sold for $6.1 billion—a price that’s expected to rise to more than $7 billion when all is said and done since the transaction is being done in two parts. In 2023, Mark Cuban sold his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks at a reported $3.5 billion valuation, and in June of that same year Michael Jordan sold his Charlotte Hornets at a valuation of about $3 billion. In December 2022, the Phoenix Suns sold for $4 billion. Before that, in 2021, a group led by Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore bought the Minnesota Timberwolves at a $1.5 billion valuation.
From Lasry’s perspective, the Celtics got a bit of a championship bump, something he also experienced when he sold his Bucks stake, as Giannis Antetokounmpo had led the Bucks to a championship less than two years before.
“People always pay a premium for someone who’s a winner,” he says.
Lasry—who admitted that uncertainty related to Antetokounmpo’s future played a role in his decision to sell his Bucks stake—remains a significant investor in the realm of sports through his firm, Avenue Capital Group. The firm, which has a dedicated sports fund, is invested in the likes of 3-on-3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled and The Bay Golf Club in TGL, the indoor golf league launched by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Although he doesn’t expect to keep seeing team valuations soar quite as much as they have been of late, he does think values will keep going up between 10% and 15% a year, thanks in part to the increasing media-rights deals the league has entered into, most recently with the reported $77 billion agreement that kicks in next season.
“It’s not that it’s just going to stop,” he says. “It can level off, it can go up 5%, it may go up 10%. I don’t think it’ll be going up 20% or 30%.”
DEAL FLOW
Everyone Wants to Own a Sports Team: Anne Hathaway Edition
Knicks/MSG
Actress Anne Hathaway has been popping up in the sports world, and is part of a group that has agreed to buy the Red Bull Italy SailGP team, according to a Tuesday statement. The buying group is led by Assia Grazioli-Venier, founding partner of venture firm Muse Capital, as well as Italian fashion executive Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo. Jimmy Spithill, a veteran sailor, will serve as CEO and co-owner. Financial terms were not disclosed. SailGP, a competitive sail racing league, was formed in 2018 by five-time America’s Cup winner Sir Russell Coutts and billionaire Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison. The next race, the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix—the sixth of the 2025 season—will be held June 7–8.
The primary owners of the NWSL’s Kansas City Current have acquired a Danish women’s soccer club called HB Køge, which plays in Denmark’s highest tier, according to a Tuesday statement. The buyer is Ballard Capital, an investment firm owned by Angie and Chris Long, and the deal “represents one of the most significant women’s sports transactions in Denmark history,” the statement said. Financial details were not disclosed. The Longs are well-known supporters of women’s soccer, having built the first stadium specifically meant for a women’s soccer team for the Current, who also count NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, as co-owners.
Dick’s Sporting Goods on Wednesday announced “record first quarter sales,” 4.5% comparable sales growth, and reaffirmed its rosy outlook for the year. The outlook doesn’t include costs related to its blockbuster $2.5 billion acquisition of Foot Locker, announced earlier this month. Telsey Advisory Group issued a note Wednesday morning saying it remains “encouraged by the strong performance from Dick’s in a choppy retail environment and reiteration of the annual guidance (including tariffs).”
Concessionaire giant Aramark is reportedly investing a total of $175 million or more into the A’s, who are currently playing in Sacramento but plan to move to Las Vegas by 2028, Sports Business Journalreported Tuesday. The $100 million investment will be put into the team itself and a minimum so-called capex investment of $75 million (the capex commitment refers to money earmarked for long-term assets, such as buildings and infrastructure). As part of the agreement, Aramark will be the official food and beverage service provider for a new $1.75 billion ballpark in Vegas that’s been proposed as the A’s future home.
A unit of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is helping to launch a new branch of Kings League—a seven-a-side soccer competition—that will be based in the Middle East and North Africa, according to a Tuesday statement. The PIF’s SURJ Sports Investment is teaming on the joint venture with Kings League, which was founded by Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué. Saudi Arabia will be the inaugural host for the new league, which represents the seventh Kings League entity. The statement said further details, including team names and celebrity owners, will be announced at a later date. Kings League counts New York venture firm Left Lane Capital among its investors.
