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The Padres are officially up for sale, with the Seidler family, who owns the club, making a surprise announcement of its intent to “explore strategic options.”
The club said Thursday that it has retained merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners to advise the Seidlers on a potential sale of all or part of the franchise. The move arrives just one day shy of the second anniversary of the death of former club owner Peter Seidler.
“We will undertake this process with integrity and professionalism in a way that honors Peter’s legacy and love for the Padres and lays the foundation for the franchise’s long-term success,” Padres chair John Seidler said in a statement. Seidler had just been approved in February as the Padres’ designated control executive for league purposes.
Other Major League Baseball clubs, including the Twins, Nationals, and Angels, went through a similar process, only to ultimately decide not to sell the franchise. The Pohlad, Lerner, and Moreno families still control those three franchises, respectively.
The dynamics of the Padres situation, however, are different. Since the death of Peter Seidler, an intrafamily dispute has surrounded the franchise. Peter’s widow, Sheel Seidler, sued the brothers who run the team, and as that legal action is still active, the decision to consider a sale moves the dynamic in an entirely different direction. The bank that the Seidlers hired is also the one that helped execute sales of the Celtics and White Sox.
Market Dynamics
In the meantime, the club has the difficult task of trying to compete, both on and off the field, with the neighboring Dodgers, who spent a record sum this year en route to a repeat World Series title. The Padres have carried a hefty payroll, with a $273.1 million luxury-tax payroll ranking sixth in the league, and have incurred significant debt. The club was also the first cut in the bankruptcy of the former Diamond Sports Group, now Main Street Sports, and the club’s local rights are part of MLB’s in-house media model.
There are plenty of positive attributes with the Padres, however. The club, a playoff participant three of the last four years, plays in Petco Park—consistently one of the most revered ballparks in the sport. The Padres also drew a franchise-record 3.43 million in attendance this season, second best in baseball behind only the Dodgers and far beyond what the population and geographic confines of the San Diego market would suggest.
Any sale, should it happen, would likely require the Padres to stay in San Diego. The club’s current lease at Petco Park runs to 2033. The team also recently hired Craig Stammen as its new manager, marking the ninth such person under Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller.
The current Padres ownership group originally gained control of the team in 2012 in an $800 million deal. The franchise is now estimated to be worth $1.95 billion.
