White Sox Deal Signals Ninth Inning for Reinsdorf’s MLB Legacy

It’s now the official beginning of the end for one of the most influential team owners in MLB history. 

White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has struck a multistage equity deal with Justin Ishbia that will see majority control of the franchise transfer no earlier than 2029. After 2034, when Reinsdorf would be 98, an option he holds to sell the controlling interest becomes Ishbia’s—who will also involve his brother, Suns and Mercury owner Mat Ishbia, and his father, Jeff Ishbia, in the deal that was months in development.

While it’s been long expected that Reinsdorf would soon settle the future ownership path of the White Sox, the agreement is nonetheless a massive development involving one of the longest-tenured and most impactful members of MLB ownership. 

Reinsdorf first acquired the White Sox with his business partner, the late Eddie Einhorn, in early 1981 in a deal worth about $20 million. The franchise is now estimated to be worth $2 billion, the 16th highest in the league.

In the four-plus decades since first arriving in baseball, Reinsdorf has played a major role in developing many of MLB’s current financial structures, including revenue-sharing. He also was a seminal figure in the creation of MLB Advanced Media and baseball’s leadership position digitally, and he was central in the combative processes in which Bud Selig and then Rob Manfred ascended to become MLB commissioner. 

More to Do

There’s plenty of unfinished business for Reinsdorf in the years he has left leading the White Sox. The club’s effort to build a new ballpark at The 78, an undeveloped parcel near Chicago’s South Loop, has stalled amid lawmaker resistance, and most recently, the Fire of Major League Soccer have unveiled their own plans to build a privately funded stadium at The 78. The White Sox “remain confident” that a ballpark could fit at the parcel, too, but with the MLB club seeking taxpayer assistance with its project, a much more uphill climb remains. 

Reinsdorf is also looking to further develop the Chicago Sports Network, the regional sports network he created in partnership with Tennessee-based Standard Media and the Wirtz family that owns the NHL’s Blackhawks. After nearly nine months of operation, CHSN is at last nearing a crucial carriage deal with Comcast, the dominant cable operator in the Chicago area. 

With another new MLB commissioner expected in early 2029, when Manfred intends to retire, Reinsdorf again figures to be a key player in the process to select the league’s next leader. MLB is also looking to implement a more centralized media strategy in 2028, when all of its national-level rights agreements expire. 

“As it relates to the next commissioner and the media rights, he’s definitely going to be heavily involved,” Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based Sportscorp Ltd. and a longtime sports industry consultant, tells Front Office Sports. “On the stadium, I would expect him to defer more to Ishbia.”

Separately, Reinsdorf is also working on the 1901 Project, a $7 billion mixed-use development planned for around the United Center, with the Wirtz family.

Reinsdorf is additionally overseeing an on-field rebuild of the White Sox after the club lost 121 games last year to set a modern-day league record. That mark, however, is already being challenged this year by the similarly woeful Rockies.