{"id":282488,"date":"2025-11-13T20:35:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/282488\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T20:35:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:35:08","slug":"san-diego-padres-hire-bank-to-sell-mlb-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/282488\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego Padres Hire Bank to Sell MLB Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Seidler family has hired boutique investment bank BDT & MSD Partners to explore a potential sale of the San Diego Padres<\/a>, the team announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe move comes one day short of the second anniversary of the death of Peter Seidler, who had been Padres chairman since 2020.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe will undertake this process with integrity and professionalism in a way that honors Peter\u2019s legacy and love for the Padres and lays the foundation for the franchise\u2019s long-term success,\u201d John Seidler, San Diego Padres chairman, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Padres won at least 90 games in back-to-back seasons in 2024 and 2025 for the first time in franchise history, but the club has been marred by fighting in the ownership<\/a> suite since Peter\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeter\u2019s widow, Sheel Kamal Seidler, sued his brothers, Bob and Matt, in Texas probate court. She contended the brothers breached fiduciary duties as trustees of a trust Peter established. One of the trusts\u2019 key assets is the principal ownership stake in the Padres.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn February, MLB<\/a> owners unanimously approved John Seidler as the team\u2019s new control owner. Sheel\u2019s lawsuit is ongoing.<\/p>\n

\n\tSportico valued the Padres at $2.31 billion in its 2025 MLB team valuations<\/a>, which ranked No. 14. Its value was up 14% from the prior year, the third-biggest gain in baseball, as the franchise\u2019s revenues soared after investments in star players produced strong results on the field. Attendance in 2025 was 3.44 million, which ranked second in baseball behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gross revenue topped $500 million this year, according to someone familiar with the team\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

\n\tBDT co-led the sale process<\/a> for the NBA\u2019s Boston Celtics, but recent MLB history indicates BDT will face challenges as it takes the Padres to market. The Minnesota Twins were at least the third team in the last few years to run a formal process that included a potential control stake and not reach a deal. The Pohlad family settled<\/a> on minority investment from two different groups this summer.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe\u00a0Los Angeles Angels\u00a0and\u00a0Washington Nationals\u00a0hired banks to explore their options in the past few years, and both ownership groups ultimately decided to keep their teams.<\/p>\n

\n\tMLB valuation gains have lagged other major North American sports leagues. In Tampa, the Lightning sold for $1.8 billion, while MLB\u00a0just approved<\/a>\u00a0Stu Sternberg\u2019s $1.7 billion sale of the Rays. A hockey team selling for more than a baseball team in a southern market would have been unthinkable three years ago, but it speaks to the recent trajectory of the two leagues.<\/p>\n

\n\tBankers actually like MLB right now for its discounted values, versus other leagues. In Sportico\u2019s team valuations, MLB teams are valued at 6.6 times revenue, compared to 8.4 (NHL), 10.3 (NFL) and 13.5 (NBA).<\/p>\n

\n\tBaseball has made progress with rule changes that have sped up the pace of play, including a pitch clock and limits on pickoff moves. It\u2019s coming off a blockbuster World Series<\/a> between the Dodgers and Blue Jays that went the full seven games and featured all kinds of drama. MLB still offers more content than any other sport with its 162-game season.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the league also faces major challenges, which are intertwined with revenue disparity, media distribution and looming labor negotiations.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe record sale price for an MLB franchise is $2.42 billion for Steve Cohen\u2019s purchase of the New York Mets in 2020.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe current Padres ownership group, which includes at least 10 people or entities, bought the team in 2012 for $800 million. The largest stake of roughly 24% is held by the Peter Seidler Trust, with Sheel Seidler and her three children the beneficiaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Seidler family has hired boutique investment bank BDT & MSD Partners to explore a potential sale of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,1189,85,7891],"class_list":{"0":"post-282488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-san-diego-padres","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-world-series"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}