{"id":337750,"date":"2026-05-29T16:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T16:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337750\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T16:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T16:37:08","slug":"hunt-for-investors-looms-over-sacramentos-mlb-expansion-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337750\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunt for investors looms over Sacramento\u2019s MLB expansion bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sacramento successfully landing an MLB expansion franchise<\/a> would be a \u201cmonumental undertaking, not the least of which would be finding an ownership group that could build a ballpark and pay an MLB expansion fee\u201d that local leaders expect to top $2B, according to Graham Womack of the SACRAMENTO BEE. Developer and former Sacramento Kings minority owner Mark Friedman and former MLBer Derrek Lee, who grew up in Sacramento, are \u201cinterested in investing\u201d in a team. Friedman on Thursday announced that he had \u201ccontrol of a 50-acre parcel, which is where an MLB-caliber ballpark could be built.\u201d He said, \u201cWe\u2019re committing land and capital, $150 million in the effort. So we\u2019ll be an investor in the project.\u201d Friedman, who is chairing the expansion effort, did not say what his percentage of ownership would be. Greater Sacramento Economic Council President & CEO Barry Broome said that they \u201c\u2018already have two global ownership groups\u2019 and that one of them would be in the area on June 2.\u201d Broome said that Kings owner Vivek Ranadive \u201calready provided a minority ownership commitment.\u201d Womack noted former Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy \u201cwants to help in this effort,\u201d but he \u201cquickly shot down a question about whether he was interested in an ownership stake.\u201d McClatchy said, \u201cI\u2019m not looking for an ownership stake. I\u2019m merely looking to help as an advisor \u2026 But I will help them get the ownership folks they\u2019re looking for\u201d (SACRAMENTO BEE, 5\/28<\/a>).<\/p>\n

CROSS A NAME OFF: In Sacramento, Chris Biderman cited sources as saying that Warriors owner Joe Lacob was \u201capproached by Sacramento officials and declined to be part of their expansion campaign.\u201d Lacob recently bid on the Padres and has expressed interest in buying the Angels and A\u2019s in the past. Sources said that Lacob \u201cwould prefer to buy a pre-existing team while expansion, which is likely years away, wouldn\u2019t meet his timeline\u201d (SACRAMENTO BEE, 5\/28<\/a>).<\/p>\n

NOT BUYING IT: In Sacramento, LeBron Hill wrote \u201cif you felt more cringe than excitement, you weren\u2019t alone,\u201d as Thursday\u2019s announcement was a \u201cpolitical stunt dressed up as a bid for Major League Baseball.\u201d Hill: \u201cDo you have an investor to buy and run a team? Without one, the road ahead looks unclear. \u2026 The locals have got $800 million in land and investments and a committee with a catchy name.\u201d But MLB\u2019s expansion fee is expected to be at least $2.1B. If Sacramento is \u201cserious, it needs a big fish with big pockets — fast.\u201d Until Sacramento has a \u201creal ownership group, it\u2019s all just talk\u201d (SACRAMENTO BEE, 5\/28<\/a>).<\/p>\n

KEY PIECE: In L.A., Bill Shaikin wrote for Sacramento and the other cities pursuing two expansion teams, the outcome of collective bargaining \u201ccould determine the fee MLB would charge for each one.\u201d On Thursday, Sacramento unveiled a $4B proposal to \u201cland a team, build a riverfront ballpark and surround it with an entertainment district.\u201d But by the time MLB is ready to expand, baseball insiders suggest that the \u201cexpansion fee itself\u201d could be around $4B. Broome said, \u201cIf it\u2019s a $4-billion fee, I\u2019ll be surprised if there are too many people that would pay that.\u201d A source said that the expansion fee \u201ccould range\u201d from $3B to $5B — \u201con the lower end without a salary cap, on the higher end with a cap and the greater media revenues that could come with it.\u201d Shaikin wrote that could leave suitors \u201cscrambling for more funding at a time the surprisingly common thought is an expansion fee would be\u201d about $2B (L.A. TIMES, 5\/28<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sacramento successfully landing an MLB expansion franchise would be a \u201cmonumental undertaking, not the least of which would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2135,1334,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-337750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}