Padres' record-shattering $3.9B price tag proves MLB is plenty healthy

Yahoo Sports2h ago14 min readOriginal source →

TL;DR

The San Diego Padres are set to be sold for a record $3.9 billion, indicating MLB's financial health. This sale represents a 62.5% increase over the previous record set by the New York Mets in 2020.

Key points

San Diego Padres set to be sold for $3.9 billion
Sale price indicates MLB's financial health
Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones are the buyers
Price is a 62.5% increase over the New York Mets' sale
Franchise values are appreciating

Mentioned in this story

Jose E. FelicianoKwanza Jones

San Diego PadresNew York Mets

Major League Baseball just received its most startling data point in a year that will be defined by them.

The San Diego Padres are a (nearly) $4 billion franchise.

Forget existenstial crises, attention economies, disparate and increasingly complex TV situations and, dare we say, salary caps and luxury tax thresholds. If the industry - and that includes owners, players and fans - ever needed a crystal clear sign that the game is healthy, that spending some money might actually make you a little money in the end, the impending purchase of the Padres will be it.

Private equity baron Jose E. Feliciano - and that's apparently a career prerequisite for owning a ballclub these days and wife Kwanza Jones - are on the verge of a $3.9 billion transaction to buy the club from the Seidler family trust, the Wall Street Journal reported.

It is a staggering amount, not just because it's a 62.5% increase on the record $2.4 billion Steve Cohen spent to buy the New York Mets in 2020. Hey, inflation is a bear and franchises appreciate. It happens.

Just not like this, and not for a club like the Padres.

A view of Petco Park in San Diego.

We've heard the two to three strikes against them for years: San Diego is bordered by the Los Angeles region (and its two MLB franchises) to the north, Mexico to the south and the desert to the east. The Padres were also the very first team whose local broadcast situation collapsed to the point MLB had to take over production and distribution, way back in 2023.

So just how did the Padres, their TV model collapsing, their geographic situaton no better, go from a $600 million valuation when the club was last purchased in 2012 to nearly twice the purchase price of the Mets, who have their own lucrative TV network and a position in the game's largest media market?