IN THE NEWS

Source: eastcountymagazine

(San Diego) — Major League Baseball’s owners unanimously approved the sale of the San Diego Padres to an ownership group led by private equity investor José E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones.

MLB announced the approval of the sale to Feliciano and Jones (in photo, above, courtesy jonesfeliciano.com) on Monday, Aug. 17, clearing the way for the biggest change in the Padres’ ownership in more than a decade.

The approval came via a conference call vote of all 30 team owners and closes out a sale process that began publicly in November, when the family of late Padres chairman Peter Seidler first announced it was exploring a sale.

As East County Magazine reported at the time, the family had hired the advisory firm BDT & MSD Partners — the same firm that guided ownership transitions for the National Basketball Association’s Boston Celtics and MLB’s Chicago White Sox — and John Seidler, who took over as chairman after his brother Peter’s 2023 death, said the family intended to honor Peter’s legacy “with integrity and professionalism” throughout the process.

MLB’s approval remains contingent on the transaction formally closing, which the league said is expected within the next few weeks. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred thanked the Seidler family for its stewardship of the club and welcomed the incoming owners.

“Jose and Kwanza understand the unique place the Padres hold in San Diego and the powerful bond between the Club and its fans,” Manfred said in a statement. “We look forward to their leadership of the Padres and to working with them to build on the Club’s strong foundation in a market that is so important to Major League Baseball.”

A record price tag

The deal values the Padres at $3.9 billion, shattering the previous record for an MLB franchise sale — the $2.42 billion Steve Cohen paid for the New York Mets in 2020.

As East County Magazine previously reported, when the sale was still being finalized, the price came as a surprise to some financial analysts.

Forbes and Sportico had recently pegged the team’s value closer to $1.9 billion to $2.3 billion. The final number is believed to reflect not just the team’s on-field performance but the redevelopment potential of Petco Park’s downtown real estate.

Feliciano, co-founder of the private equity firm Clearlake Capital and part-owner of England’s Chelsea Football Club, has been designated as the Padres’ new control person. Jones, a musician, entrepreneur and investor, will be his co-owner and business partner.

Together, the couple is purchasing just over 40 percent of the franchise, with a number of additional individuals and entities joining them at smaller, combined ownership stakes. In a joint statement, the pair struck a tone of ambition for the Padres, a team still lacking a World Series title in 57 years of MLB play.

“We are grateful to the Seidler family, and especially to Peter, for raising the expectations of what this franchise can achieve,” Feliciano and Jones said in a statement. “Our ambition is clear: to bring a World Series championship to San Diego and build an enduring organization capable of competing for championships year after year.”

The Padres are one of five current MLB franchises that has never captured a championship, along with the Tampa Bay Rays, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies.

Sale background

The Seidler family’s decision to sell followed years of turbulence after Peter Seidler’s death from an infection in November 2023 at age 63.

As East County Magazine reported in its obituary of Seidler at the time, he had become the Padres’ primary owner in 2020 after buying out Ron Fowler’s majority stake, and quickly won over fans with an aggressive spending approach that included nine-figure deals for stars like Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts and Alpine’s own Joe Musgrove.

After Seidler’s death, control of the team fell into dispute: his widow, Sheel Seidler, sued her brothers-in-law Matthew and Robert Seidler in an attempt to prevent John Seidler from becoming the club’s control person, alleging Peter had wanted her to succeed him.

That litigation was resolved in a settlement in February, clearing the legal path for the estate — represented by John Seidler — to move forward with a sale.

The Padres entered a definitive sale agreement with Feliciano and Jones’s group in May, edging out a competitive field that reportedly included Everton and AS Roma owner Dan Friedkin and Golden State Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob, among others, according to a report from Sportico.

According to The Athletic, the incoming ownership group is expected to include San Diego’s Jacobs family (whose patriarch, Irwin Jacobs, co-founded Qualcomm) as well as the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.

What stays the same, for now, and moving forward

Padres CEO Erik Greupner and Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller are both expected to remain in their roles under the new ownership, the club said. Craig Stammen, the former Padres reliever tapped as the club’s new manager earlier this year, will also continue leading from the dugout.

On the field, the transition arrives amid one of the steadiest stretches in franchise history.

The Padres are on pace for a fifth consecutive winning season. That’s a first in the team’s history, which dates to 1969. The team has drawn more than 3 million fans in each of the past three seasons (including a franchise-record 3,437,201 in 2025).

The Padres are currently 68-60 and hold the National League’s third and final wild-card spot. They sit one game ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks, while the Philadelphia Phillies have moved into sole possession of the second wild-card position. The Padres take on Minnesota at 6:40 p.m. tonight, Aug. 21, at Petco Park.

The ownership change arrives at a notable moment for baseball

The current collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players’ union expires Dec. 1, and a work stoppage is being anticipated as the league is expected to push for a salary cap-and-floor system that the union has historically opposed.

Some analysts have suggested the Padres’ record sale price could become a talking point in those negotiations. The players’ side may contend that even a mid-sized market like San Diego can support ambitious spending and rising franchise values without a hard cap.