Drayton McLane has owned the Houston Astros since 1992; today, at a Houston news conference, the completion of the sale of the club to Houston businessman Jim Crane was officially announced.
According to the Astros website, the sale price of the franchise was $680 million, far more than the $117 million McLane paid back in 1992.
The usual platitudes were exchanged at the news conference. Crane made the obligatory championship mention:
“We worked long and hard to get a baseball team, and will work even harder to win a World Series for our hometown,” Crane said. “Thank you to Drayton and my partners for making this day possible.”
McLane smiled for photographers, but also expressed sadness at leaving something he’s been a part of for two decades:
McLane even allowed himself to get somewhat nostalgic, saying he was going to miss “all parts” of owning a Major League franchise.
“You can’t do something forever and ever,” he said. “My parents told me I had to get out of college and go to work. So it’s 19 years. It’s time to hand it off to a high-quality human being like Jim Crane.”
The ownership change still has to be approved by a 75% majority vote of the other owners, but that is expected to be a formality; the astros.com article says the transfer should be complete in four to six weeks.