MLB Owners Approve San Diego Padres Sale

It was a formality after the group headed by former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley signed a purchase agreement to buy the San Diego Padres for a reported $800 million, but the sale would not be made official until Major League Baseball owners gave their stamp of approval.

Thursday, that stamp arrived at an owners meeting in Denver:

As expected, Fowler-O’Malley purchase of #Padres approved by MLB owners. Group enters owners meeting to customary applause for new owners

— Eric Fisher (@EricFisherSBJ) August 16, 2012

The group purchasing the team, in addition to O’Malley, includes San Diego businessman Ron Fowler and professional golfer Phil Mickelson. The sale price is the third-largest ever for a Major League team, after the $2.1 billion recently paid by the Guggenheim Group for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the $845 million price paid by the Ricketts family for the Chicago Cubs in 2009.

For more on the Padres, please visit Gaslamp Ball.

San Diego Padres Sold, Pending MLB Approval

The sale of the San Diego Padres is almost a done deal. All that's left to do to complete the sale is for Major League Baseball to give its approval.

On Monday, Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that if everything goes well, the Padres will be sold to the O'Malley Group, which is headed up by heirs of the former owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego businessman Ron Fowler and world-famous golfer Phil Mickelson. The team will reportedly sell for $800 million.

"Earlier today, our group signed the purchase agreement," said Peter Seidler, the spokesman for the new Padres owners. "The acquisition is subject to the approval of Major League Baseball and the major league clubs.

"Assuming we receive approval, there will be a prompt, efficient and smooth transition. For decades the Padres have been an exciting and entertaining part of San Diego.

"We will field exciting and winning teams. We will reserve further comment until the proper time."

The soonest the sale could be approved by the MLB is Aug. 16, when team owners meet in Denver.

For more on the Padres, please visit Gaslamp Ball.

Padres Sale Window With O'Malley Group Extended

The group headed by former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley had recently been granted exclusive negotiating rights to buy the San Diego Padres from John Moores. There’s not exactly a snag, but the negotiating window has been extended for at least 10 more days:

“The sale is advancing, but it’s nowhere close to being completed,” a source said. “Some details of the negotiations have slid backward. But overall, there continues to be progress toward an agreement in a very complicated transaction. Some of it is being renegotiated.”

The negotiations are complicated by Moores being out of the country on vacation.

Well, yes. I can see why negotiating with someone out of the country would be a problem. You’d think Moores, who is about to get a significant cut of $800 million, would want to get this done soon. Also:

Moores owns 50.68 percent of the Padres. The minority group put together by Jeff Moorad in 2009 to purchase the Padres owns 49.32 percent. When the sale is completed, some of the minority partners will be joining the O’Malley Group.

And here we were told there would be no math. Sooner or later, this’ll get done.

For more on the Padres, please visit Gaslamp Ball.

Padres Reportedly Selling For $800 Million

Former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley is leading an investment group that's in the middle of negotiations with Padres owner John Moores. O'Malley's group was given an exclusive negotiating window, and according to Ken Rosenthal, they used it well:

Source: O'Malley group selected to buy #Padres. Price will be $800M, including $200M for portion of team's equity in Fox Sports San Diego.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 7, 2012

The television rights are no small thing, as the Padres are one of the latest teams to swing a big television deal, which is one of the reasons why the sale price is reportedly twice the Forbes estimate from just a couple months ago.

The deal isn't official, as the San Diego Union-Tribune cautions:

Sources say #Padres majority owner John Moores still negotiating with O'Malleys, but no agreement expected until after All-Star break

— U-T Padres (@sdutPadres) July 7, 2012

But, heck, throw a little caution to the wind and assume it's true. Rosenthal wouldn't make this stuff up. He's good!

Peter O'Malley Group Has Exclusive Window To Buy Padres

The O’Malley family owned the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers for decades, handed down from Walter O’Malley to his son Peter.

Now, Peter O’Malley is part of a group that has an exclusive window to complete a purchase of one of the Dodgers’ divisional rivals, the San Diego Padres. Scott Miller:

Padres owner John Moores and a group fronted by local businessman Ron Fowler and including the O’Malley family have entered into an exclusive negotiating window as Moores works to sell the club, according to CBSSports.com sources.

Fowler will play a much more prominent role in the new ownership group than previously known, CBSSports.com has learned.

It is not known when the exclusive negotiating window between Moores and the Fowler group expires, though the two sides hope to conclude the deal by the All-Star break.

The sale of the Padres is expected to be for somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 million, which would be the third-largest sale price ever for a MLB team, behind the $845 million paid for the Cubs in 2009 by the Ricketts family, and the $2.1 billion recent sale of the Dodgers.

Miller says there should be no controversy surrounding this sale:

Because both the O’Malley family and Fowler have been involved in an ownership capacity with major league baseball, unlike as was the case with Moorad, the sale is expected to be approved without any problems. The next owners’ quarterly meetings are scheduled for August.

For more on the Padres, please visit Gaslamp Ball.

Sale Of San Diego Padres Down To Three Finalists

Last month, it was reported that two former sports stars with connections to San Diego were getting involved in groups attempting to buy the San Diego Padres.

But Tony Gwynn and Phil Mickelson aren’t part of any of the three groups remaining in the bidding, according to Ken Rosenthal:

Three bidders remain, and Padres owner John Moores expects to select a buyer between Wednesday and Friday of next week, according to a source close to the sales process.

A group led by former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley is one of the finalists. Also in the running is a group led by Gary Jabara, founder of a wireless communications company in Orange County, the source said.

The source described one as a private equity investor from Los Angeles, but declined to identify him further. The LA Times’ Bill Shaikin reports the third finalist is Stephen Kaplan.

A fourth bidder – Thomas Tull, CEO of Legendary Pictures – was eliminated when he failed to reach the desired sale price, the source said.

Gwynn was part of Tull’s group. Mickelson’s group never got off the ground.

But perhaps the most interesting words in Rosenthal’s article are these:

The sale price for the Padres is expected to meet or exceed $800 million, the source said – $600 million for the club and $200 million for a portion of the team’s equity stake in FOX Sports San Diego.

That price would be the third-highest paid in recent years for a MLB team, just below the $845 million the Ricketts family paid for the Chicago Cubs. The price is likely that high because of the TV equity stake, which Rosenthal says will be increasing the Padres’ TV revenue from $15 million a year to $50 million a year.

Golfer Phil Mickelson Forming Group To Buy Padres, According To Report

Last week, it was reported that Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn might be getting involved in a group looking to buy the San Diego Padres.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, he is not the only famous San Diego athlete looking to do this; now golfer Phil Mickelson could be forming a group to buy his hometown team:

The second-leading money-winner in professional golf history has joined four of the grandchildren of former Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley and provided the out-of-town partnership with an iconic local investor.

Three years after resisting the ownership overtures of Jeff Moorad, Mickelson says he’s now ready to take a stake in San Diego’s major-league baseball franchise.

“I’ve had the opportunity to invest in other sports franchises, and I’ve turned it down in the past,” Mickelson said Monday morning. “This was a unique opportunity with families that had done this before and know how to do it right and want to get involved in the community.”

Mickelson and the O’Malley family could form a potent combination to bring the Padres back to contention. And Mickelson says he’d welcome Gwynn into his group:

“If we were able to get control, (Gwynn) would be the first person we’d want to get involved,” Mickelson said. “He’s such an icon with the team. Hopefully, it won’t be combative."

Current majority owner John Moores might be looking for more than the $530 million he had hoped to get three years ago, given the recent sale of the Dodgers for more than $2 billion.

Those are huge dollar amounts, almost too much to wrap your mind around. But they are happening, and likely will continue as baseball franchise values soar due primarily to big-money TV deals like the one the Dodgers have, and the Padres recently signed.

For more on the Padres, please visit Gaslamp Ball.

Tony Gwynn Joins Group Attempting To Buy Padres

The Hall of Famer could become a baseball team owner.