With the Nationals and Angels possibly being sold within the coming months, the Diamondbacks could also be making a portion of their franchise available. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, D’Backs managing general partner Ken Kendrick is weighing the possibility of “selling a significant, but still minority share” of the team.
Kendrick is reportedly waiting until after the Angels’ sale is finalized to further explore the possibility of selling the minority stake. This would seem to suggest that Kendrick might reach out to Angels bidders who fall short in their quest for full ownership of the Halos, as such a bidder (particularly one based in Southern California) might have interest in gaining another foothold in an MLB ownership group with a D’Backs club that is just a short flight away from the greater Los Angeles area.
Majority control of the Diamondbacks is owned by a four-person investment group that took over the club in 2004 from initial majority owner Jerry Colangelo. Kendrick is the managing general partner of the four-person group, and acts as the public face of the group as well as MLB’s designated control person for the D’Backs franchise. The exact breakdown of the franchise’s minority owners isn’t known, though the team told The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan in April 2020 that “around 10” minority partners. That came after a push by Kendrick to consolidate the Diamondbacks’ number of minority partners, which led to a lawsuit filed against the organization by three of the minority owners.
This latest effort to find a new minority owner could be part of Kendrick’s same consolidation plan. Also, given how the sale is still only a consideration and possibly contingent on what happens with the Angels, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Kendrick’s group might view selling a minority share as the first step in selling the D’Backs as a whole. That said, buying a minority share in a team can be a path to a larger change in ownership. Back in June, the Guardians finalized a sale of roughly 25-30% of the team to David Blitzer, and the deal reportedly contains a clause that would allow Blitzer to buy a majority stake in the Cleveland franchise in 2028.
Forbes Magazine approximated the Diamondbacks as being worth $1.38 billion in their most recent (March 2022) listings of Major League Baseball franchise values. The most recent teams sold were the Mets ($2.4 billion) and Royals ($1 billion) in 2020, though it can be expected that the Nationals and Angels will continue to drive those numbers upwards. There has been speculation that it will take over $2 billion to buy the Nats, while the Angels might be able to clear the Mets’ total or perhaps even get closer to $3 billion.
During the Winter Meetings, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said that the league hoped to have the Angels’ sale completed by Opening Day, though there hasn’t been any particular news on that front. Nightengale writes that the Opening Day deadline doesn’t seem likely, and that interested parties are still being allowed to bid — just this past week, Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob said he was also considering bidding on the Angels. As such, it could be some time yet before that deal is done, which gives the Diamondbacks more time to monitor the situation.
Storiale
Move the team to Texas!
Can I buy? I don’t have much but I can offer a plucky attitude and maybe a semi-fresh batch of donuts every other morning.
Throw in some coffee & a hot secretary & it’s a deal
I’m good for 10k, lol. That’s like a 1/3%. I’ve always told friends and family that if I were to get a job at Coors Field (if and when I moved there), I would have some kind of cubs gear on underneath. If I were to ever had a fraction of a chance to own part of a team. I would do the same. If I had 20 billion dollars, I’d offer Joe Ricketts 6 billion to buy the Cubs. Unfortunately he would probably say no.
We could all place our bids and see who comes closest to the actual retail price (without going over) like they do on the Price is Right
Maybe mystery man from Pennsylvania Nob Butting will swoop in to buy the team to collect the shared revenues
Other than the Bidwells, ownership situations in Arizona seem to be perpetually in some state of disarray
Could be an opportunity for Joe Lacob should he not purchase the Angels and still want a “foothold” stake in advance of a run at whichever of the Bay Area teams may eventually hits the market.
lacob got locked out from buying the a’s in 2005 because selig (commish at the time) played favorites and approved the sale to his ‘buddy’ lew wolff. if lacob got the a’s back then (based on how he’s helped raise the warriors to champs), not only would the a’s have had a new, probably privately-built stadium in or near oakland, but they’d also be competitive. shoot, with the giants run 10 years ago, we might have seen a (hopefully uninterrupted) bay bridge series for the ages…
Would they accept interesting trades
“Bring A Trailer”
I offer the undershirt of screen legend Anthony Quinn.
Did you nab while he took it off to do sit ups in the park?
If no one else wants it I’ll make them an offer, but I’ll want to move the team to Philadelphia. We should be made whole and have our second team again. It’s only fair.
I’ll start the Go Fund Me.
We’ll do polls prior to making moves, right here on MLBTR, with anyone contributing to the buy getting real votes.
You sob, I’m in.
As a fellow Angel fan I see it as a conflict of intetest
I’m in.
How small a minority stake? I’m good for a fiver.
Getting back to topic…how about them Dbacks?
I don’t really understand why EVERY owner would not sell a minority stake in their team. If you own 51% of the team you have just as much control over the decision making process than if you have 100% ownership. And if you ever do decide to sell, you have a potential ready made buyer available.
Because when you go to sell, you only take in 51% of the appreciation in team valuation, and while owning, only 51% of the net revenue.
Moreno bought the Angels for 180m. Reports are they could sell for 3b. If he had sold almost half the team to a minority group of investors back closer to the purchase date, he’d have lost out on more than 1b dollars in appreciation.
You don’t get into sports ownership to make money. You get into sports ownership because you have already made money.
Once to get a certain point of wealth, more money is really superfluous anyway. If Moreno had miss out on that 1 billion, I don’t think his family would go hungry.
If billionaires weren’t in it to make money, the Marlins and Athletics wouldn’t have $18,000 payrolls.
They aren’t in it to make money, but they aren’t in it to ;lose money either. My point is that an MLB team is not the main source of income for any of these owners.
No one said it was the main source, but you’re being silly if you think billionaires aren’t interested in making more money just because they already have enough. If that were the case, they’d have stopped long before being billionaires. Every single one of them looks at team ownership as a business venture.
There just isn’t a reason any of them would sell an (up to) 49% stake in their team unless some sort of need arises, or they’re not interested in full responsibilities.
@hiflew, what a ridiculous statement.
There’s only 30 MLB franchises and they increase in value. A lot. Someone like Cohen may not care, but to assume owners like Moreno don’t care is not supportable. Everything about how MLB owners have constructed the game screams they want to make money.
Arte Moreno sold his Outdoor Media business several years ago so the Angels became his main source of income. He is going to cash in with the sale coming up. The owners of MLB franchises have all made big money on their investments.
I offer $1.25 billion. Can someone lend me $1.2 billion?
You’ve got 50m lying around?
Doesn’t everyone? I think I have that much in change inside my recliner.
Worked for the once super-leveraged Frank McCourt. Of course, he had the used car salesman commissioner running interference for him so the latter’s “blind trust” could subsequently sell the Brewers at a higher price than otherwise possible to Attanasio.
I see LAA been sold for 3.5 – 4.1 Billion dollars
I just took $1200 out my checking account. Would you take it as down payment?
I wish I had 1200
I got 5 on it!
If every adult in AZ put $100 on the DBacks making the WS this season and they happened to luck into it, I’m sure we could own the DBacks like the Packers are owned. (Obviously being facetious)
I believe they will sell a more significant portion to someone or a group with deeper pockets. owners around the league should start to realize that the luxury tax system is scaled so favorably to those with the willpower and money. Cohen and his Mets, as well as the Padres in attempts this offseason, and annually competitive teams like the Dodgers and Yankees, show that they really need to be able to spend to whatever extent more than they are now to have real success as a franchise by making the playoffs(giving your team a chance to get hot in the tournament) consistently. I expect more of either changes in ownerships and sales like this or full auctions like Anaheim and Washington this year in the near future, as it was hard enough for some of these teams to compete when the soft cap luxury tax was genuinely respected