Surprising team expected to set MLB record with $3 billion sale price

· Yahoo Sports

Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen bought a majority stake in the New York Mets in November 2020 from Fred Wilpon for $2.4 billion. Six years later, the Mets’ sale price stands as the all-time high for an MLB franchise — but that could soon change.

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According to Mike Ozanian of CNBC, the San Diego Padres are likely to sell “in the next couple months for close to $3 billion.”

The Padres play in North America’s 30th-largest media market, and are among the many small-market clubs whose media rights have changed hands often in the wake of Main Street Sports Group’s bankruptcy woes. They’re hardly a marquee franchise, having never won a World Series since joining the National League in 1969.

So why are the Padres in position to set the MLB record for a franchise sale price?

“One of the reasons why is they’ve really built up their non-baseball business,” Ozanian told Alex Sherman on the CNBC Sport podcast. “Concerts, all these other events that they have at Petco Park. Now they’re helping other teams and parks do the same thing.”

Petco Park, which opened in April 2004, uses its location close to San Diego’s downtown and its immaculate year-round weather to its advantage. The baseball team is only one of many tenants that stage events at the park.

The Padres also happen to be for sale at the right time. The Tampa Bay Rays were sold last July for a reported $1.7 billion. New owner Patrick Zalupski, a real estate developer, will try to leverage his background to maximize the revenues on the Rays’ next ballpark.

The Padres already play in one of baseball’s best home parks, and are showing the way for other teams to leverage it to increase their revenues. The net effect, as Ozanian pointed out, is that the men and women who own baseball teams are maximizing their revenues (ironically) by relying less on the fortunes of the teams they own.

At least two teams could shatter even the Padres’ soon-to-be-record sale price if they were put up for sale tomorrow, Ozanian said.

The New York Yankees ($9 billion) remain baseball’s most valuable franchise. The Dodgers ($8 billion) became first baseball team to gross $1 billion in revenue last season, Ozanian said, and have seen their sponsorship revenue increased to more $200 million in the last three years.

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