A agreement to acquire theSan Diego PadresThe Major League Baseball is reportedly nearing completion at a record-breaking price of $3.9 billion.
As per The Wall Street Journal, private-equity billionaire Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are leading the race to finalize a deal. The couple first met during their time as students at Princeton.
Buying the Padres for $3.9 billion would enable them to break the current record, which is held by theNew York Metsowned by Steve Cohen, for an impressive $1.5bn.
A transaction involving the Padres, who have been under the ownership of the Seidler family since 2012, is expected to be revealed next week.
Feliciano and his spouse are thought to have emerged victorious in a fierce bidding contest, which also involved proposals fromGolden State Warriorsowner Joe Lacob and businessman Dan Friedkin, who is the proprietor of soccer clubsEverton in the Premier League and Italian giants Roma.
Feliciano once held a position at Goldman Sachs prior to founding Clearlake Capital alongside Behdad Eghbali. It is estimated that his net worth is slightly below $4 billion, as reported by Forbes.
Feliciano is part of the Chelsea board following Clearlake and American investor Todd Boehly’s acquisition of the Premier League football club for over $5 billion in 2022.
Jones, on the other hand, serves as the CEO of the media and personal growth company Supercharged. She also co-established a charitable platform that has pledged more than $250 million to date.
In November, it was reported that the family of the late Padres owner Peter Seidler was considering the option of selling the team. John Seidler took over as chairman of the Padres following his brother’s passing in November 2023.
Peter Seidler was a member of a group that acquired the Padres for $800 million in 2012, and he took over as the team’s main owner in November 2020 following the purchase of Ron Fowler’s majority share.
He rapidly won over Padres supporters through his bold spending in a bid to secure San Diego’s first major professional sports title.
Following the passing of the two-time cancer survivor over two years ago, his wife, Sheel, took legal action against her brothers-in-law, Matthew and Robert, in an effort to stop John Seidler from taking control of the team.
Sheel Seidler claimed that Peter Seidler wished for her to take over, but Matthew Seidler stated that Sheel Seidler’s assertions were ‘completely false, and we will strongly defend ourselves against these allegations.’
Despite the Padres preparing to set a new benchmark, the team has never claimed the World Series title. They have only reached the World Series on two occasions, suffering defeats against the Detroit Tigers in 1984 and the New York Yankees in 1998.
The Padres’ extensive and devoted fan support, along with their renowned home venue, Petco Park, will serve as valuable resources for the prospective new owners.
The club has broken its own franchise record for home attendance in each of the last three seasons, with more than three million fans attending for the first time in the team’s history, reaching 3,437,201 in 2025 — an all-time high average of 42,435 per game.
The San Diego metropolitan region is also ranked among the top 20 biggest markets in the United States, but the Padres were the sole major professional sports team in the area from when the NFL’s Chargers left in 2017 until the arrival of Major League Soccer’s new team, San Diego FC, last season.
San Diego has reached the playoffs four times in the last six years, securing at least 90 victories in each of the past two seasons thanks to a dynamic team featuring stars Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado.
The Padres kept winning even after cutting their budget in 2024 following Peter Seidler’s passing, as general manager A.J. Preller upheld the late owner’s aggressive approach through a number of bold actions.
The Padres secured 90 victories in the previous season but faced a thrilling three-game Wild Card Series against the Chicago Cubs, which they ultimately lost. During the off-season, Preller announced that former Padres reliever Craig Stammen would take on the role of the team’s new manager.
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