Padres nearing deal to sell for record-breaking price

SAN DIEGO — The Padres are on the verge of historic new ownership.

San Diego’s biggest sports franchise is about to be sold for a record price to a group headed by Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, a source confirmed Friday morning. The sale is subject to the approval of 22 of MLB’s other 29 owners, which is expected to happen in the next few weeks.

The price is $3.9 billion — $1.5 billion more than the previous Major League Baseball record paid by Steve Cohen to purchase the Mets in 2020.

The sale price will rank as sixth highest for any North American sports franchise behind the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers (who sold at a $10 billion valuation in 2025) and Boston Celtics ($6.1 billion in ’25), the NFL’s Washington Commanders ($6.05 billion in ’23) and Denver Broncos ($4.04 billion in ’22) and NBA’s Phoenix Suns ($4 billion in ’22).

The Wall Street Journal was first to report the pending agreement.

The 53-year-old Felicianio is one of the founders of Clearlake Capital. The Los Angeles-based billionaire, who is one of the owners of the Premier League club Chelsea, beat out three other groups bidding to buy the team. Those groups were led by Dan Friedkin, who owns the Premier League club Everton; Tom Gores, who owns the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and more than a quarter stake in the Los Angeles Chargers; and Joe Lacob, owner of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

Feliciano remains a managing partner of Clearlake Capital, which owns 61.5% of Chelsea and has its headquarters in Santa Monica. He was born in Puerto Rico and graduated from Princeton before earning his MBA from Stanford. Jones also graduated from Princeton, where she participated in track and field. She heads the couple’s philanthropic organization and is CEO of Supercharged, a personal development company.

The Seidler family announced it was exploring a sale of the team in November, almost exactly two years after former chairman Peter Seidler died.

Ron Fowler and Peter Seidler headed a group that bought the team for $800 million in 2012.

Seidler took over as club chairman in November 2020 and completed buying out Fowler’s stake in the team the next year.

Eric Kutsenda, Peter Seidler’s longtime friend and business partner, was interim chairman from November 2023 until John Seidler was approved as chairman in February 2025.

John Seidler is Peter Seidler’s eldest brother. He took over as executor of Peter Seidler’s trust at the end of 2024, amid legal wrangling with Sheel Seidler, Peter Seidler’s widow.

Sheel Seidler sued Matt and Robert Seidler, former executors of the trust, in January 2025, accusing them of fraud and alleging she was the rightful owner of the Padres. Most aspects of that suit were settled earlier this year.

The Peter Seidler trust, of which Sheel Seidler and the three young children are the beneficiaries, holds the largest stake in the Padres at 24%. Other members of the Seidler family own a combined stake of approximately 25%. In all, about 10 other people or entities own a share of the team. It’s expected that all will divest their ownership as part of the sale of the team.

The sale price of $3.9 billion includes approximately $300 million in debt the Padres are carrying and $150 million due to owners as payback of capital calls made during Peter Seidler’s tenure.

While the team signed free agents Eric Hosmer ($144 million) and Manny Machado ($300 million) under Fowler’s direction, it was during Peter Seidler’s stewardship that the Padres went on a spree of acquisitions and contract extensions.

Their $256 million payroll in 2023 was the third-highest in the major leagues behind only the New York Yankees and New York Mets.

While the team ran afoul of MLB’s debt limit restrictions and reduced payroll significantly in 2024, the current payroll of $223 million ranks ninth.

After missing the playoffs in 2023, the team won 93 games in 2024 and 90 last season and is attempting to make the postseason for a third consecutive season the first time in franchise history. Already, their four playoff berths since 2020 are the most in any six-year period since the team was founded in 1969.

The Padres’ winning and their star power, with popular players Jackson Merrill, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Machado all signed through at least 2033, has helped them set franchise attendance records each of the past three seasons. The Padres rank second in MLB behind the Dodgers in attendance since 2022. After selling out 72 of their 81 home games in 2025, they have sold out 10 of their 12 games this season at Petco Park, which is also considered one of MLB jewel ballparks.

That $800 million for which the Fowler-Seidler group purchased the team included $200 million in debt and $200 million that former owner John Moores realized from what was then a new $1.2 billion regional television deal.

That television deal crumbled in 2023 as Bally Sports San Diego declared bankruptcy. The Padres were the first team to have its television production taken over by MLB. About half of the league’s teams’ telecasts are now run by MLB.

The Padres receive approximately $30 million in revenue from their local media deal, which is near the bottom of the league and is less than 10% of what the Dodgers make from their TV deal.

The league is pushing for centralized television production for all teams, which would go a long way to leveling the financial playing field. A new TV structure, which the league projects would bring in hundreds of millions to each team annually, and potential new restrictions on spending could greatly benefit the Padres. (Those restrictions will be part of what are expected to be difficult negotiations with the players’ union as the league’s collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1.)

More immediately, there is great optimism within the Padres organization that the new owner will loosen what have been tight restrictions on the ability to add payroll.

The Padres enter Friday’s series opener in Anaheim with a 13-6 record and as winners of eight straight games. But they have significant questions about their starting rotation and would benefit from the financial freedom to target a top starter via trade.

Under Clearlake Capital’s ownership, Chelsea’s gross spending has topped the Premier League, according to various reports.