The private equity force behind the transformation of Stamford Bridge is moving into Major League Baseball with a record-shattering billion deal; Yankee Scores reports …
The family of the late San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler is on the verge of selling the team, according to the Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Padres aren’t commenting publicly on the process.
A New Era in San Diego
The impending deal with a private equity billionaire Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The team will fetch an all-time record price of $3.9 billion to sell to a Major League Baseball team, and will be sold far above the estimated 2.4 billion that Steven Cohen paid the New York Mets in 2020.
The Clearlake Connection
The 53-year-old Feliciano is the co-founder and managing partner of Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm based in Santa Monica, California. The firm was part of an investment group that purchased Premier League club Chelsea in 2022, with Los Angeles Dodgers minority owner Todd Boehly becoming the Blues’ chairman.
Honoring Peter Seidler’s Legacy
The family of Seidler started to consider selling the Padres last November. This was two years after the popular Peter Seidler had died. Since then, his brother, John Seidler, has been the chairman of the Padres.
In 2012, Peter Seidler was among a group of buyers of the Padres. He became the main owner of the team in 2020.
He captivated the baseball fans of San Diego with his free-spending enthusiasm to win the Padres their first World Series. Meanwhile, the General Manager A.J. Preller created a succession of thrilling teams that have made the MLB playoffs in four of the past six seasons, the first in team history.
San Diego’s Crown Jewel
The potential sale price reflects their value as San Diego’s only franchise in North America’s four traditional major sports leagues.
The team has set attendance records in each of the past three seasons. They capped last season by drawing a whopping 3,437,201 fans. This is the second-most in the majors to the Dodgers, who play in their much larger stadium in Chavez Ravine.
Feliciano was born and grew up in Puerto Rico and went to Princeton and Stanford. He is the co-founder of Clearlake Capital that was established 20 years ago.
