Padres' record-shattering $3.9B price tag proves MLB is plenty healthy

Major League Baseballjust received its most startling data point in a year that will be defined by them.

TheSan Diego Padresare a (nearly) $4 billion franchise.

Forget existential crises, attention economies, disparate and increasingly complex TV situations and, dare we say, salary caps and luxury tax thresholds. If the industry - and that includes owners, players and fans - ever needed a crystal clear sign that the game is healthy, that spending some money might actually make you a little money in the end, the impending purchase of the Padres will be it.

Private equity baron Jose E. Feliciano - and that's apparently a career prerequisite for owning a ball club these days and wife Kwanza Jones - are on the verge of a $3.9 billion transaction to buy the club from the Seidler family trust, theWall Street Journal reported.

It is a staggering amount, not just because it's a 62.5% increase on the record $2.4 billion Steve Cohen spent to buy theNew York Metsin 2020. Hey, inflation is a bear and franchises appreciate. It happens.

Just not like this, and not for a club like the Padres.

We've heard the two to three strikes against them for years: San Diego is bordered by the Los Angeles region (and its two MLB franchises) to the north, Mexico to the south and the desert to the east. The Padres were also the very first team whose local broadcast situation collapsed to the point MLB had to take over production and distribution, way back in 2023.

So just how did the Padres, their TV model collapsing, their geographic situaton no better, go from a $600 million valuation when the club was last purchased in 2012 to nearly twice the purchase price of the Mets, who have their own lucrative TV network and a position in the game's largest media market?

Well, sometimes when you spend a little money, you can make it back.

The Padres' ownership group - Ron Fowler and then the Seidler family, with the late patriarch Peter Seidler still talked about reverentially around Petco Park - has been on one for the last eight years. It started with a slow drip - a nine-figure contract in 2018 for first baseman Eric Hosmer, an overpay that let the world know San Diego was open for business.

Across Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson Day is observed as players take the field wearing the same number in recognition of his legacy.

These images show moments from around the league as teams mark the occasion during regular‑season play.

Above, Simeon Woods Richardson #24 of the Minnesota Twins delivers a pitch against the Boston Red Sox in the second inning at Target Field on April 15, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. All players are wearing the number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Trevor Story #10 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates his three-run home run as he rounds the bases against the Minnesota Twins in the third inning at Target Field on April 15, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. All players are wearing the number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.

Trevor Story #10 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates his three-run home run as he rounds the bases against the Minnesota Twins in the third inning at Target Field on April 15, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. All players are wearing the number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.

A view of third base in honor of Jackie Robinson Day prior to the start of the game between the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins at Target Field on April 15, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Texas Rangers first baseman Ezequiel Duran and relief pitcher Luke Jackson celebrate making the last out against the Los Angeles Angels during the ninth inning at Globe Life Field. All MLB players will be wearing the number 42 on Jackie Robinson Day to commemorate Robinson making his major league debut in 1947.

St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Nathan Church (27) slides safely past Cleveland Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio (4) for a stolen base during the second inning at Busch Stadium. Players and coaches are wearing number 42 in recognition of Jackie Robinson Day.

Starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez #57 of the Arizona Diamondbacks gathers on the mound with teammates during the second inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 15, 2026, in Baltimore, Maryland. All players are wearing the number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.

Nolan Arenado #28 of the Arizona Diamondbacks warms up before playing against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 15, 2026, in Baltimore, Maryland. All players are wearing the number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.

Scenes from Jackie Robinson Day across the MLB

Across Major League Baseball,Jackie Robinson Dayis observed as players take the field wearing the same number in recognition of his legacy.These images show moments from around the league as teams mark the occasion during regular‑season play.Above, Simeon Woods Richardson #24 of the Minnesota Twins delivers a pitch against the Boston Red Sox in the second inning at Target Field on April 15, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. All players are wearing the number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.

It went into hyperspace mode a year later, with a $300 million guarantee to Manny Machado. And since then, Seidler's checkbook and GM AJ Preller's impetuous and sometimes insane but always forward-looking transactions have kept it pushing at Petco.

Ah, Petco Park. No worse than the fourth-greatest park in the game yet a place that could never attrack more than 1.9 to 2.1 million fans in eight of 10 seasons from 2009 to 2018.

Now, look at 'em.

The attendance meter has only gone up, up, up since 2019, COVID notwithstanding, and in 2023, the club's first full season after Preller traded for Juan Soto, the team cracked the 3 million mark for the first time since Petco's opening year of 2004.

Preller has barely slowed doling out big paychecks (Xander Bogaerts, $280 million, Machado $350 million after an opt-out) and neither have the turnstiles stopped whirring. The club drew a franchise-record 3.4 million last season and are behaving like they have the entire market to themselves (which, along with the San Diego Surf, they do, after the Chargers left).

Now, we said the game was healthy, not perfect.

The club's frenetic spend has slowed since Seidler's tragic passing in November 2023. Many a modern executive would term their payroll commitments "unsustainable," and they'd probably be right.

Yet this was no Ponzi scheme. The Padres' four playoff berths the past six seasons were very real, as were the millions who populated their ballpark. As is the $3.9 billion reportedly about to make the Seidler heirs wealthy beyond their imagination.

Jose E. Feliciano set to become Padres' new owner

MLB needed this, in a sense. Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed satisfaction, but hardly rabid enthusiasm, over the Baltimore Orioles' $1.73 billion purchase price. The Tampa Bay Rays sold for a similar $1.7 billion and now hope to leveragepolitical cloutto strong-arm a stadium in Tampa.

The Padres have no such worries. Petco isn't going anywhere and, apparently, neither are the fans, who have come out more than 40,000 strong for 10 of the Padres' first 13 home dates.

Yes, the Padres. Which is one reason why the upcoming labor war won't engender too many sympathetic cries from players. Management and labor will hammer out a deal knowing that the true Armageddon comes in 2028, when MLB's entire national TV inventory hits the market.

But this purchase price is a pretty big tell, and another argument that the sport should not screw up what it has going on right now in favor of a civil war.

After all, the Padres are a $4 billion team, and a bigwig like Feliciano - co-founder of Clearlake Capital Group and part owner of the Chelsea soccer club - viewed them as a good investment, still. No telling if he can continue pushing them toward a first World Series title.

Yet the franchise is already an example of what's possible even in a decidedly imperfect economic landscape.