The San Diego Padres have been sold to Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones, but several other parties are also involved.
The San Diego Padres have been sold to soccer billionaire Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, but the money numbers could point to more of a committee arrangement among multiple investing groups rather than a single dominant figure or two. A report from Dennis Lin and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic revealed many of the terms and key points of the agreement.
Start with the final number of $3.9 billion that’s been reported by multiple outlets. That would break the record set by Steve Cohen back in 2020 when he paid $2.42 billion to by 95 percent of the New York Mets, but reports have Feliciano and Jones investing between 30 and 40 recent of that number. As the writers pointed out, a theoretical commitment to pay 35 percent of that number would put their actual investment at $1.4 billion.
Other investors would join the couple, and that’s where things start to get complicated. The Padres have long been sponsored by the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, whose flagship casino is featured as part of the sponsorship, and that group also includes Vuori lead investor and board member Michael Persall along with Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, who once played for the San Diego Chargers.
But multiple sources cautioned that these groups are only two possibilities, as Feliciano and Jones remain in the early stages of putting together an ownership group, according to the writers. The Seidler family will also remain part of the ownership group.
The Padres declined to comment, and the writers have also reached out to some of the interested groups. The Sycuan Band helps lead the owners ship group of San Diego FC, and Padres third baseman Manny Machado is among the many minority owners of the MLS club.
Native American tribes with gaming interests aren’t prohibited from holding stakes in MLB franchises--the Ilitch family from Detroit and Cohen also have similar arrangements— but an ownership share above five percent could trigger additional league restrictions, according to an MLB source.
As for the Feliciano and Jones, it would be unusual for them to buy a larger percentage, given the potential impracticalities of this kind of arrangement. But Feliciano is expected to be designated as the Padres’ control person, according to the writers.
“You don’t have to own 50 percent to control the team,” said one person with experience in MLB ownership. “You just have to have the biggest piece.”
This raises a couple of intriguing questions going forward: (1) how close is this purchase to really been a done deal, and (2) what happens if one or more of the factions disagree about how the team is being run? We don’t know a lot about that right now, but hopefully more clarity will be coming in the following weeks, with the sale expected to be finalized in June.