The deal is done. Jose E. Feliciano, co-owner of Chelsea, has bought the San Diego Padres of MLB for $3.9 billion, the largest transaction in the history of the league. Meanwhile, Chelsea fans watch as their owners move billions outside the club... We will have to see what they think.
The San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB) have announced an agreement to sell the franchise to a group of investors led by businessman Jose E. Feliciano, co-owner of Chelsea, which will become the most valuable transaction in the history of the league.
"I am excited that, after a very competitive process, Kwanza Jones and Jose E. Feliciano have become the next majority owners of the Padres," the owner of the California team, John Seidler, said in a statement.
The team’s valuation is $3.9 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal, which would make the acquisition the largest operation of this type in the history of MLB. The Padres added that it is still subject to customary closing conditions and pending approval by the league at its next meeting in June.
Feliciano is a U.S. businessman of Puerto Rican origin who serves as co-owner of Chelsea, while Jones is a well-known American artist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
The statement specified that this transfer takes place "in the midst of the most successful era in the history of the franchise, having reached the postseason in four of the last six years, with Petco Park full every night." In addition, the Padres recorded the second-highest attendance in the league in the last two years, a result of this success.
The Seidler family bought the franchise for 800 million in 2012, but put it up for sale last November, three years after the death of Peter Seidler, who had been the owner of the Padres. The purchase of the New York Mets in 2020 for 2.4 billion marked the absolute record in MLB until now. In 2025, the NBA franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers, was sold for $10 billion.
What will Chelsea fans think about all this? They are already dealing with their own share of uncertainty at the club. Results have been up and down, the manager situation has been unstable, and the connection between the board and the supporters has felt strained at times.
Seeing their owners make a record-breaking move in baseball — spending billions on a team across the ocean — while Chelsea still tries to find its footing on the pitch? That is not going to go unnoticed.
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