Jeff Passan, ESPN
The Minnesota Twins introduced Thursday that they're for sale, probably ending one of the longest-tenured ownerships in Major League Baseball.
The Pohlad household, which purchased the Twins for $44 million in 1984, mentioned it has retained Allen & Company, the funding banker that generally facilitates gross sales of sports activities franchises. The Twins are estimated to be price between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.
“After months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins,” the staff mentioned in a press release. “As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public.”
Since transferring to Minnesota from Washington, D.C., in 1961, the Twins have been owned solely by Calvin Griffith and the Pohlads, whose patriarch, Carl, bought the staff and handed it to his son Jim. It is at present managed by his grandson Joe.
Only the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies have been beneath the identical possession for longer than the Twins.
The Pohlads discovered nice success early of their tenure, profitable the World Series in 1987 and 1991. By 2001, although, MLB was threatening to contract them and the Montreal Expos as a result of of monetary troubles within the sport — a spurious plan that finally light.
While the Twins have discovered regular-season success this century — they've made the postseason 10 occasions in 25 tries — they have not superior previous the division sequence since 2002 and are coming off a disappointing 82-80 season throughout which a 9-18 collapse in September stored them from the postseason.
The most up-to-date sale of an MLB staff — the Baltimore Orioles to David Rubenstein over the summer time — was valued at $1.725 billion. Prior to that, the final sale had been Steve Cohen's $2.4 billion buy of the New York Mets in 2020.
The Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals have explored gross sales lately however pulled their groups off the market. The collapse of a majority of the regional sports activities networks which have injected billions of {dollars} into the business yearly has fomented monetary uncertainty inside the sport. The Twins are among the many groups which were affected, and it was introduced this week that MLB would produce and broadcast Twins video games subsequent season.
