Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
OT: MN Twins to hit the market
#1
Pohlad family will sell Twins after 40 years of ownership

Joe Pohlad rejected the notion last February that his family might consider selling the Twins, saying “it’s not something that interests us.”

It is now.

Pohlad, grandson of the family patriarch who bought the state’s Major League Baseball team four decades ago, announced on Thursday that “after months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins.”

Pohlad declined through a team spokesman to speak publicly about that decision, but he broke the news to the team’s roughly 400 full-time employees at a Target Field meeting Thursday morning, then issued a news release afterward.

A sale, which could net Carl Pohlad’s three sons and eight grandchildren more than $1.5 billion, typically takes about six months, from identifying potential buyers to negotiating the terms to receiving approval of Major League Baseball’s other 29 owners. Carl Pohlad paid former owner Calvin Griffith $44 million when he purchased the franchise in 1984, and it was inherited by his sons upon his death in 2009.

Only the Steinbrenner family, which took control of the New York Yankees when George Steinbrenner bought the team in 1973, and Jerry Reinsdorf, who purchased the Chicago White Sox in 1981, have owned their MLB franchise longer, among current owners, than the Pohlads.
In fact, if a sale of the Twins is completed, it would mark the first time since 1919 that the team, founded as the Washington Senators in 1901 and moved to the Twin Cities in 1961, is owned by someone other than the Griffiths or Pohlads.

Forbes magazine estimated the family’s combined worth at $3.8 billion in 2015 — nearly a decade ago. But while the value of the Twins has increased by 3300% or more since the family acquired it, that enormous profit can only be realized by selling, similar to a retiree whose entire net worth is tied up in his home.

This also may be a particularly ripe moment to maximize the sale price. Only four teams have changed hands in the past 12 years, each of them for a reported billion dollars or more — the Miami Marlins for $1.3 billion in 2018, the New York Mets for an MLB record $2.475 billion in 2020, the Kansas City Royals for $1 billion later that year, and just last June, the Baltimore Orioles for $1.725 billion.

“There’s a fair amount of pent-up demand. There have been fewer clubs on the market in baseball than there have been in the NBA or the NFL,” said a source with expertise in sports franchise values. “There is only one team on the market, the Minnesota Twins, and there are people out there who want to own baseball clubs.”

The Twins’ inexpensive long-term lease on Target Field — the original 30-year lease has 15 seasons remaining, and Hennepin County last spring opened negotiations that would extend it another 20 years — figures to make the franchise particularly appealing.

Another possible factor in deciding to sell: The Pohlad family has come under intense criticism over the years for what many Twins fans say is a focus on profits over championships. That criticism, more pointed and palpable in today’s social-media environment, crescendoed this season when Joe Pohlad, facing a deep cut in the team’s television-rights payment, ordered the team’s front office to reduce the player payroll by roughly $30 million.

There is no indication that the team has approached, or been approached by, potential buyers, but Pohlad said in February that the family’s intention was that the team remains permanently in Minnesota, where the Twins have drawn more than 2 million fans 19 times since the Pohlads bought the team. The family said it has retained New York investment bank Allen & Co., which has an extensive history of facilitating sports transactions, to help it scrutinize its options.

And “exploring” a sale is no guarantee that one will be agreed to; the Angels and Nationals have both been put up for sale in the past four years, and neither team’s owner actually consummated a deal.

Source: Startribune
[-] The following 3 users Like purplefaithful's post:
  
Reply

#2
Thumbs Up 
Good, the team definitely needs new direction. Trying to win would be nice…  Cool Angel & may I add: Fire Rocco!  Tongue
[-] The following 2 users Like Kentis's post:
  
Reply

#3
It's long overdue. It seems like no one in the family wants to run it anymore. Also the decrease in revenue from TV and change to streaming is a factor, they cut payroll to compensate for the loss. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. They had fans back before this season and then they stripped it down. Many fans were pissed after the payroll issues, the collapse at the end of the season and loss of access to games. There is a lot going on there and we'll have to wait and see. I wonder if the Wilfs and/or ARod and Lore would be interested
[-] The following 1 user Likes Vikergirl's post:
  
Reply

#4
Arod/Lore are still up to their eyeballs in litigation with the Twolves...Although that could get resolved in November.

Hadn't thought of the Wilfs b4, be interesting to see how they would operate in a league where the cap is more fluid than NFL.

Not sure they'd want to mess with that or not?
Reply

#5
They want operating income and don’t care that the asset value is growing by 25 million per year. All they should need is a streaming platform and should be able to field a competitive team. They already got a new stadium.

Glad they are selling, they will make 100’s of millions. Not too shabby an investment
Reply

#6
The best thing anybody could ever buy is a sports franchise. Never goes down in value, only up over time. 1.5 billion payoff on a 44 million dollar investment is a good return. If only we all could be so fortunate
[-] The following 3 users Like supafreak84's post:
  
Reply

#7
(10-10-2024, 06:20 PM)supafreak84 Wrote: The best thing anybody could ever buy is a sports franchise. Never goes down in value, only up over time. 1.5 billion payoff on a 44 million dollar investment is a good return. If only we all could be so fortunate

I found $40 walking the dog yesterday morning, so.....pretty close to what you are talking about here. 


[Image: 2fhfj9.jpg]
[-] The following 1 user Likes StickierBuns's post:
  
Reply

#8
Viking Twitter seems to think the Wilfs should buy them. The Wilfs would be great owners, but I'm not sure I want to divert their attention from the Vikings. I'm not a Twins fan.
Reply

#9
(10-11-2024, 07:01 AM)MaroonBells Wrote: Viking Twitter seems to think the Wilfs should buy them. The Wilfs would be great owners, but I'm not sure I want to divert their attention from the Vikings. I'm not a Twins fan.

The Wilfs won't buy them. They probably rank around the 29th-30th most wealthy of the NFL owners, so they won't leverage themselves like they'd need to to buy a baseball team IMO.
Reply

#10
(10-10-2024, 06:20 PM)supafreak84 Wrote: The best thing anybody could ever buy is a sports franchise. Never goes down in value, only up over time. 1.5 billion payoff on a 44 million dollar investment is a good return. If only we all could be so fortunate

Sports franchises build value but they don't generate much cash flow.  You're playing the long game by owning a franchise.  You have to be rich enough to be able to withstand down cash flow years.  The Pohlads don't fall into that category so even when they have a good team...they can't afford to keep it going even though it would likely also raise their paper value.
Reply



Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)

Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 Melroy van den Berg.