The Seidler family’s stewardship of the Padres appears headed to a close.
The team announced Thursday that the Seidlers are exploring their strategic options, which could result in the sale of part or all of the team. The announcement comes one day shy of exactly two years after Peter Seidler died.
“The family has decided to begin a process of evaluating our future with the Padres, including a potential sale of the franchise,” Padres chairman John Seidler said in a statement. “We will undertake this process with integrity and professionalism in a way that honors Peter’s legacy and love for the Padres and lays the foundation for the franchise’s long-term success. During the process and as we prepare for the 2026 season, the Padres will continue to focus on its players, employees, fans, and community while putting every resource into winning a World Series championship. We remain fully committed to this team, its fans, and the San Diego community.”
The Seidler family has retained the financial firm BTD & MSD Partners to guide it through the process.
This exploration is expected to result in a change in ownership, which would bring to an end an era that has seen the team achieve unprecedented success and popularity.
“If the process leads to a new owner, the family is committed to finding a new owner of the franchise that shares Peter’s visions for the team,” a source familiar with the Seidler family’s thinking said Wednesday. “… The best way to establish a foundation for the club’s long-term success is to look at options for the franchise, including a potential new standard bearer who shares Peter’s values and goals for the franchise.”
The current ownership group, which assumed control of the team in 2012, oversaw an organizational makeover and what over the past six seasons has been the most successful period in Padres history.
But the specter of a sale has hovered over the franchise since Peter Seidler’s death on Nov. 14, 2023, and especially since Sheel Seidler, Peter Seidler’s widow, filed a lawsuit in January that challenged control of the team.
The Padres ownership group includes at least 10 people or entities.
The largest stake (around 24%) is held by the Peter Seidler Trust, of which Sheel Seidler and their three young children are the beneficiaries.
The Seidler family, including Peter Seidler’s mother, siblings and other relatives, collectively controls about 20% of the team. The remaining portion of the ownership is split between eight to 10 other separate stakeholders.
John Seidler, Peter Seidler’s eldest brother and the trustee of his trust, was approved by the other 29 MLB team owners as Padres control person in February. At the time, multiple team owners said they did not consider Sheel Seidler a qualified option to be the Padres’ control person.
It is not known how much of the team will ultimately be available for purchase. (A minority owner whose stake of approximately 10% makes him one of the franchise’s largest single shareholders is currently in the process of selling his portion of the Padres, according to sources.)
A preliminary value of the team, according to a source familiar with discussions regarding the sale, is estimated at $1.8 billion. That price would include the assumption of about $300 million in debt and more than $150 million in paybacks to owners for two cash infusions made in recent years.
The price for these types of prestige purchases are difficult to predict. The price is ultimately whatever a buyer is willing to pay.
The Tampa Bay Rays were sold this year for $1.7 billion. The Baltimore Orioles sold last year for $1.73 billion.
Members of the Seidler family were part of a group headed by Peter Seidler and Ron Fowler that bought the Padres from John Moores in 2012 for what has been reported as an $800 million purchase price. That included more than $400 million in cash, the assumption of nearly $200 million in debt and the $200 million Moores realized from what was then a recently signed $1.2 billion local television deal.
The person familiar with the Seidler’s intentions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the family did not want to speak publicly beyond John Seidler’s statement, said that ownership plans to conduct “business as usual … without disruption to the team in 2026.”
The person said the 2026 payroll “will remain in the same neighborhood” as last season, when the Padres ranked sixth in payroll obligations after CBT penalties and bonuses. That echoed recent statements by Padres officials.
It is also expected that Padres leadership will remain in place through any sale.
Two sources reiterated Wednesday that president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and John Seidler have continued talks regarding an extension for Preller and predicted an extension would be finalized soon. However, the sides have not discussed terms of a potential deal. Preller’s contract runs through the 2026 season.
Padres CEO Erik Greupner’s contract, which initially was due to expire at the same time as Preller’s, was extended last year through at least 2029. Greupner also received a small stake in the team.
As for the notion a buyer could relocate the Padres, the team’s Petco Park lease runs through 2033. Further, the Padres ranked second in the major leagues in attendance in 2025, have set a franchise attendance record in three consecutive seasons and rank in the top 10 in MLB in non-media local revenue.
“(The Seidler family) believes a key driver for a buyer is the San Diego market,” the source familiar with the family’s thinking said.
There have been five primary owners (or ownership groups) of the Padres, beginning with C. Arnholdt Smith, who was awarded an expansion franchise for the 1969 season.
Ray Kroc bought the team in 1974 and ran it until his death in 1984. His wife, Joan Kroc assumed control and ran the Padres until selling the franchise to a group led by Tom Werner in 1990.
The 18-year Moores era began in 1994.
Fowler, as the control person for the first eight years of the current group’s ownership, took the lead in reducing the team’s debt, extensive upgrades to Petco Park, a return to brown and gold as the team’s color scheme and a rebuilding of the team’s minor league system. His final season as chairman (2020) saw the Padres return to the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and just the sixth time in franchise history.
Peter Seidler took over as chairman in November 2020 and eventually bought out Fowler’s stake in the team. Seidler invested heavily in player acquisition. The team advanced to the National League Championship Series in 2022, in between two disappointing campaigns in ‘21 and ‘23.
Peter Seidler’s longtime friend and business partner Eric Kutsenda took over as interim chairman in November 2023 and was charged with reducing the team’s sizable debt. Even with a payroll significantly lower than the previous year, when they ranked third in MLB, the Padres won 93 games and advanced to the postseason in 2024.
With John Seidler as chairman, the team won 90 games and made a second straight trip to the playoffs last season.
