This week’s MLB franchises in the last few years.
On Thursday, the Seidler family, the owners of the Padres, announced that they had hired a bank to explore a potential sale. The group, which has owned the team since 2012, is locked in a Peter Seidler.
As Sportico reported earlier this week, the average F1 franchise is now worth more than the average MLB team. That’s partially a product of F1’s growth, but it also shows the comparative stagnancy in baseball. MLB franchises have appreciated, on average, just 28% since 2021. That pales in comparison to the other major U.S. leagues—NHL, NBA and NFL valuations are all up more than 100%.
In that stretch, just two MLB teams have sold. A larger number of teams—including the Minnesota Twins—have tried to find a buyer, only to later change course. While every situation is different, there are baseball-specific headwinds that complicate franchise pricing.
For one, MLB is facing a dramatic overhaul of its local media economy. The richest teams are spending more and more to distance themselves from everyone else, and there’s also a potentially ugly labor fight lurking after next season.
Here is an excerpt of that essay ✍️:
Last March I here about my own conflicted feelings about MLB. That confusion persists. On the one hand, there are new rules, faster games and some amazing young stars; on the other, there’s a looming labor fight and virtually non-existent competitive balance.
For what it’s worth, there are a lot of smart people in our industry who remain optimistic. I’m constantly asking folks where they see value amid runaway sports prices, and MLB has become a common answer. The next two years will likely be rough, yes, but there’s also a decent chance owners emerge on the other side with the kind of cost certainty that has driven appreciation in the NFL and, more recently, the NBA.
The Padres will be an interesting litmus test. The team hasn’t been able to compete with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the biggest moments, but the Seidlers’ spending spree has created a very competitive franchise, and revenue has jumped in turn. Last year, the Padres finished second in MLB in attendance, and gross receipts topped $500 million. The team is comfortably in the top half of most valuable franchises, and worth significantly more than any of the other franchises that have sold in the past few years.
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