Padres Sale Takes Big Step With One Potential Buyer Out of the Running

The Seidler family is getting closer to finalizing a sale of the San Diego Padres, as one of the five prospective buyers is reportedly out of the running.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the field is down to four prospective buyers, and all four groups visited the Padres spring training complex this week.

Last month, the Seidler family accepted bids from five groups of buyers. One of them is now out of the running, leaving four potential buyers whose identities remain unknown.

Over the last month, the idenities of three potential buyers have been revealed. Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob and two English Premier League owners — Dan Friedkin and José E. Feliciano — were reportedly among the groups to submit a bid. It's unclear if any of these three prospective buyers were eliminated in this round of cuts.

It was also reported that NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees and Vuori founder Joe Kudla were interested in joining a group. It's unknown at the time if they were successful in doing so.

The Padres sale is expected to be completed early in the season, potentially sometime in April. Multiple reports have predicted the sale to break the MLB record of $2.4 billion, which was set in 2020 by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen.

The Padres sale is predicted to potentially reach or even exceed the $3 billion threshold.

"The Padres, they're going to probably sell in the next couple months for close to $3 billion," CNBS sports business reporter Mike Ozanian recently said on the CNBC Sport podcast. That's going to set a new record for Major League Baseball by far, about $600 million more than the Mets. Why? One of the reasons why is they've really built up their non-baseball business. Concerts, all these other events that they have at Petco Park. Now they're helping other teams and parks do the same thing."

The Seidler family, along with the O'Malley family and Ron Fowler, purchased the Padres in 2012 for $800 million. Fowler stepped down in 2020, giving Peter Seidler control of the franchise as chairman. Peter died in 2023, and his brother, John, was named the chairman and control person in March 2025.

The Seidler family announced in November 2025 that they were exploring the sale of the team.

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI and follow us on X/Twitter and Facebook.